Bringing Home Your Golden Puppy: A Simple First-Week Checklist

Pickup day arrives, and suddenly there's a warm, sleepy puppy in your arms — yours to keep. The first week home is a season you'll always remember, and a little quiet preparation is what lets you spend it the way you should: down on the floor, nose to nose, soaking it all in. Here's the short list we share with every family, so nothing about those first days feels like guesswork.

We send each puppy home already well-started — crate introduced, potty habits begun, and a whole world of early sights and sounds behind them. Your job for the first week is simpler than it sounds: keep things calm, keep them close, and let your new English Cream Golden Retriever settle in at their own pace. This checklist walks you through how — from the supplies to gather now to the gentle first lessons that begin almost on their own.

Before they arriveBefore pickup day: gather these first

You'll want the essentials waiting by the door before your puppy ever walks through it. Nothing here is fancy — a Golden puppy needs far less than the pet store will suggest.

• A crate sized for a grown Golden, with a divider panel so it shrinks to puppy-size for now
• A soft bed or mat, plus a couple of washable blankets
• Stainless steel food and water bowls — easy to clean and they won't hold odors
• A bag of the same food we've been feeding, so a diet change doesn't upset their stomach (we'll send you the details)
• A well-fitted flat collar, an ID tag, and a light leash
• A treat pouch and a few safe chews for teething
• A brush made for a thick double coat
• An enzyme cleaner for the accidents that are simply part of week one
• A small handful of toys — a few is plenty

Then spend ten minutes on their level, literally crouched down, looking for trailing cords, low houseplants, and anything small enough to swallow. Decide where the crate will live and where you'll take them out to potty, so day one already has a shape.

The first hoursThe first day and night: calm and close

When you get home, head straight to your chosen potty spot before anything else, then let your puppy explore a single room at their own speed. Keep that first day small and quiet. A new home is a lot to take in, and a calm arrival helps a puppy feel safe far faster than an exciting one.

For the first night, set the crate right beside your bed. Your puppy has never slept alone, and being close enough to hear you is deeply reassuring — a little whimpering is normal and usually settles. Expect a potty trip or two in the small hours; carry them out, keep it boring and dark, and tuck them back in. Within a few nights, most puppies are sleeping in longer and longer stretches.

The first weekThe first week: a gentle rhythm

Puppies thrive on rhythm more than rules. Aim for a loose, repeating shape to the day — wake, potty, eat, play, potty, nap — and let it gently anchor everything. And plan for a lot of sleeping: a young puppy needs sixteen to eighteen hours a day, so build in real downtime in the crate or a pen. Overtired puppies, like overtired toddlers, tend to fall apart.

The first week is also when training quietly begins — and the best part is that it looks like play. Keep a few pieces of your puppy's own kibble in that treat pouch and reward the moments you want more of: a potty in the right place, four paws on the floor instead of a jump, a happy little come when you call. Because it's just their regular food, you can reward generously without ever overfeeding — here's exactly how we think about treating the right way.

Everything we do — and everything we'd steer you toward — is reward-based and force-free. No prong collars, no shock, just paying for the behavior you'd like to see again. When you're ready for first words like sit, come, and their own name, our guide to foundation obedience walks you through the gentle, five-minute sessions that do the most.

HealthThe first vet visit (and the paperwork)

Book a wellness visit with your own veterinarian for the first few days home. It's a chance for them to meet your puppy, confirm everything looks great, and answer whatever's on your mind. Bring the folder we send along — vaccination and deworming records, the microchip number, and your puppy's vet exam — and keep it somewhere safe. It's also part of your health guarantee: two years of coverage on hips, elbows, heart, and eyes, backed by our OFA- and DNA-tested parents.

Their first eight weeksThe head start they already have

Here's the part that should put you at ease: your puppy doesn't arrive as a blank slate. Before pickup day, they've had weeks of gentle early neurological stimulation, careful socialization, and dozens of new sounds, surfaces, and experiences — the small, deliberate work that builds a steady, resilient dog. If you'd like to see what those weeks look like, we wrote about our approach to early puppy development in detail. It means the little one settling into your home already has a real foundation underneath them. Your week one is simply about adding to it, gently.