Bringing your new puppy home for the first time is an exciting event for both your family and your puppy. While exciting, it is important to know the transition for your new puppy can be very overwhelming. Your puppy will be experiencing  a whole new world of smells, people and sounds. To help with this transition for both your family and your new Goldendoodle, it’s important to prepared.   

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Preparing Your Home

It is important to prepare your home before bringing home a puppy. There are several things you will need to do in order to make your home and yard safe.  

• ​Puppies like to chew on things. Be sure to put away items that your puppy could swallow or choke on. 

• Move all electrical cords off the floor or out of reach.

• Examine your fence to make sure there are no places where your puppy could escape. Sometimes the space between the gate and ground can be big enough for your puppy to wiggle underneath.  

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Shopping List 

Your Goldendoodles Forever® puppy will come home with a Snuggle Puppy that has been scented with mom and littermates, a small bone we have used in crate exposure, a small bag of dog food, and a folder with training information, food and exercise guides, and vet records. However, there are several other items you will need to purchase before bringing your Goldendoole home. Below are some of the must-haves. See my New Puppy Shopping List for my personal favorites.

• Dog bowls

• Dog food

• Dog bed

• Dog crate (we recommend starting with a crate that will be large enough when your pup is full grown but comes with a moveable divider for when he or she first comes home)

• Pick-up bags and dispensers

• Collar and leash 

• ID tag

• Dog brush

• Dog treats

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Preparing Your Family

It's important to prepare all of your family members before bringing your goldendoodle home. Make sure everyone knows the rules that your puppy will be expected to follow, and how to properly train your puppy. Doing this ahead of time will help you create a structured and consistent environment for both your family and puppy. Some examples of rules to set for children include:

• Small children should not pick up your puppy and carry him or her around. Allowing your children to hold the puppy while sitting is okay, but puppies like to squirm (and jump out of your arms) and it's possible to accidentally injure the puppy while trying to carry it around.

• Puppies should not be unattended on couches, chairs, and beds. They will jump off and potentially break a leg.

• Puppies need to feel that they can eat in peace without having to defend their food, making it important that children know to leave your new puppy alone while eating. Children bothering your puppy during a meal could lead to defensive behavior.

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First Night

There are a few things you can do to try and make your puppy's first night a great one:

• Have a good play session with your puppy, prior to bedtime. Your puppy may be tired already as there have been lots of changes to its environment. However, a short little play session before bed never hurts.   

• Two hours before bedtime, take away your puppies water so he or she will not have to get up to go to the bathroom during the night. Puppies should have access to water all day until this time.

• Your puppy will most likely whimper and cry the first few nights. This is normal. Follow the guide provided here and your puppy will be happily crate trained in no time. For night-time crate training, listen to the video I post on your Marco Polo litter group.