Puppy raising
The first week with a new puppy
The first week is when a puppy learns whether crying works, where the bathroom is, whether hands are safe and whether being alone is frightening, and it learns all of it whether the family is teaching or not. Here is how our trainers tell families to run it, day by day.
Last reviewed September 11, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
Before it arrives
Set up the house so the first week runs on rails.
The crate, sized to stand and turn in with a divider for growth, covered on three sides, in the bedroom for the first weeks. The potty spot chosen in the yard and checked for fire ant mounds, and an enzyme cleaner bought. Gates up, cords and shoes out of reach, a puppy-safe room with a washable floor. A flat collar, a light six-foot leash, a bowl, the food the breeder or rescue was using, a handful of chews and two or three toys. The vet appointment booked for the first few days, with the heartworm conversation on the list. And the rules written down and put on the fridge: the greeting rule, the couch rule, the release word, the potty schedule, so every person in the house runs the same week.
- The crate in the bedroom, sized and covered
- The spot, checked for fire ants, and an enzyme cleaner
- Gates, cords, shoes and a safe room
- The vet booked, heartworm on the list
- The rules on the fridge
The first seven days
Day by day, with the schedule as the spine.
The puppy goes out to the spot every two hours and after every nap, meal, drink and play, on a leash, from the first hour. The crate holds it between trips. Everything below happens around that schedule.
Day one: the drive home in a crate, straight to the spot on a leash, then a quiet house; no visitors, no tour of the neighborhood, a first meal in the crate with the door open, a nap, and the night routine from the first night
Day two: the name paid with food every time the puppy looks at you, handling of paws and ears with a treat, the first two-minute session of a lured sit, a minute alone in the crate in the next room
Day three: the greeting rule begins for the family, a hand target, the first game of tug with a start and a stop, the puppy carried to the end of the driveway to watch the street
Day four: the vet visit, in the arms or a carrier, with handling practiced on the table; the leash dragged in the yard for the first time
Day five: a place bed introduced with food, alone time in the crate grown to ten minutes, the car for a short drive to nowhere
Day six: the world from a lap or a cart for twenty minutes, a quiet store or a bench outside a school at pickup; the first calm, vaccinated adult dog the family knows, for a few minutes in a yard
Day seven: a review of the schedule from the notes, the accidents explained by the gaps, the night trip fading, and the second week planned around the same spine
What to leave alone
The party, the dog park, the long walk, the bed and the corrections.
The puppy party, twenty people passing the puppy around on the first weekend, floods an eight-week puppy and teaches it that crowds are frightening; the world is met two or three things at a time from a lap. The dog park is out until the vaccines are done and long after for training reasons. The long walk is out because the puppy's joints are growing and the sidewalk is unsafe before the vaccines; the yard and the driveway are the outdoors for now. The bed is out because a puppy that sleeps in it cannot sleep anywhere else later. And corrections are out, because a puppy in its first week knows no rules and cannot be fairly corrected for breaking them; the first week is rewards and management, and boundaries arrive as the puppy shows it understands.
The puppy will cry, bite and have accidents in the first week. All three are normal and all three have a page on this site.
- No party; two or three new things a day
- No dog park
- No long walks; the yard and the driveway
- No bed
- No corrections; rewards and management only
The Houston version
A summer puppy indoors, hot ground, fire ants, mosquitoes and the first storm.
Most Houston puppies come home in the heat, so the first week's outdoor time is at dawn and dusk on grass, the crate is in the air conditioning with water, and the pavement test comes before any paw touches concrete. The yard is checked for fire ant mounds every morning and for toads after a rain, because a puppy sits on the first and mouths the second. Heartworm prevention starts at the first vet visit, because the mosquitoes in a Houston backyard do not wait. A spring puppy may meet its first storm in week one, and a covered crate in the bedroom with dinner served when the thunder starts files it as boring. The puppy bundle's first session is usually in the family's living room in this week, because this is where the learning is happening.
- Dawn and dusk on grass, the crate in the air conditioning
- Fire ants every morning, toads after rain
- Heartworm prevention at the first vet visit
- A storm met from the bedroom crate
When to call
A puppy that is afraid of everything, a puppy that screams in the crate, or a family that wants the plan.
A puppy that shakes, hides and refuses food at everything in the first week needs help now rather than more exposure, because the socialization window is short and flooding makes it worse. A puppy that screams, drools and scrabbles at the crate rather than crying is rare and worth a call and a veterinary conversation. Most families want the plan, the order and a voice that says this is normal, and the Puppy Development Bundle, four sessions at $550 in Cypress or $750 in your home, is built for exactly this week: the crate, the potty routine, sit, place, recall, handling, socialization and the greeting rule, taught to the family in the window that matters. The schedule-by-age guide on this site carries the plan forward from here.
The programs
Programs for the first week.
The puppy bundle with the first session in your living room this week, a lesson for the check, Gold later for the puppy that outruns the plan.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
What should I do on the first day with a new puppy?
The drive home in a crate, straight to the potty spot on a leash, then a quiet house: no visitors, no neighborhood tour. The first meal in the crate with the door open, a nap, short play, trips to the spot every two hours, and the night routine from the first night. Boring is the goal.
What should I teach a puppy in the first week?
Its name, a lured sit, handling of every paw and ear, the greeting rule, a hand target, the leash dragging in the yard, alone time in minutes, and the crate and potty routine from the first hour. Two-minute sessions with food, many times a day. Boundaries and corrections wait.
How many times should a new puppy go out?
Every two hours and within minutes of every nap, meal, drink and play, on a leash to one spot, from the first hour home. The clock is a better guide than the puppy's signals in week one. One trip in the night for the first week or two.
Should I have friends over to meet the puppy?
Not in the first week, and never twenty at once. A puppy party floods an eight-week puppy. Bring the world to it two or three things a day from a lap, and let calm friends meet it one at a time, sitting on the floor, after the first few days.
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Set up the rails, then run the week.
Tell our team when your puppy comes home. The free phone consultation is a direct call, and the first bundle session is usually in this week.