Bringing Your Puppy Home: The First 48 Hours

The car ride home is the easy part. What matters is the 48 hours after: a small, calm world where your puppy learns that this new place is safe, warm and predictable.

Set up one room before collection day — crate with the blanket we send home, water bowl, and the same food measured out. Resist the urge to invite the whole street round; visitors can wait until week two.

Night one will involve crying. It is normal, it is not cruel, and it passes. A ticking clock wrapped in a towel, the crate beside your bed for the first nights, and a calm 3am toilet trip will get you through faster than you fear.

Feed little and often, keep garden trips boring and frequent, and start the routine you intend to keep: same wake time, same meal times, same last-toilet trip. Puppies relax into rhythm astonishingly quickly.