The checklist
Before pickup
- Choose one sleeping spot - a crate or bed in your bedroom - and set it up before your dog arrives.
- Calm-proof one room: cables, plants, bins and shoes out of reach for the first days.
- Food your dog already knows, a simple leash and harness, and something soft that smells like the shelter or foster home.
- Save your vet's phone number somewhere easy, before you ever need it.
The first day
- Keep the trip home quiet. No stops, no visitors, no pet store on the way.
- Start at the toilet spot, outside, before the front door - and praise like it matters.
- Keep the world small: one or two rooms at first, explored at your dog's pace.
- End the day early and calmly. The first night sets the tone for the ones after it.
The first nights
- Keep the sleeping spot by your bed at first - hearing you is what lets a new dog settle.
- Answer night waking in boring mode: toilet trip if needed, quiet praise, straight back to bed.
- Same order every night: calm evening, last toilet trip, lights low. Routine is the lullaby.
The first week
- Meals, toilet trips and short walks at roughly the same times every day.
- Short, sniffy walks on quiet streets. Sniffing is the point, not distance.
- Practice tiny alone times from day one: seconds, then minutes, always calm.
- Reward the quiet you did not ask for - a calm dog on a bed gets your attention before barking ever does.
- Keep visitors to one calm person at a time, or none. Your dog is still learning who home is.
Skip this week
- The dog park. It will still be there next month.
- Parties, kids' birthdays, the whole family at once.
- Long outings and busy streets. Short and boring wins the week.
- New gadgets, new food experiments, new rules every day. Change one thing at a time.
Shared with adopters by Calm on the Leash - calmontheleash.com
For shelters
The printable sheet is free to print and share with adopters, as-is. It fits one printed page. If your organization would like a version with your name and logo, or free copies of our books for your adopters, write to us through the partners page. Every adopter who starts calm is a dog who stays home.
A little more
The first week in depth: a rescue dog's first week at home and a routine for a newly adopted dog. For the whole first three months, The Rescue's First 90 Days is the complete plan.