Yeah! Puppies! Everyone loves puppies, especially us dog sitters in Mesa! Now that you’ve decided to bring home a new member of the family, do you know all that your new puppy will need?

They need all the obvious things

• Food dish filled with high quality, nutrient rich food to help them grow
• Water dishes filled with plenty of fresh clean water
• A collar with identifying information tying her to your home or telephone number (don’t want to lose your new best friend now that you just got her)
• A good leash for their walks
• Teething soothers – puppies teethe until they’re six months of age and like an infant this leads to sore teeth. Give them something for relief.
• Toys – puppies need mental stimulation and safe chew toys. Consider toys that you can fill with treats that your puppy has to ‘figure out’.
• A wire crate filled with a soft, comfortable padding for them to lay on. Your crate should be large enough to allow the puppy to grow. We don’t recommend a plastic travel crate for crate training; your puppy should be able to see out all sides.
• And of course, they need…..potty training.

A new puppy does not have the ability to go more than a couple hours tops without needing a potty break and if you’re at work all day, he’s going to need some help.

That’s where your Mesa Puppy Pet Sitter comes in!

For best potty training results, we recommend crate training for your new puppy. Because dogs are den animals, they come to appreciate and love their crates rather than see it as a ‘bad place to go’. It becomes their safe place. My parent’s dogs will sometimes just go lay in their crates on their own when my parents are watching TV, and that’s because it’s ‘their’ safe space. As long as your dog is getting lots of exercise, play time, love, and affection in addition to being in his crate, they’re ok with being crated.

When your puppy first starts potty training, we recommend no more than 2 hours in between potty breaks so that might mean 2-4 visits a day for potty training help (unless you’re able to get home every day for a lunch potty break). In an 8 hour period your puppy should be getting let out a *minimum* of 3 times for best success. Otherwise, you’re looking at an uncomfortable puppy and a longer time for the potty training to fully take due to crate accidents. Now your puppy doesn’t want to potty in his crate – dogs don’t like to pee where they are lying, but hey, if you gotta go, you gotta go! And they will if they’re not getting let out.

Let one of our Mesa pet sitters potty train your puppy and help get them started to being a successfully trained member of your family.