The first week with a puppy is mostly sleep, toilet trips and resisting the urge to buy everything in the pet shop. This new puppy checklist for Singapore owners covers what you genuinely need before the puppy comes home, what can wait a month, and the paperwork that can't wait at all. Spend on the few things that matter and leave the rest for when you know who your puppy actually is.
Before pickup: the boring but important bit
Sort these out before the puppy is in the car, not after.
- Where you live. If you're in an HDB flat, check that the breed is on HDB's list of approved dog breeds; the rule is one approved dog per flat. In a condo, read the MCST by-laws, which sometimes set their own limits on size or number.
- Licence and microchip. Every pet dog in Singapore must be microchipped and licensed with AVS. Puppies from a licensed pet shop or breeder should already be microchipped, so ask for the microchip number. If this is your first dog, you'll need to finish AVS's free online Pet Ownership Course before you can apply, so start it before pickup. Then apply for the licence, or transfer it into your name, on AVS's PALS website straight away.
- Ask the breeder or shelter for specifics. The vaccination card (it should show the microchip number), deworming dates, the exact food and feeding times, and what the puppy has been sleeping on. A puppy who has slept in a pen with littermates will settle faster in a pen than in an open room.
- Pick a vet now. You'll want the first visit within the week, and you don't want to be searching at 9 pm with a puppy who has had the runs.
Week one: the short list
This is everything you need for the first seven days. Nothing on this list is optional, and almost nothing off it is urgent.
| Item | Why it matters in week one |
|---|---|
| The same food the breeder used | Switching food and homes in the same week is a recipe for diarrhoea. Keep the food identical for two to three weeks, then change slowly if you want to. |
| Two bowls | One for water, one for food. Heavy ceramic or steel so they don't get flipped and skated across the tiles. |
| A pen or crate | A safe place to sleep and to be left for ten minutes while you shower. Not a punishment zone. |
| A bed, sized for the adult dog | They sleep 18 to 20 hours a day at this age. Buy for the dog they'll become, see below. |
| Pee pads or a tray | No walks on the ground outside until your vet says so, so toilet training starts indoors whether you like it or not. |
| Enzyme cleaner | Ordinary floor cleaner leaves the smell behind, and the smell tells the puppy where to go next time. |
| Collar, ID tag, light lead | Even indoors. Get them used to the feel early. |
| Two or three chew toys | Puppy teeth need to go somewhere. Better a toy than the table leg. |
| Old towels | For drying, for lining the pen, for the inevitable. |
One Singapore-specific addition: a fan pointed near, not at, the pen. A puppy in a west-facing room at 3 pm gets hot fast, and a hot puppy doesn't sleep.
What can wait a month
- A harness. They'll outgrow the first one in weeks. Buy it when walks actually start.
- Grooming kit. A brush is enough for now. The first proper groom is usually after the vaccination course.
- Fancy toys and puzzle feeders. Wait until you know whether you have a shredder, a hoarder or a dog who ignores toys entirely.
- Clothes. It's 32 degrees. Skip them.
- Training treats in bulk. Use their kibble for the first weeks. It's free and already in the house.
One thing that should come sooner than most people think: a way onto and off the sofa that isn't a jump. More on that below.
The first 72 hours
Keep it quiet. Friends can meet the puppy next week. Let them sleep as much as they want, which will be most of the day, and treat waking up as the start of a toilet trip. The pattern that works: out to the pad after waking, after eating, after playing, and roughly every hour in between while awake. Same spot every time, calm praise and a tiny piece of kibble when they get it right, no reaction when they don't.
At night, put the pen next to your bed for the first week. Expect crying the first two nights; a hand through the bars and a warm, dry towel from the dryer settles most puppies. Moving the pen out of the bedroom later is far easier than the other way round.
Give the puppy one corner of the flat that is theirs: pen, bed, water, nothing scary. In a small flat this is less about space and more about predictability. Our article on setting up a dog corner in a small flat has a layout that works even in a two-room flexi.
Vets, vaccinations and the no-walk weeks
Book the first vet visit within the first week, even if the puppy seems fine. The vet will check the vaccination record, set out the rest of the schedule and look for anything the breeder missed. Puppy vaccinations usually run until about 16 weeks or a little later, with a booster at around 6 months. Until your vet says otherwise, your puppy shouldn't be walking where unvaccinated dogs have been.
That doesn't mean a puppy in a bubble. Carry them. Sit at the void deck for ten minutes. Stand near the MRT entrance so they hear the noise from a distance. Ride the lift. The window for easy socialisation closes at around 3 to 4 months, and a puppy carried through the neighbourhood learns almost as much as one walked through it. Ask your vet about puppy classes, which many puppies can start after their first vaccines. Your vet is the right person to confirm the schedule and the first food change for your specific puppy, especially for large breeds.
Floors, sofas and growing joints
Tiles are slippery for a puppy who hasn't worked out their own legs yet. A washable rug where they play saves a lot of splaying. More importantly, puppies' growth plates are still open, and many vets advise against repeated jumps off sofas and beds while the joints are still forming. For now, lift them on and off. Once your vet is happy with how they're growing, a few low, gentle steps can replace the jump, so jumping never becomes the habit you have to break. Keep lead walks short once they start, and let the puppy set the pace on soft ground.
Choosing the bed: buy for the dog they'll become
This is the one purchase where we'd say spend properly, once. A puppy bed bought for a 2 kg toy poodle fits a 2 kg toy poodle. Size by expected adult weight instead. For the Mitodo Kumo Orthopaedic Dog & Cat Bed that means Small for dogs who'll stay under 8 kg (toy poodle, maltese, shih tzu, pomeranian, maltipoo, chihuahua, yorkie, mini schnauzer), Medium for 8 to 18 kg (frenchie, corgi, shiba, beagle, cocker, cavapoo), and Large for 18 to 45 kg (golden, labrador, Singapore Special, standard poodle). A golden puppy in a Large bed looks lost for about three months and then looks exactly right.
We built Kumo for puppy ownership as much as senior ownership. The microsuede cover, made with OEKO-TEX® certified fabric, zips off along a hidden zipper, which keeps the zip away from chewers, and washes cold on a gentle cycle. Underneath it is a separate water-resistant liner, so a week-three accident doesn't reach the foam. The high-density support foam holds its shape as the puppy grows into a full-size dog, and the cooling memory gel foam on top helps on hot afternoons. The foam is covered by our Lifetime Foam Warranty, so this is the bed for the whole dog, not just the puppy. It's dispatched in 1 to 3 working days with free delivery in Singapore, and arrives vacuum-compressed, so order it a few days before pickup and give it up to 72 hours to rise.
Tonight, before anything else: write the breeder's feeding times and your toilet schedule on a note on the fridge. Everyone in the house follows it. Everything else on this list can be ordered tomorrow.
Shopping for a bed? See our orthopaedic dog beds in every size and colour.