Welcome back to McCann dogs. I'm Ken Steepe.
It's easy to spend a fortune buying puppy products and the things that you think
you'll need.
But what if I told you that you could get everything that you're gonna need for
that first week home for less than 200 bucks? It's true. And here's how.
A house line is your puppy training secret weapon.
This is something that we suggest to all of our puppy training students.
And this is something that you'll have seen Kayl and I use in our recent series
with Five Alive.
Now the beauty of a house line is that it turns you into a puppy training
superhero.
You are able to have a little bit more control when your puppy is out of their
crate. Every single time they come out, every single time they're loose and, uh,
around you, they're gonna have their house line on.
That way, If they get into something, if they are jumping up like crazy.
If they steal a sock outta the laundry bin and run under a table,
you have a little bit more control. Without a house-line,
you are chasing your puppy around and it turns into a big game for them
using a house line in your training just gives you that little bit extra ability
to have great timing.
This is really important because remember your puppy is learning all the time.
So if something feels good, like chewing on your shoes or jumping up, you know,
all over your family, they're gonna think that's the right thing.
By using a house-line, you can stop that from happening.
This kind of thing is really, really important in that first week home,
because the last thing you want to do is have your puppy learn all the things
that you don't want them to do. Now,
I mentioned that you can go to your local dollar store to get a house line,
but the reality is, if you wanna pay five times as much,
you can probably get something like this online.
What you should be paying for a house-line.
The next important puppy training tool for that first week home is an
inexpensive leash or a long line.
Now maybe you live in an area where you can't take your puppy outside yet,
but eventually that will be the case.
Maybe you have a yard that you're gonna take them out to go potty in.
And as I mentioned before,
it's really important that your puppy never really learns that you don't have
control, especially at this point, especially during that first week home,
they're learning all the time. And when you take them out to go potty,
they are likely to get distracted. They're likely to, you know, uh,
leaf blows by they'll follow that. They'll be sniffing around like crazy.
And you wanna have a little bit more control in this situation.
So something like an inexpensive leash or a long line that's maybe 10 or 15
feet is a great tool to have that little bit of extra control.
They also get a sense that maybe they have a little bit more freedom,
but ultimately, you know, you're at the other end of that line. If you're lucky,
your local dollar store might have something like this,
but if they don't your local pet store or something like Amazon,
you'll be able to grab a long line. That's appropriately sized for your puppy.
What you should be paying for a long line.
I wanna talk to you about appropriate toys for your puppy. But before I do that,
you need to know that there are a couple different categories of toys when it
comes to your puppy and knowing the difference can make a big difference in your
puppy training. The first category is chew toys and know you're probably very
familiar with this and we'll often get a couple of new chew toys for our puppy.
When we first bring them home.
Now we're big fans of Cong toys and Nyla bone toys.
They are not sponsoring this video,
but these are the kinds of things that we love.
And this is something we find our students really love that those two brands as
well.
Now a chew toy is a really valuable tool as a pastime.
Instead of chewing things,
instead of chewing the things you don't want your puppy to chew,
you can give them this chew toy to chew on.
It also sort of satiates that need for chewing.
It allows them to hang out in their crate or hang out on a bed and gives them
something to do that they find really satisfying.
But you do need to pay attention to your puppy for the first little while after
you've given them a new chew toy,
you don't quite know yet what kind of chewer you have. And after you give them a
new new toy, take a look at it.
After every chewing session that they have with it,
some of the popular chew puppy chew toys out there are actually edible and very
quickly,
those chew toys can get small enough that your puppy could swallow it whole.
And that could become a real hazard.
This is why we really like things like Kong and Nyla bone,
because those products take so much longer to get down to that size if it ever
happens at all. And when it comes to size, generally when we pick chew toys,
we'll go one size up, whatever the recommended size is on the package,
we'll get the next largest one it's gonna last longer. And in our case,
our puppies are often like pretty intense chewers and they quickly go through
the, uh, standard size.
So choosing the next size up will allow it to be it's a little safer for a
little bit longer. Now,
if you're looking for some professional dog trainer secret sauce,
you need to know about using an interactive toy with your puppy.
An interactive toy is the kind of toy that you can use to engage your puppy.
Maybe it's something like a, a fuzzy tug, a rope tug, or like a stretchy ball.
Um, something like our McCann dog's puppy tug.
We spend a lot of time with puppy owners and we know that those interactive toys
should be long enough that you can wiggle around,
keep your hands outta the way from getting bitten for this first little while,
but also soft enough that your puppy can like really engage with it,
really grab onto it, to get them really excited about playing with toys.
There are a couple really important benefits to interactive toys,
especially at this stage in your puppies life. Number one,
the first couple of weeks,
home are all about relationships. So imagine how your puppy starts to view you
when every time they're having the most fun and they're playing and, you know,
growling and just enjoying life in general, that you're always involved.
