After bringing home three Australian Shepherd puppies of my own, and having bred three litters this past year — I wanted to share my list of supplies and essentials for a comfortable transition while bringing home your new Australian Shepherd puppy.
If you bring home one of our new puppies you will be sent home with a welcome basket, which contains about 2 days worth of the puppy's current food and treats, his/her favorite chew toy, a lovey blanket that smells like mom and the puppy pack, and a few other surprises to get you started and remember this wonderful time. However, this welcome home basket has only a fraction of the items and supplies you'll need to make your new puppy comfortable at home and begin training effectively.
Here is a breakdown of everything you'll need to get started, including what should be setup prior to bringing your new puppy home, how to make your puppy's first car ride comfortable, and what you need to know and have ready so that you can get started training and playing with your new Aussie puppy.
Stages of Bringing Home Your New Australian Shepherd Puppy
Prepare Your Home for Bringing in a New Puppy
There are several things you can do to start getting ready for your new puppy before bringing them into your home — some of which will lay the groundwork for training immediately.
You'll want to think about things such as crate training, potty and behavior training, a place for them to sleep and feel safe (this should be crate if using one or a dog bed), meal schedules and more, all of which involve changes to your family's routine as you welcome a new puppy into the mix.
You can start by preparing and setting up the places in your home in which you intend to establish immediately upon bringing your new puppy home.
Designate Areas for Eating, Sleeping and Playing
It's important to establish the area(s) of your home in which your puppy will eat/drink, sleep and play before bringing your new puppy home. Once you have an excited puppy running through your door for the first time, it will be difficult to try and get things set up for immediate training.
Imagine this – you'll likely be bringing your puppy home in your vehicle, which will be your puppy's first car ride. The exhaustion of the first car ride, which usually makes puppies sick (vomit), will leave your puppy thirsty and likely frightened from experiencing the journey. Having your new puppy's food/water and bed station setup upon entering the house allows you to immediately establish a sense of safety and security as your show your new pup around.
Remember: Dogs can sense humans' anxiety, sometimes causing puppies to also get worked-up when the humans feel frantic. Bringing your puppy home into a calm, prepared environment can help them feel welcomed and less afraid after leaving their litter and mom for the first time.
The Crate
If you're crate training, you'll want to take your puppy to its new "house" and give it something familiar and soft to cuddle with as well as something for chewing. Speaking of chewing — bedding for puppies isn't recommended during the teething stage. I did, however, have good luck with this mat while I was whelping the first litter of puppies — however, I'm not sure how it would've stood against their teeth after 12 weeks when they went to their homes. When I've crate trained previously, I simply put down a soft fleece blanket until they're fully potty trained, then switch to a comfy bed. I currently use these for whelping the puppies and will send one home with puppy – found on Amazon in various sizes and colors. I've also used fleece blankets from CVS and the Dollar Store as well.
This create (from Walmart) comes in several sizes and is what I've used to crate train all 3 of my Australian Shepherds. I have the large and the extra large sizes. I love that it's easy to open up "assemble" and break down — no loose parts or tools needed, just use the clasps and clamps on the crate to lock it in place. It has two doors, which allows you to face the crate horizontally or vertically, depending on your space.
Find a place in the house for the crate that makes sense for the family as well as the new puppy as you're planning and preparing ahead for bringing your puppy home. Understanding that spaces can get tight, you want to keep in mind that the crate is meant to feel like a safe space for the puppy. Placing the crate in a place where your puppy can feel safe will help them feel even more comfortable being in the crate, which can sometimes be a fussy battle.
Promote the crate as a safe place of comfort and relaxation for the puppy immediately after bringing them home — after letting them use the bathroom.
It helps if this is separate from the crate they arrived in via the car, as they likely were sick or used the bathroom in that crate. If you have one crate, which is totally understandable, you'll want to clean it out really good upon arriving home — I recommend scrubbing it with Dawn soap and water and using the water hose to rinse it off really good. The goal is to get rid of the scent of any accidents that might have happened during transport, it's important they don't have the impression it's okay to use the bathroom in the crate.
Let the crate dry out or wipe it down before bringing it back inside to its designated place. While that's happening, be sure puppy is occupied/being watch or outside so that accidents don't happen immediately after bringing them home — not a good way to start things off.
Food & Water Station
When preparing to bring your puppy home, place food and water bowls in a convenient spot for you to access alongside their food & a sink, but make sure it's out of walking paths and gives the puppy enough space to comfortably approach. You'll want to show them where to find food and water upon arriving home, similar to introducing them to their crate and showing them where outside is.
Like a lot of dogs, mine tend to make a mess when they're eating, so I found an old wooden crate that I repurposed into a "holding tray/station" for the dog food and water bowl. I recently started using the gallon jug — I have 3 full-grown Aussies and I refill it about once a day.
Another thing to think about ahead-of-time is storage for things like dog food can become convenient and a space/eye-sore saver vs. leaving out a bag of open dog food, which can attract bugs, etc. I've used this storage container for a while and find it fits about 30 lbs of dog food.
Prepare for Potty Training
Give your puppy the chance to use the restroom outside before bringing them inside when arriving home for the first time. Remember, they haven't been using the restroom outside regularly until this point, so it will take them time to get used to it. This is the time when praise for "potty outside" is super important - give treats and verbal rewards for this behavior immediately!
My golden rule for potty training is don't give them the opportunity to potty inside. This means keeping your puppy on a regular and strict eating/drinking schedule, accompanied by long walks or time outside after they've eaten. If you leave out food and water constantly, you can expect around-the-clock pottying from your puppy.
During whelping they've been using the pee pads in a holder with a grate, so they're familiar with using pee pads, however I do think this can make dogs "rug-pee'ers" if used long term. If you're continuing the use of pee pads short term, have those placed near the door prior to arriving home, and re-direct your puppy outside whenever possible if you catch them going inside.
Puppy-Proof Your House
Taking on the mindset of a puppy might sound strange, but is one of the most helpful things you can do while puppy-proofing your house before bringing home your new friend — think like a puppy would. What seems interesting? Is it safe or are they allowed to explore this? If not, relocate or secure whatever it is. In most cases, when my dogs have gotten into something they're not supposed to, it's something I shouldn't have left on the floor or available to them. That's when I take away what they shouldn't have and replace with one of their toys.
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