The puppy shopping list, and what you can skip

Getting ready · 7 minute read

Pet shops are very good at selling you things twice. Once in the wrong size, and once again when the puppy grows.

This is what to buy before the puppy arrives, what to buy in month 2, and what to leave on the shelf.

Buy before the puppy arrives

Crate, adult size, with a divider

Buy the size your dog will be as an adult and use the divider to shrink it. A puppy-sized crate is 60 EUR you spend twice. The crate should be big enough for the adult dog to stand, turn around and lie flat, and no bigger, or it becomes a bedroom with a toilet corner.

A cheap bed

Something washable that you will not mind losing. Buy the good bed at 18 months, once chewing has stopped.

Harness and a 2 metre lead

A flat harness for a young puppy, then a front-clip harness once walks start properly. Skip the retractable lead: it applies constant tension, which teaches the dog that a tight lead is normal, and that is the exact habit you will later spend months undoing.

Enzymatic cleaner

Not a normal floor cleaner. Ordinary cleaners leave a scent signature that a dog reads as a toilet marker, so the puppy goes back to the same spot. Enzymatic cleaner breaks the proteins down instead of masking them. Buy 2 bottles.

Food, the same food the breeder used

Change food gradually over 7 to 10 days after the puppy settles, not on day 1. Moving house, losing the littermates and changing diet all at once produces a very bad first week.

Training treats

Small, soft and low value for easy work, plus something high value like cheese or cooked chicken for hard work. Size matters more than brand: a training treat should be the size of a pea, because you will use 40 in a session.

A chew, and then more chews

Start with 2 or 3 different textures. Coffee tree wood, olive wood, and a rubber toy you can stuff with food. Rotate them, because novelty is half of what makes a chew interesting.

Car restraint

A crate in the boot or a crash-tested harness. In most of Europe an unrestrained dog in a car is a fineable offence, and in a crash it is a projectile.

Grooming basics

Brush, comb, nail clippers, puppy shampoo. Start touching paws and ears in week 1, long before anything needs cutting. A dog that has never had its paws held will fight the first nail trim, and then fight every one after that.

Buy in month 2

• A 10 metre long line. This is the single most useful 20 EUR you will spend. It is what makes recall training possible in an open space without gambling on the outcome.
• A front-clip harness, once the puppy is walking properly and pulling has started.
• A food puzzle or lick mat. Chewing and licking lower arousal. Very useful in the evening.
• A treat pouch. Sounds unnecessary until you have tried to deliver a reward within 1 second while holding a lead, a poo bag and a phone.

Leave on the shelf

• Puppy pads. They teach that indoors is a valid toilet. Unless you are several floors up with no lift, skip them and take the puppy outside every 45 minutes.
• Retractable leads. Constant tension, poor control, and they cause rope burns.
• Prong, choke and electric collars. They suppress a behaviour without changing why it happens, and with a frightened dog they teach it to skip the warning growl and go straight to a bite.
• Rawhide. Swells in the stomach and is a common blockage.
• Bowl that slows eating, unless your dog actually eats too fast. Most do not.
• Clothing, unless the dog is small, thin-coated and it is genuinely cold.
• A second water bowl in every room. One is fine.

The 5 things that matter most

1. Enzymatic cleaner, because toilet training goes badly without it.
2. A long line, because recall is the skill that keeps a dog alive.
3. Chews, because teething is 4 months long and it has to go somewhere.
4. A front-clip harness, because pulling starts earlier than you expect.
5. Small, soft treats, because training happens in 3-minute pieces and you need 40 of them.

Everything else is comfort or convenience. Buy it later, once you know your actual dog rather than the imaginary one.