You're at the other end of that toy.
Number two puppies have a remarkable amount of energy.
So what if I told you that you could tire your puppy out in just a few minutes
of them playing tug and chasing the toy around so that they're ready to go lie
down and have a snooze in their crate or they're ready to lie down on their bed.
You can get some quality chew toys for your puppy at your local pet store,
or they're lots of them available online. But when it comes to interactive toys,
I highly recommend the McCann Dogs,
Puppy Tugs that we have available at McCannDogs.Store. We spent a long time, uh,
figuring out what was the best way to get that puppy engaged. What was the best
way to work on some of these, uh, uh, exercises with our dogs?
McCann Dogs Puppy Tug is it.
Here's what you should be spending on your puppy toys for the first week.
One of the most important things you can do for your puppy is manage them
appropriately. And one of the best ways to do that is by using a crate. Now,
a crate is gonna give you your puppy,
a safe place to be when you can't supervise them.
It's also going to turn into the place where you're feeding them,
where they know they can be safe and relaxed. Maybe you've got a busy household.
It's important that your puppy has somewhere, that they can go.
That's peaceful and quiet. Now,
a couple of considerations when you're choosing a crate,
we often will choose a hard sided plastic crate,
because it's a little bit cleaner. They're easier to transport,
especially when you have this little puppy. We talk a lot,
especially in our first week puppy training videos about moving that crate
around with you and a plastic side.
Crate is a really nice way and it's easily transported around your home.
Another thing to think about is the size of crate for your puppy.
It's gonna be important that you consider this before getting your crate.
How big is my puppy now?
How quickly are they going to grow your puppy's size at eight weeks is very
different than their size at eight months.
So if you plan on using a crate throughout their life,
you're gonna need to think about this.
And this is gonna be a really important buying strategy that we talk about in
just a minute. They need to be able to stand up,
lie down and turn around comfortably. But if you get anything that's much bigger
than that,
they're more likely to have accidents in there and it presents some new
challenges. So here's the tip.
This is a great time to use something like your Facebook marketplace or a local
community. Maybe Kijiji is popular in your area, and you can get, uh,
an appropriately sized crate for that first month home.
And then you can go back to that marketplace,
sell your crate and get another crate. That's a little bit bigger.
You could go out and buy a brand new crate for your puppy and, you know,
hope for the best. You know, that they're gonna grow into it.
But that's often a really expensive mistake that new puppy owners will make.
And I strongly suggest that you get into those puppy groups and you start
engaging in those online marketplaces,
because this is a great way to save yourself a lot of cash,
but that crate is going to change your entire puppy training experience over the
course of your puppy's life. But for sure, during that first week home,
it's gonna make a big difference.
The reality is depending on your breed of puppy,
you may end up buying and selling a couple of different crates over the course
of your puppy training journey. What you should be paying for a crate.
There are all kinds of different dog bowls available out there,
but there's a couple things that I want you to think about when you're buying a
bull specifically for your puppy. Number one,
we really like stainless steel dog bowls. They stay clean. They're really light.
We'll actually use our puppies bowls in part of their training.
We've talked a little bit about that in previous videos,
but something to consider is having a rubber bottom on that dog bowl so that it
doesn't slide around in your puppies crate.
It doesn't slide around on the floor that rubber bottom can make life a whole
lot easier. Another interesting tool that you might not be aware of is something
called a coop cup. We'll give our puppies access to water throughout the day,
and you can actually attach it to the side of your puppies. Crate.
If you have a puppy like any of ours,
they might love to splash around in their water bowl.
So using something like a coop cup is a great way to get it up off the ground
and keep it secured in place so that they don't make a mess of it.
You're probably gonna be able to find a stainless steel dog bowl at something
like a local dollar store,
but they're probably not gonna have the rubber bottoms on them.
This is a situation where you might have to go to your local pet store or look
it up online. But I definitely suggest that rubber bottom option now,
for something like a coop cup, it's a little bit more expensive,
but if you have the means to do so, it's a great option to have.
What you should be paying for a dog bowl. Next,
we need to talk about training treats. Now the first week home,
you're not as focused on treats. We've shown this in some of our recent videos,
you were really using our puppies meals to take advantage of that food drive,
but it's always nice to have something that's a little bit higher value
available. If your puppy makes a great choice,
or if you absolutely need to get a little bit more of their attention.
Choose a treat that is semi moist.
It's a really good choice for your puppy training because puppy training is all
about timing and with crunchy treats,
your puppy might be munching away on a crunchy little treat while you're missing
a great opportunity to reward. When it comes to wet treats,
you're gonna find very quickly that your hands and your pockets and your bait
pouch become an absolute mess.
Remember that your puppy has a small belly and a short attention span. So your
training sessions are already gonna be pretty short and sweet.
