Happy New Year everyone! The new year has brought me so much excitement already. From being on a social media hiatus (wow, I am so much more productive in all areas of life without it), and a NEW PUPPY! Having our new Havanese puppy, Aldo, has proven to be a challenge with introducing him to our two older dogs, potty training, and puppy biting! While you may fall into some of the same struggles we are currently having, I created a new puppy checklist with all the must haves to make having a new puppy easier.
The above image is great to check off things as you grab them, but I also wanted to link some of my must haves so you can easily purchase them and have them delivered straight to you door (thanks Amazon).
Crate or Pen
I have actually never crate trained any of my puppies. However, with Aldo, the struggle has been introducing him to my other two dogs. Mira, our Yorkie Poo, is not quite in love with him just yet, so having a pen has been a great way to give her some space away from the puppy. Below is a great option.
Rope Toy
Honestly, this should be number one on my list. I do not know where I would be without this rope toy. Something like this may be easily overlooked, however, the rope toy has been great for substituting nibbling, playing by himself, and playing with us! We didn’t get anything fancy, just the one linked below, and it is holding up nicely for our small pup.
Clicker
The good old clicker… I highly recommend this for quick training. We typically use it on our new puppy, Aldo, when he goes potty outside, but what we have mainly been using it for is for our Yorkie Poo, Mira, to reinforce good behavior around the puppy.
This means when she ignores the puppy jumping on her *click* (and treat for the first week or two), when she plays nicely with the puppy *click*, or even when she straight up just sits down next to the puppy and acknowledges his presence *click*. We have noticed that when she tries nipping or growling at the puppy, one click (without a treat) has helped her perk up and stop. It has been such a good tool for us.
Potty Training Bells
Our dogs go outside by letting us know with a bark or a scratch at the back door. We decided to try potty training bells for our newest pup because he is so small and quiet. Now when he goes outside to go potty we tap the bells, or have him nudge the bells before we go, that way he knows now it is time to go outside.
Kong Toy
This has been a great tool for all of our dogs! It is also an easy way to get your puppy to exert some energy quietly. We did not get the exact kong brand, but Amazon has some amazing (and more affordable) like toys that work great for us!
What are your new puppy essentials? Comment below!
3 Comments
Taylor
January 8, 2020 at 7:21 pmOmg he’s so cute! Congrats 👏🏾👏🏾
Layla Living
January 8, 2020 at 8:30 pmThank you, Taylor!! He’s so sweet and well behaved. I just wish he would sleep like we do 😂
Ddotts
January 8, 2020 at 8:47 pmLove him so much already!! Congratulations 😍