By 
Taking home a new puppy is such an exciting time in life! You get to learn all about looking after your adorable new family member, as well as growing a loving bond that lasts a lifetime.
However, a new puppy can be a handful, and this is something anyone who has had one will tell you. Therefore, it’s important to have a few essentials on-hand to ensure that you and your new pup are comfortable, happy and healthy in their infancy.
Apart from doing the best pet insurance comparison Australia has available, here are four essentials you need for when you take a newborn puppy home:
- A harness
Dogs – and especially puppies – have fragile necks that simply don’t like having a collared leash around them. We honestly recommend using a harness for all your dog’s life, but even more when they are in their infancy.
The difference is palpable when it comes to their happiness: you can see that puppies are much happier strolling around with a cheeky little harness around their doggy shoulders than they are with a collared leash around their neck, and it greatly reduces the risk of injury when you are taking them out for one of their favourite new things: a walk!
- Teething toys
Your poor little puppy is soon to start teething, and unfortunately this can be quite uncomfortable for their little teeth and gums. Not only can it hurt, but the unfamiliar stress of experiencing pain can be a great cause for puppy anxiety – it is something that should be reduced as much as possible!
So, the natural answer: teething toys. All you have to do is a quick Google search and you will be able to find all kinds of toys to soothe your little doggo’s teeth, gums and mouth at a time when they are just learning how to use those little dentures.
They will love it, and it will also go a long way to stop them from chewing on things they shouldn’t (that sofa; that soft toy; your hand etc.).
- Furniture protection
If you don’t want to see your brand new leather couch turn into a giant chew toy then we implore you – get furniture protection! When a dog starts teething and exploring their canine nature one of the first things they will go for is your furniture, and this is especially so if it’s leather – so you want to ensure you have something to protect your furniture for the times you can’t be there to stop your new doggo from hoeing into the couch.
This can be something as simple as a citrus spray concoction to keep them away from that particularly nice couch in the first place, and you can use other covers and the like to protect the couch from fur.
- Floor protection
Puppies are bound to make a mess of your floor – it’s a given, and you can’t be there to protect your floor from your new puppy all of the time. Instead, you can do things to reduce the damage risk for when, say, your pet does do a huge wee that would otherwise seep through the pee pad and into your high quality timber flooring.
We recommend putting extra protection under their pee pads, as well as laying out a feeding mat for when your messy eater puppy is slopping sachets and water all over the floor.
Hopefully, in time, they will learn to neither pee on the floor nor slop food and drink all over it, but this comes with a little training on your end.
Comments