And since you'll be rewarding with a bunch of your puppies meals this first
week,
you're probably not gonna need to go out and spend a fortune on training treats,
but it is nice to have a little variety.
So you can go out to your local pet store or go online and pick up something
that your puppy will absolutely love. Here's a tip,
try to choose something that's really smelly.
We actually have a video here on the channel that talks about our homemade tuna
treats. And although I think tuna is disgusting because it's so smelly,
our puppies absolutely love it.
And the dogs in our training classes absolutely love it as well.
So I'll put a link in the description below,
so you can check out those homemade tuna treats.
Here's what you should be paying for your training treats.
We need to talk about a puppy bed,
and I'm actually going to mention something that might surprise you.
You'll see in our recent new puppy series with Five Alive,
that we start to build value for a puppy bed really early.
And it's so nice when you can have a spot for your puppy to go where they can
just hang out and chew on a bone or have a little snooze,
or maybe that's your snuggle spot.
Whatever the reason is we start really early teaching our puppy that there's
value in a bed. During your puppy's first week home,
all you're really doing is establishing a history of reward for that location.
So we'll put it in somewhere like the kitchen or the living room,
and we'll start to show the puppy that there's value there.
So there's lots of reasons to have a puppy bed,
but one place that you shouldn't be putting a bed for your puppy is in their
crate. At least not yet. At this point in your puppy's life,
they're probably gonna be chewing on anything and everything,
and this includes their bed.
And you don't want think that your puppy is safe and sound inside their crate
while they're actually chewing up and consuming that bedding.
There's all sorts of nasty materials that go into the bedding,
especially with the stuffing and fluff,
that can really be dangerous for your puppy if they consume it.
The other challenge that comes up for puppy owners when they put bedding in the
crate from the very beginning, is that if you're working on house training,
your puppy can learn with a be in there that they can pee on the bedding and
then squish it all up in the corner so that it's nice and dry.
And there's no consequence for peeing where they sleep. I mean,
eventually your puppy's going to get all of the bedding they could ever want,
but it's only after you know that they won't eat it and it's not gonna
negatively affect their house training. They have to sort of earn these things
and earn these opportunities to have access so that it's much safer for them.
It's gonna speed up their training. Now you can get a dog bed anywhere,
but when it comes to choosing the right one, it's more about aesthetic.
And does it fit into your living space and is it the right size for your puppy
or do they need to grow into it?
So check out a big box store or your local pet store,
or you can definitely get something like this online,
but here's what you should be paying for your dog bed.
There are all kinds of different collars available out there for your puppy.
But one thing that we always recommend is a simple, flat buckle collar.
The great part about that is that you're going to be taking your puppy in and
out all the time. You're gonna be handling them snuggling with them,
putting a house line on them,
which is something I'm going to talk about in a little bit,
but you want a flat buckle collar because it can grow with your puppy. Now,
when we bring our puppies home, we'll put that flat buckle collar on them,
and then we'll actually be checking it every day just for the size.
But a simple flat buckle collar is an inexpensive way to have a little bit more
control of your puppy during that first week home,
the collar is one of those items that I suggest you go into your local pet store
and you get a feel for it. If you like the material, you like, how it attaches,
whether it's a metal buckle or a clasp, we,
you often will suggest metal buckles because they're less likely to slip or, uh,
unclip. But the reality is if you know the approximate size of your puppy,
when they come home, or if you have them with you,
you can probably do a little measurement and order, something like this online,
what you should be paying for a collar.
You'll probably notice that we haven't talked about food at this point,
and that's on purpose. Now, if you're getting your puppy from a breeder,
it's likely that they're going to be coming home with some of the food that
they've already been eating. You can transition your,
your puppy onto something else,
mix it with whatever you're gonna continue feeding them.
But to know what's right for your dog.
I highly suggest you talk to your veterinarian.
It seems like every couple of years,
there's a new food fad when it comes to dogs and to get the best information
that's right for your dog and the best information that's right for their breed.
Maybe even the latest research on what's appropriate for your dog.
I'd check with your veterinarian. But for that reason,
we're not going to include food in this first week, a puppy buying haul.
I get it getting a puppy is expensive. And when you're a new puppy owner,
there are lots of choices that you need to make when it comes to the things that
you want to get versus the things that you need to get.
But now that we've talked about all of the things that you need for that first
week home, your grand total is
Since you made it to this point in the video,
I'm willing to bet you're a bit of a planner.
If you're looking for a plan for your puppy's first week home,
make sure you check out this video right here. Now,
if you'd like to give your puppy the best start possible,
and you'd like coaching, that's specific to you and your puppy,
and you want help from me and the McCann Dogs team,
click the link in the description below to our online puppy essentials program.
On that note, I'm Ken. Happy Training.