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Bringing home a puppy is such a special occasion for American families that some employers are now offering pawternity leave.
That’s a smart perk to include in an employee contract, given that the first weeks or months are the most critical time in puppy-person bonding. Puppies whose people get pawternity leave are just as lucky as the owners who get to spend time housetraining, crate training, and helping their pup learn what behavior works to get what they want.
Of course, breeders like Snowy Pines will offer puppies that are house- and crate-trained before their family picks them up. But offering this paid period of leave for new puppy owners helps avoid years of pet problems.
Pet-focused allowances like pawternity leave and bring-your-dog-to-work day makes the decision of whether to get a puppy or not a little easier for some who’d rather not leave their pooches at home — especially in the beginning.
There’s more to the decision, of course, and we want to help you find out if your home is ready for a puppy in this exhaustive guide.
Time, patience, and supervision — that’s what puppies need from you when you first bring them home. As they grow and mature in adult dogs, they’ll rely on the training and treatment you give them during these first few months.
A puppy you bring home is like a baby who’s learned to crawl: they’re ready to explore, curious about everything, and are prone to using their mouths to play, chew, and investigate their surroundings. It’s cute when puppies are young, but if you don’t know to expect this behavior — or how to stop your puppy from continuing to bite when they’re older — it will require more intensive training to resolve.
Puppy preparation is what you need. Your life is about to change — in a good way! — so ideally, you’ll have certain things ready to go if you’ve decided you’re ready for a puppy.
Once you get that call from your chosen breeder, things can happen pretty quickly. Don’t worry — you’re not going to break your little puppy. But you’ll need to establish some ground rules with your family, create a schedule for meals and bedtimes, and even puppy-proof your home.
From birth to the first seven or eight weeks of age, your chosen breeder will keep your puppy with their mother and their litter. This is an important time in a puppy’s life as they’re learning to socialize with their mates.
If you take away a puppy too early at this stage, it may display more fearful, shy, or aggressive tendencies later on. You can use this time to your advantage, however. Begin by puppy-proofing your entire living space.
Make sure you cover sharp corners that could hurt a puppy’s soft head when they’re playing. You should also remove any small toys or objects that they could swallow and keep wires tucked away or hidden.
Use this checklist to clean up these items that may be lying around:
Next, create a set of expectations with your family members. It’s time to make a few decisions around:
You also want to create a specific routine and schedule in the following basic puppy activities:
When you first bring your puppy home, it’s essential to have these implements ready to go. You should have bowls, the bed, and the crate set up for use, along with a couple of treats to make your puppy feel comfortable.
Your puppy survival kit is as much for your benefit as your pup’s. Pull these handy items out under any stressful situations:
Puppies are very trainable at this point in their lives, so these items will help you make a good impression on your puppy and help them feel comfortable and confident in their new environment. With the right training and reinforcement, your puppy will learn how to interact with your family, learn the rules of the house, and how to be open to new faces.
You’ve brought your sweet little puppy home — but now what?
As you place your puppy carefully in a new home, keep things slow and quiet. You may be tempted to call everyone over, but you need to allow your puppy to spend the first week or two learning about his or her surroundings. Don’t overwhelm the puppy and it will be much happier for it.
During the first few nights, you also may not get much sleep as your puppy may be a little afraid and whine through the night. There’s no avoiding this, but you can take a few steps to help minimize discomfort all around:
Using these tips will significantly reduce your pup’s stress levels during these first few days and weeks of adjustment. It will also help your new furbaby bond with you and your family based on a relationship of trust and safety.
The first six months of your puppy’s life should be all about routines and expectations. Remember, you’re training them and setting them up for a lifetime of good behavior, healthy expectations, and close family bonds.
You want your puppy to feel safe in their new environment so that they know they can trust you. Puppies need structure and discipline, so you’ll need to assign just one individual — you or another adult — who will be in charge of commands. While it’s tempting for kids to exercise control, this usually confuses the puppy. Dogs are pack animals who work best when they know who the top dog is.
Break up a puppy’s day into chunks that resemble a preschooler’s schedule:
Using a crate to help your puppy feel safe and easily travel with you is a great idea. Crate training has the added benefit of creating structure for your puppy: in its mind, there’s a clear division between crate (or rest) time and playtime.
If your breeder has already crate-trained your puppy, great news: You can just keep up the routine. Otherwise, you’ll need to introduce your puppy to the crate:
Some breeders will also housetrain your new puppy but, again, you should keep the routine going. Ask your breeder what your puppy is used to and follow the same technique.
If your pup hasn’t been introduced to housetraining, remember these three rules:
Your impressionable puppy will catch on quick, so the first six months of life are an excellent time to teach a name. It’s pretty easy to teach a puppy as they constantly listen, learn, and explore in this phase. Over time, the puppy will learn to associate the sound of its name.
Your puppy’s first year will include four basic things, beyond any additional considerations like daycare or puppy class.
A reliable and high-quality breeder like Snowy Pines will make sure your puppy has the requisite shots and vet check-ups appropriate for their age. By the time your new puppy comes to you, you’ll know it’s in good health.
However, your puppy’s first year will still include vaccinations or health check-ups. It’s important to schedule these routinely to get weight and nutrition checked, ensure the puppy hasn’t developed heartworms, and learn about any possible (future) health concerns.
A vet visit is also a prime opportunity for socialization. Play with a favorite toy in the waiting or examination room and feed it treats, and it will soon learn that vet visits are a good thing.
