Here are our top 10 tips when getting a new puppy.

1. Get started early with socialisation – Take your puppy out and about every day from the day you bring him home. Let him experience the world. The earlier he sees smells and hears the world he will be living in the easier he will find life in general. Make sure you carry him if his vaccinations are not complete to protect him from disease. Also encourage people to visit your home to meet and greet with the puppy.
2. Find a good vet – Go and visit your vet early to meet and greet and make sure your puppy has a positive experience. Book in your puppy vaccinations and arrange treatment for fleas and worms. Also ask about neutering at the correct age.
3. You are what you eat – Source a good quality puppy food with a quality source of protein and avoid colorings flavorings and preservatives where you can. A poor diet can be reflected in your puppies’ behavior, coat condition and digestive function.
4. Ease teething – Your puppy needs to chew and he will find his own chew toys if you do not! Provide plenty of appropriate things for puppy to chew on. Include soft toys, raw hide bone and tough rubber toys too. Keep some in a cupboard and rotate the toys so that every few days they change maintaining their appeal.
5. Aid boredom – Put a whole meal inside a kong and feed it, this uses up a portion of the day, with a fun activity and also gives those chewing teeth an outlet and slows down those greedy gulpers aiding digestion.
6. Start training early – Training your puppy can start as soon as possible. Using modern kind methods of training means you can get off to a great start with obedience. Enroll on a good puppy training course to learn new things and see other puppies too.
7. Proof against theft and loss – Get your puppy identichipped. It is by far the best way to locate your puppy if he becomes lost.
8. Get yourself a puppy crate – Crate training is a great way to get quick and reliable results with toilet training. Contrary to many beliefs it’s not cruel to the puppy at all as long as it is used correctly. In fact it provides a safe ‘den’ for your pup to sleep in when he is tired and somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of a busy house. Keep puppy in his crate with something to do when he cannot be supervised and take him out to the toilet immediately after waking, playing or eating and every hour in between. Having a smaller area to rest in encourages bladder control and gives you the chance to catch toileting happening in the right place and reward it!
9. Prevent separation anxiety – Make sure your puppy gets used to being left for short periods of time every day. Dogs that are not used to being left alone can suffer terribly with anxiety. Even if you are at home all day get your puppy used to his own company as you never know what the future holds and life may change.
10. Reward all the good stuff – Always use positive training methods and reward everything that you like to see your puppy doing. Prevent the naughty things from occurring by supervising your puppy at all time when he is out of his crate. If you can stop it, it never happens!

Have you got any others tips you’d like to share with us? If so, let us know in the comments.