Your Puppy's First Week at Home: A Gentle Checklist

Before you pick up your puppy

Every puppy we sell at Furgive You SG comes home with a starter kit — a bag of the food they've been eating, a chew toy that smells like their littermates, and a printed care sheet. But the environment they're walking into matters just as much as what you bring home. Spend the day before pickup puppy-proofing your flat: tape down loose wires, move houseplants out of reach, roll up rugs you'd cry over, and set up a small confinement area (playpen or a corner of the kitchen) with a soft bed, a water bowl, and a pee tray.

Do not buy an expensive dog bed yet. Puppies chew everything for the first three months. A folded towel or a $15 washable mat is perfect until their teething phase passes.

Day 1: Arrive quietly

The single biggest mistake new owners make is inviting the whole family over on day one. Your puppy has just left their mother, littermates and the only home they've ever known. They need calm, not a welcome party. Keep visitors to immediate household members for the first 72 hours.

When you get home, carry your puppy straight to their pee tray. Praise gently if they go. Then let them explore one room at a time, with you sitting on the floor at their level. Offer a small amount of the food from their starter kit — many puppies won't eat much on day one, and that's normal.

At bedtime, place their crate or playpen in your bedroom. Puppies who sleep near a human on the first night cry dramatically less than puppies left in another room. This is not spoiling; it's biology.

Day 2–3: Establish the rhythm

Puppies thrive on predictable routines. From day two, feed at the same three times each day (8am, 12pm, 6pm is a good template), and take them to the pee tray immediately after every meal, every nap, and every play session. That's roughly every 90 minutes when they're awake. Every successful pee gets calm praise and a tiny treat.

Keep training sessions short — five minutes at most — and focus on just two things this week: their name, and the word 'yes' as a marker. Everything else can wait.

Book your first vet visit for day three or four. Even though your puppy comes with a full vaccination record from us, your own vet should do a baseline health check within 48 hours — this is what our 48-hour health guarantee is designed for.

Day 4–5: Introduce the crate and alone time

By mid-week you can start teaching your puppy that being alone is okay. Start tiny: two minutes in their playpen while you're in the next room. Build up gradually. If they cry, wait for a 10-second pause before returning — going in during a cry teaches them that crying works.

Feed one meal a day inside their crate with the door open. Within a week most puppies will happily nap in there on their own.

Day 6–7: Slowly widen their world

Your puppy cannot walk outside on public grass until their vaccinations are complete (usually around 16 weeks). But they can, and should, be carried outside from week one — this is how they get used to the sounds, smells and traffic of Singapore before their fear window closes at 14 weeks.

Carry them to the void deck. Sit on a bench and let motorbikes, delivery riders and other dogs walk past. Offer treats whenever something new happens. Ten minutes twice a day is plenty.

The 'do not' list

Do not bath your puppy in the first week — they've just had a bath before collection, and stress plus water is a shortcut to a chest infection. Do not change their food abruptly; if you want to switch brands, do it over 10 days. Do not skip their deworming schedule — we'll give you the exact dates. Do not use punishment-based training or 'alpha rolls' — modern veterinary behaviourists all agree it damages the bond and increases fear-based aggression.

When to call us or your vet

Contact your vet immediately if you see: repeated vomiting, watery diarrhoea for more than 12 hours, lethargy plus refusing food, a temperature above 39.5°C, or pale gums. Puppies dehydrate quickly and small symptoms can escalate within hours.

For non-emergency questions — 'is this poop normal?', 'how much should he be sleeping?', 'is this a bark or a growl?' — WhatsApp us any time on +65 8767 4515. Every Furgive You family gets lifetime WhatsApp support from our team.

A week from now

If you follow this checklist, by day seven your puppy will be sleeping through most of the night, mostly using their pee tray, coming when you say their name, and starting to feel like a member of the family. If they're still crying at 3am — that's completely normal too. Puppyhood is a marathon, not a sprint, and every small routine you set this week pays off for the next 12 years.

Feeding, water and treats in week one

Stick to the exact food your puppy has been eating for a full 10 days after collection, even if you plan to switch brands eventually. A puppy's gut biome is fragile, and pairing the stress of a new home with a sudden food change is the single most common cause of loose stools in the first week. When you're ready to transition, do it slowly: 25% new food for three days, then 50%, then 75%, then 100%. If stools loosen at any stage, drop back a step for two more days.

Fresh water should be available at all times, in a shallow bowl your puppy can't tip over. In Singapore's climate a small toy breed puppy can dehydrate in a few hours, so top up water twice a day even if the bowl looks half full. Skip milk entirely — most puppies are lactose intolerant after weaning, and dairy is a fast track to diarrhoea.

For treats, use tiny pieces of the puppy's own kibble for the first two weeks, or a plain freeze-dried protein like chicken or beef. Save cheese, ham and peanut butter for month two once the digestive system has stabilised. Never feed cooked chicken bones, grapes, raisins, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts or anything containing xylitol — all are toxic to dogs, some fatally.

Setting up for month two and beyond

Around the end of week one, jot down what's working and what isn't. Is the pee tray in the right spot? Is the playpen big enough? Are the toys getting rotated so novelty doesn't wear off? Small tweaks now save weeks of frustration later. And once your puppy has settled, start looking ahead: book their next vaccination, register the AVS licence transfer into your name, and if you live in an HDB flat, apply for your HDB dog licence online — it takes under 10 minutes.