Bringing Bailey Home

Bringing home a puppy can be super exciting, but the first night is often the hardest. Here's how I dealt with Bailey's first night home.

Getting a puppy is a lot of work, but in the end it can be really rewarding. I tried to compensate for the serious time commitment by preparing for Bailey ahead of time. I bought lots of different toys and training treats. I got her a crate with a divider and some towels for the bottom. And that isn't even half of what I bought. Click here to see what I did have and what I wish I had for Bailey's first night home.

The ride to pick up Bailey was two hours long. The ride back was even longer. We stopped multiple times to try and get Bailey to go to the bathroom but the whole drive she didn't pee or poop once. She did, however, puke on my friend who came along to sit with her while I drove. Bailey did not fit into the harness I had bought for her so we stopped at the pet store to buy her a new one. People stopped in their tracks the second they saw Bailey, my little eight week old golden retriever puppy who fit snugly in my arms. None of the harnesses at the pet store fit her perfectly but we got the best one we could find before heading home to feed her dinner.

Bailey ate her dinner very fast and immediately proceeded to pee and poop in her crate. It became clear that I did not have a small enough crate for her, even though I had the divider in extremely close. I took Bailey outside, cleaned up the crate, and then it was time for our second trip to the pet store. I got her a medium sized crate, again with a divider, and now it is the perfect size for her. She slept soundly through the first two hours of the night in the crate with her lavender stuffed bunny.

When Bailey did wake up I let her cry for a bit before taking her outside to use the bathroom. An eight week old puppy is too young to sleep through the night and I ended up taking her out three more times that night before breakfast time.

All-in-all I would consider Bailey's first day home a huge success. She cried minimally in her crate and, despite a few bumps, we had a great time together!