The Calm First Week

Before pickup

☐ Choose one sleeping spot - a crate or bed in your bedroom - set up before your dog arrives.

☐ Calm-proof one room: cables, plants, bins and shoes out of reach.

☐ Food your dog already knows, a simple leash and harness, something soft that smells like the shelter or foster home.

☐ Save your vet's phone number somewhere easy.

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, explored at your dog's pace.

☐ End the day early and calmly. The first night sets the tone.

The first nights

☐ Keep the sleeping spot by your bed - 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 first.

☐ Visitors: 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.