What do you need for a new puppy?! We’ve officially had our double doodle puppy, Rainey, for 1 year!! We brought her home when she was 6 weeks old, and she was absolutely PRECIOUS. In my 27 years of life, I never had a dog before! I know, I know, before you think I was deprived, I was DEATHLY AFRAID of dogs growing up. In 1st grade, I was bit on the head by an Akita, and it really traumatized me. I was that girl when I went over to your house I made you put your dog in a different room. I was EXTREMELY skittish around dogs, and it took me years (probably not until college) for me to warm up and even hold a dog. I was never that person who sees a dog the street and immediately asks to pet it, and now 1 year into being a dog mommy, I’m totally that CAN I PET THAT DAWWWG (Tiktokers get that joke 😉 ) kinda girl.
Anyway, now that you know my backstory, I was 100% CLUELESS on what dogs needed, let alone a puppy! Que the 800 google searches cross-referencing multiple lists – I came up with my own. I pretty much used everything I bought, but here’s a full breakdown on what exactly are Rainey’s toys and what were essential.
I will say, this is what worked for our dog breed, a medium sized double doodle. I know, the title says goldendoodle, but it’s more common. A double doodle is basically the same thing, she’s a Goldendoodle / Labradoodle mix! So she’s actually a lab, golden retriever, and poodle! Your dog may have different needs, especially if it is a different size and breed. Rainey was supposedly supposed to be 40 pounds full grown, but she’s a big 55 pounds now 1 year later. When we first brought her home, she was a tiny thing at 8 pounds.
Basics
Crate & Cleanup – We crate trained our dog for 3 months. Some dogs love their crate, some hate it. Rainey HATED it. Listening to her whine in there right before leaving the house without her was heartbreaking! We crate trained her so she didn’t have any accidents in the house, because she never went in her crate! We also had her sleep in her crate for the first 3 months – again – to avoid accidents. The first week when we brought her home, she was so scared and anxious about her new surroundings, we played rainfall sounds from our phone to soothe her to sleep.
For accidents, we use the Nature’s Miracle spray and it works like a charm! Don’t love the scent, but I tell myself it’s working, lol.
Bed – I just got a cheap one from Amazon to start! I didn’t want something I spent a bunch of money on for her to potentially destroying with excessive chewing or an accident. We do have a hole it it from ripping the tag, and she’s too big for it now, but we still have it for travel and putting it in the car! Here’s the link to our $13 bed. We still need to upgrade her to a “big girl bed” and I’ve linked some of my top contenders below!
Collars & Leashes – Your dog will most likely grow out of their intital collar size if you get them young. We got Rainey at 6 weeks and she wore an XS collar and it fit for 2 months and we transitioned to a M, then eventually L. I got the smaller collars from Amazon since I knew she would grow out of them, then got her adult collars, leash and matching harness from Lucy&Co! Lucy&Co is hands down my favorite brand! SO CUTE!! And the quality and material they use is so durable and doesn’t get dirty easily. We’ve had a leash / collar / harness set for 8 months and it still looks amazing! Lucy&Co isn’t linkable so they aren’t in any pictures below. I also love the Foggy Dog prints for collars!
Dog Shampoo – I’ve tried 3 brands, and have a top 2. Burts Bee’s was pretty common, but I HATED the smell. The scent was super light and didn’t feel like I actually cleaned her since she didn’t have a good smell afterward. I LOVE the Well&Good brand scent – it’s AHHHMAZING. The one I got was for white coats to make them brighter. If you don’t have a white dog, I recommend Nature’s Miracle, I also liked that one!
Poop Bags – Don’t forget these!!! I’m so weird I wanted cute colored bags at first. LOL I KNOW I SPENT EXTRA MONEY ON COLORED POOP BAGS. I’m extra. It’s fine. But when I ran out, I settled on the cheap Amazon black bags and a year later, I still have bags leftover. It’s a years supply! As I mentioned, *Extra*, I also bought a cute poop bag container to put on the leash. In addition to being cute, it’s actually functionable and you actually remember bags and will clean up after your dog since you have them on hand!
Toys
Kong Toys! I recommend anything Kong brand. We started off with one soft Cozie and one Ultra soft Cozie and they lasted until another dog came over and destroyed it…LOL. Rainey doesn’t really destroy her toys which is good! The rubber material Kong toys are also essential for teething! We got the frisbie and original kong in puppy size. A rope toy is also essential!
Treats
I went a little crazy and bought WAYYYY to many treats…..that a year later I’m still working on finishing my original order. I didn’t know what flavor she was going to like – so I bought the chicken, lamb, beef, salmon…all of em! I also read many blog posts and ended up with some dried chicken liver which she loves too lol. The only things we’ve rebought are GREENIES! She goes CRAZY over Greenies! Greenies are essential and she reacts more excitedly to the word Greenie over treat she likes them that much more! GREENIES ARE MY NUMBER 1 RECOMMENDATION. For puppies, I also recommend the teething rings! She loved these and lasted a few minutes to chew on.
Training
Training Bells – We ended up not using training bells to potty train – but they might be of interest to you. Your dog rings the bell to alert you to go to the bathroom. We just consistently took Rainey out alllll the time to potty train her.
Gentle Lead – this is to help with dogs pulling and jerking you. Again, something we bought and didn’t use only because I couldn’t figure out how to put it on lol. Ross wasn’t really interested in using it so we never did, but I know people who loved them! I think she could still get better at this so maybe I should try it now haha.
Pee Pads – Okay, I bought these, but never used them. We chose to potty train her outside, so these would have just confused her. I thought I was going to line the crate with it, but never did. The crate was pretty easy to clean up when she did have an accident. If you are in an apartment or something and planning on doing the pee pad method, then this works for you!
Food
Talk to your vet! Our vet highly advised against grain free diet, unless our puppy had some type of allergy and needs it for medical reasons. The FDA recently found a potential link between a grain-free diet and heart conditions. You can make your own decision, but I personally am not risking it! We went with Hills Science Diet based on the vets recommendation.
Rainey is the BEST PUPPY and BIG GIRL DOG in the whole world!!! And I know you’ll feel the same about your precious angel. They are just the sweetest!!! Here are few more cute puppy pics just because!!! AHHHHH I LOVE HER! You will see her on Instagram all the time 🙂
