What should I expect when I bring my puppy home, over the first few months?

When you first bring your puppy home, your family will be excited, but the puppy will be scared – it’s a huge shock to be removed from the only life it has known with many of its littermates.

However, the puppy will quickly adapt to its new pack – your family – and in the course of a few days, the puppy will be playing happily.

Puppies tend to go through a cycle of sleep-toilet-play-eat several times a day – young puppies will need 4-to-5 1-to-2 hour naps a day, as well as a most-of-the-night sleep.

Puppies are delightful to play with at this age, but they have very sharp teeth, so having something to put in their mouth will save you a lot of pain! Biting people – even playfully – should never be encouraged, so when this happens, deliver a loud, firm, growly “No!”, and put something else in it’s mouth.

Puppies will chew and eat most things they find at this age – sticks, cardboard, grass, plastic, etc – so limit their intake of sharp things and string-like materials. The rest will pass through their system in a day or so.

Be careful with common poisons like snail and rat bait – dogs like these, and of course they can kill an adult dog, let alone a puppy!