The first year is a fertile time to take advantage of developing skills, habits, and behaviors. In the first week, you don’t have to worry too much about obedience training — your interactions can be about bonding and doing some fun puppy training games for good manners.
However, as puppies mature, they’ll need multi-stage training. At Snowy Pines, for example, we recommend that our English labradors go through two options of training — they are Level A and Level B — which progressively build on a dog’s previous learning. Both are not needed (unless we are preparing a service or emotional support dog) but a few weeks of training can make a big difference
During the first year, opportunities to help your growing puppy socialize with others could come in many forms. You can have friends come and visit, or you can take your puppy to a friend’s house. You could also sign them up for doggie daycare or a puppy play program in your community, which focuses on introducing puppies to each other.
The first year of your puppy’s life is your chance to set them up with high-quality diet, which builds their lifelong immunity. Healthy coats, good hearts, age-appropriate weights, strong bones, clean teeth, and generally happy dispositions are all benefits of a high-quality, puppy-focused diet.
Overfeeding is a big reason why it’s important to make vet check a routine part of your puppy’s first and second years of life. Between training and rewarding good behavior, and keeping a puppy’s energy and food intake aligned, puppies can gain more weight than necessary.
Regular vet checks will ensure the high-quality food you’re feeding your puppy hits the right requirements.
Before you get a puppy, you should be aware of the behaviors they’re likely to display in their first months. Some of these might fade away as your puppy matures and becomes more confident — while some behaviors should be discouraged as they grow.
Caring for your puppy is a lifelong commitment, and the many stages of his or her development should tell you that it’s a financial commitment as much as a relational one. The starter costs for a puppy are higher when you first bring them home than through their adult years.
However, specific costs depend on the breed you get and what kinds of health problems that particular breed is prone to. It also depends on whether your breeder is reputable and ensures a high pedigree for all dogs born of their dams and sires.
It may surprise you how much your puppy’s first year will cost you, given the vet checks, training sessions, toys, food, and vaccinations. You can save yourself on doggie daycare costs, of course, by keeping your puppy with you in those first months.
The obvious or upfront costs of caring for your puppy include high-quality kibble and wet food, along with dental treats, and chewy snacks. You may also choose to feed your puppy a raw diet, but you should be aware of the best practices for storing and serving raw foods.
Puppies also require:
The unexpected costs of owning a dog really depend on your lifestyle and living situation. These hidden costs can range from nice-to-have options to emergencies that call for a sudden expenditure. They may include:
Pet insurance is one of the most important hidden costs of getting a puppy. You may be okay with paying out of pocket for routine vet checks, but it’s the emergency issues that could financially drain you if you’re not prepared. One in every three pets will need emergency vet treatments every year.
If a labrador retriever swallows something they’re not supposed to, it can cost you as much as $13,065 to remove the foreign body. Without insurance coverage or a savings fund, this could set you back financially.
New dog owners often have a misconception that some dogs are less expensive because they’re lower maintenance than others. Small dogs, for example, need obedience training as much as large dogs do — but many potential owners think of small dogs like cats who don’t need much exercise. That’s simply untrue.
Whether you’re ready to get a puppy or not depends entirely on your own life and living circumstances. However, the decisions you make about breed, physical size, and temperament will tell you which dog best suits you.
For example, if you don’t like shedding on your furniture or you just don’t have the time to clean up, you’ll need to go for a short-hair breed rather than a long-haired dog breed. You should also take into account your chosen breeder. Certain breeds, like labradors, have a penchant for high energy, but Snowy Pines English lab retrievers are bred to be calmer, more suited for a family. Breed and breeder both play into the equation.
While it’s a big responsibility, getting a puppy is also a joyous occasion for your whole family. It’s a great idea to adopt a rescue if you can, but when you get a puppy as it’s growing up you can start from scratch. The early months are the best age at which to get a puppy because you can train them, feed them right, and ensure they’re up-to-date with their shots. Getting a puppy from a reputable breeder will also prevent the often time extreme vet bills of owning a rescue
If you’re on the fence about whether or not your family is ready for a puppy, consider these lifelong benefits a puppy will bring:
Despite the myriad benefits of getting a puppy, some families will realize they’re not ready. However, it’s never really a no. It may just be a not right now.
Now that you know what getting and caring for a puppy truly entails, it’s time to evaluate whether or not a puppy is for you. Some expert breeders will dissuade potential clients from adopting a puppy because it’s clear they’re not ready.
If you experience any of these signs, a puppy is not the right addition to your family or home right now.
There’s a right and wrong time for a puppy in your life. If you identify with two or more of these reasons, then getting a puppy is not in the cards for you right now. Keep checking back on these signs and see if anything changes. You may be ready for a puppy someday down the road.
Your decision about whether to get a puppy or not could also come down to your chosen breeder. You may already have a breed in mind and you may be financially ready, living in the right kind of home, with ample time to spend with your new bundle of fluff.
For example, you may have your eye on a golden retriever but you’ve heard that they’re highly energetic dogs, originally bred for hunting so you’re concerned about just how much energy they can exert.
Breeders like Snowy Pines cultivate and nurture white English labs that have top-quality pedigree but are built to be calmer and better suited to a family with children. So before you completely rule out a puppy, make sure you also review what characteristics your chosen breeder is known for in a particular breed. The details could make all the difference in your decision about whether to get a puppy or not.