Alright y’all! I’ve had these little stinkers (my two puppies) for long enough now. I feel as if I have enough base knowledge to start blogging, or at least bring y’all along as I both do things right and hit a few bumps along the way.
So I’ll start at the beginning then y’all! Even before I got the puppies, I started buying for them. I had to prepare a happy and equipped home for all that puppy energy and mischief. Toys, food, puppy pads, you name it. Some of it was a hit and some a miss but I will give y’all the full comprehensive list!
You would think the first thing I decided to buy for the little ones would be their food. But NO! My head was in a completely different place entirely! It was in the pee place! The very first thing I bought were training pads! And y’all, I bought a lot. Living in a higher risen apartment, I am not always able to take them out every single time they need to go. SPOILER ALERT: it’s a lot. So having these training pads have been a real life saver when it comes to minimizing accidents.
Going right along with the pee theme, I also picked up this nifty little artificial grass pad for in-house training. While I am training the pups to go inside periodically for now, I do want them to have a good grasp on outside training when the times comes and they are able to hold it for longer periods of time. So having this grass like pad has helped to teach them WHERE it is acceptable to go even when they step foot outside.
Okay, now that we have potty training taken care of, we can get into food. We give them a mix of dry and wet food. I put about half the amount of wet food to the dry food in their servings. The brand we decided to go with is the NUTRO brand. I didn’t know much about dog food before getting a puppy, but Carlos has had pets before and vouched for the brand and so did our vet. The pups love it and so do we!
On the topic of food, let’s talk treats. Treats are literally currency with our pups. We train them diligently with treats so we are constantly in need of a stocked supply. They LOVE these Blue Wilderness treats so much that we keep having to buy more and more!
Puppies need to be monitored at ALL times. But realistically we are going to have to leave them once in a while, even if it is to go to the bathroom. Also, your pup is going to need to learn how to sleep through the night without getting up, having accidents, or getting into mischievous trouble while you yourself are sleeping. That’s where crate training comes in!
Along with a safe and secure place to sleep, they will also need their own area of your home when they are training. In all honesty, your pup can’t be trusted to roam the whole house on their own yet. There’s no tell what they might get into or what they might pee on. Trust me on that. This exercise pen is more than enough room for an indoor play option and perfect for training your puppy in the early days.
There’s more? Is probably what y’all are thinking by now, and yes, there is more. Your first year is probably when you will spend the most on your puppy, between vet visits and buying supplies. It will get better though, or so I am told.
One thing you can’t forget is a collar. I recommend going with an adjustable training collar when they are puppies. My pups have bit at their collars, ripped them off and used them as chew toys all the same. So having something less expensive and durable has really worked for these early stages.
Once they are trained you KNOW I will be upgrading them to more stylish collar options.
Same rules apply for the leash as did the collar. Puppies like to chew, period. Unless you want them to chew through that expensive leather leash and collar set you bought them, I would hold off and wait until they are trained.
The conversation just naturally took a turn to “chewing”, so of course these KONG toys will be on the list. These toys are just pure genius and not just for puppies. They are are like pet puzzles that both keep their attention and satisfy their hunt for treats all while keeping them busy enough for you to actually get *ish done! These guys can also get expensive at your regular pet store, but Amazon has them for a great value price.
We talked about how dogs love to chew right? Here are a variety of chew toys. Your pup will benefit from at least one, although, don’t be surprised when they still try to bring sticks home from your walks.
Alright y’all, last but certainly not least we are talking more food. Food bowls. Honestly, I started out with plastic food and water bowls until I found the ones I wanted for my dogs. Each puppy needed something different. (Appa would lay down when he ate, so we bought him a raised bowl. Osa is a finicky eater, so we got her a bowl that we could clearly see her progress in). So just figure out what kind of bowl works for you and your pup.
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