When we were getting ready for Sweet Baby L’s arrival, we diligently checked off the list of all the supplies we’d need as new dog owners. Crate? Check. SnugglePuppy? Check. Leash, collar, food bowls? Check, check, check. But like many things, you don’t know what you don’t know, and the best advice comes from experience.  No one seems more willing to share tips and advice than other dog owners.  Nearly every interaction with another dog owner on the street or at the park felt like an opportunity to share intel and tips about our pups. Here are the five top things we learned from other dog owners… 

Socialize Early 

With every litter, Sweet Baby L’s breeder sets a goal of introducing the puppies to 100 people before they head to their new homes so they have a chance to meet and interact with all different types of faces and environments.  We tried to keep that in mind when Sweet Baby L arrived at home. We made sure to take her out and let her say hello to the neighbors, people around our neighborhood, and of course other pups. It’s hard to say what has been the result of nature or nurture, but to this day, people still comment on how calm and relaxed she is. 

Get Pet Insurance 

More than one person told me to make sure I had pet insurance. I nodded along while thinking, is that really necessary? Yes, yes it is. I’ve lost count of the number of times Sweet Baby L needed to see the vet in her first year at home. If you’re anything like me, almost everything seems to warrant a visit. Stomach issues, skin issues, warts in her mouth (I know), giardia, hot spots, etc. The good news is that as she’s gotten a bit older, we have a better sense of what can be treated at home, and what really needs a professional. Pet insurance pays for itself.

No Wee-Wee Pads (if you can avoid them)

Sweet Baby L came home in November, and we live in an apartment in New York. Potty training was going to be challenging, to say the least.  It wasn’t going to be as easy as throwing open the back door and letting her outside to go to the bathroom. It involved pulling on a pair of sweats, riding the elevator and standing with her outside in the cold while she learned to find her spot.  Wee-wee pads seemed so easy and convenient, right? Surely we’d need them, if only for the early days, right? Wrong.  A wise friend who owned an older dog told me that once Sweet Baby L associated using the bathroom inside the apartment, the longer it would take to train her to go outside when we wanted her to. It made for a lot of sleepless nights in those first weeks, but it wasn’t long til Sweet Baby L got the hang of it. We don’t go to the bathroom inside. End of story.

Get a Robo Vac

We knew Sweet Baby L was going to shed a lot, but we were OK with that. What’s a little extra dog fur in exchange for the love and affection of a beautiful pup? We may have underestimated the amount of fur she’d actually leave behind, because no matter how many times we swept or vacuumed, there was more and more fur.  Finally, another dog owner we met in the park looked at us and said, ‘how do you not have a robo vac?” Good question. Now we run it whenever we take Sweet Baby L out to the park and it’s unbelievable just how much fur it picks up in even a short amount of time. 

No People Food 

This is always a tough one because Sweet Baby L loooooves to eat.  Every night she’ll park herself right in front of the fridge when I’m cooking, desperately hoping she’ll get to have a taste.  In the beginning, I was much more lenient, despite being warned that letting her have human food would only lead to her wanting more and more. A few slices of cheese wouldn’t hurt, right? What about some sausage? Some leftover salmon? Mealtimes quickly became a battle of us trying to eat while Sweet Baby L barked in our faces, desperate for more food. Then came the concern that she might be allergic to certain food proteins. Cue a special elimination diet while we attempted to figure out what was making her skin so itchy. No more people food. Sweet Baby L was upset at first, but then slowly resigned herself to the fact that she didn’t need to bark during mealtime anymore. There weren’t any more human treats coming. Moral of the story: I should have listened the first time. No people food.

…And 5 Things That Didn’t Work as Well 

Using a Harness 

The vast majority of pups in our neighborhood sport no-pull harnesses when they are out and about. At the risk of sounding like we are too eager to follow the crowd, we did. If it seemed to be working for them, it would probably work for us too. I picked out a nice, brightly-colored harness and Sweet Baby L wore it for months. The problem? It was very difficult to get her to walk in it. She’d lay on the sidewalk all the time, resisting us with all her might. She never responded to commands in it, she’d lunge at things she shouldn’t, and worst of all, it seemed to be rubbing the skin on her chest raw.  Finally we met a trainer who told us to toss it in the trash. He recommended a Martingale collar that made it easier for Sweet Baby to understand commands. Since then, walks have been much easier, her skin irritation has healed up, and we haven’t looked back. 

Treats in the Bath 

Back in the early days, Sweet Baby L hated the bath. Getting her into the tub was OK since she was still fairly small, but keeping her there was a big challenge. She’d try to escape at every moment. Catching a wet, slippery puppy intent on making a break for it is about as fun as it sounds. I asked one of her new pup friends’ owners what they did. The answer? Smear some peanut butter on the side of the tub so she’ll stay put while she gets shampooed. It sounded brilliant and it worked for a brief moment. Quickly, though, it became more of a mess than we bargained for and we ended up having to wash peanut butter out of her fur, too. 

Trimming Her Nails At Home 

No, no, no. False confidence was instilled in us by some well-meaning individual, so we ordered one of those electric nail filers from Chewy.com, armed ourselves with some treats, and picked up one of her paws. To say she hated it would be a massive, massive understatement. She was so uncomfortable with the whole thing that we could barely even get the filer close enough to her nails to actually trim them. It all seemed way too precarious and stressful for everyone, so now we do what we should have done all along and have her nails clipped when she’s at the groomer. 

The Dog Run 

There’s a dog run three blocks from our apartment, and when our neighbors shared that their pup had been going there early in the morning to get some exercise, it seemed like a good idea. On her first visit, Sweet Baby L was a little nervous as she found her footing. Soon she was racing around with a pack of other pups. We brought her back on a few other occasions, but realized it’s not a great environment for her. The area feels too small for the number of dogs that are there. Sweet Baby L needs wide open spaces, not to feel like she’s in a pressure cooker. For some dogs, it might be a good way to burn off that extra energy, but for Sweet Baby L’s sake, we haven’t been back in ages. 

Kongs 

Almost everyone we knew who had gotten a puppy before us recommended getting some Kongs (including her breeder). They are super durable chew toys that you can fill with food or treats. Everyone said we’d need more than one, so we stocked up, but Sweet Baby could take the Kong or leave it. If it’s full of food, she’ll, do her best to make sure she empties it, but she could just as easily give up halfway through and leave it laying around.