Welcoming a new four-legged family member into your home is exciting but also challenging. In this post, I want to share with you how we prepare our apartment to welcome a puppy. This is a major decision and it requires a few changes in our apartment to adjust the dog’s need. My goal is to create a puppy-loving home that is pleasant and also to prevent the house from getting out of shape (a.k.a not nice anymore) even with a dog around.

Last month, our family has just expanded by four paws. My husband and I decided to add a puppy to our lives because we wanted a little companion. We’ve enjoyed our “couple life” together and we reached the point where we are ready to take up new challenge at life.

Having a dog requires serious commitment and the decision should be carefully thought out. Puppies are cute but don’t let the look fools you because alongside their adorable and irresistible puppy dog eyes, they are curious little monsters that like to explore and are able to destroy your house in a minute if your house is underprepared for their arrival.

When we first told our friends and relatives that we decided to get a dog, some of them showed concern. Many believes that a clean house and a dog don’t belong to the same place. Most of them know I like to keep my home neat and pretty so their concerns are reasonable. However, like I said before, we are ready for a new challenge. Besides, a clean and tidy house gets pretty boring sometimes.

A little disclaimer before I continue: I’m not a doggie expert and all knowledges I share here are self-taught. However, I survived my first month with Momo and I managed to keep my flat stay nice and clean so far. Even more, the training went surprisingly well and he is as healthy and obedient as we’d like him to be. Plus, he has learned how to use his potty area!

So these are how we prepare/adjust our flat for a puppy-friendly household:

1. Decide where the ‘dog room’ is

Even in our compact apartment, we need to dedicate a place for Momo. Until he is housebroken, that place is the area where he can freely roam around when the humans are not watching. Ideally, the dog room should be a place where the dog can feel comfortable and safe.

We decided to use our laundry area/service yard as the ‘dog room’ because it is quiet and cool (away from direct sunlight). Plus, there isn’t any items he can chew or destroy in that room that can potentially harm him.

2. Puppy-proof the ‘dog room’

The dog room should be puppy-proofed, meaning there shouldn’t be any cords, electrical sockets, furnitures, or anything dangerous or valuable that could be nibbled by the puppy. Because Momo is still teething, he needs to chew on something. When nobody is watching him, for example when I have to cook or take a shower, I leave few dog toys in the dog room to keep him company and to help him release the need to chew.

Some dogs like to scratch too, so the only thing we need to take extra step is protecting the laundry area’s glass door and washing machine. For the glass door, we applied a layer of window film to protect it from any scratch. For the washing machine, we spray pet deterrent spray on the surface that is reachable by Momo’s height. This spray is super bitter so the dog won’t be tempted to chew.

3. Create a sleeping area and indoor potty area

A dedicated sleeping spot is like a den for a dog. Some people use crate as a sleeping place for the dog until the dog is housebroken. Whatever it is, the dog’s sleeping area should be a place that your puppy loves, not hates.

Living in a high-rise apartment, it is not convenient to keep bringing Momo out therefore we decided to replicate the concept of puppy apartment by having an indoor potty area until Momo is able to hold his need to wee and poo a little longer. Currently, he needs to relieve himself every about 3 to 4 hours.

We also want to help train Momo to be independent if he needs to use toilet at night by himself and whenever he feels like it. So this is what we do:

We installed a baby gate under my ironing table (this space is perfect for a puppy like Momo!). We put dog bed on one side and potty tray on the other side. The idea is like this: dogs generally won’t soil their den or sleeping place and their instinct will tell them to eliminate anywhere else but the den. Therefore, by limiting the space, they will be ‘forced’ to do wee and poo on the tray, which works! This concept is similar to Potty Training Puppy Apartment.

This is how Momo’s room looks like:

Potty-training is very important and it needs to be taught as early as possible. The puppy needs to learn where he can relieve himself, even in the house, so the humans still get their house nice and clean.

4. Prepare a dedicated storage for pet supplies

Getting a new housemate in the house means more items coming in. We decided to use our DB cabinet (near the entryway) as the storage space to store most the pet supplies. This is where we keep Momo’s leash, harness, poo bag, and some grooming tools. This place is great since it is near the main door so it’s convenient when we need to grab a leash for his daily walk or to grab some wet wipes to clean off his paws after trips.

Since I’m constantly rotating Momo’s dog toys, I also prepare a dedicated storage to keep all of his little treasures. We use IKEA wooden crate to store all of his toys in the living room for easy pick-up and clean-up.

5. Create a Puppy Schedule

Do not underestimate the power of daily schedule while raising a puppy. With a consistent routine, puppy will less likely to act out and will sooner learn when he can expect to eat and relieve himself so there won’t be any unnecessary confusion on both you and the puppy.

Create a schedule that you can commit everyday until at least the puppy has grown into an adult or when you are sure he/she has been housebroken. And yes, that means even on weekend. This article has a great explanation on puppy routine as well as easy-to-understand infographic sample schedule that you can modify to adapt yours.

6. Get puppy essential items ready

Last but not least, we gather all the must-have puppy essentials to make Momo’s first weeks experience in our house a smooth one. These are the puppy essential items that we prepared:

• Collar with tag
• Harness and leash
• Dog food and treats
• Bowls for food and drink
• Baby gate
• Dog bed (or old blanket if the puppy likes to chew the bed)
• Pee tray and pee pad
• Poo spray (to teach him to pee and poo at the right spot)
• Bitter spray (to deter him from chewing unwanted objects)
• Enzyme cleaner
• Odour remover
• Toilet paper
• Wet wipes
• Shampoo and conditioner (for puppy)
• Dog dry shampoo
• Bathing supply (apron, towels, bucket)
• Grooming tools (brush, mini hairdryer)
• Dog tooth paste and tooth brush
• Toys

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff, isn’t it? I usually like to keep things minimal, but trust me, in this case over-prepared is better than underprepared. In fact, none of the items mentioned above are not heavily occupied.

So that’s how we prepare our flat for Momo. Preparation is everything if you want to head start right and to make sure the experience of having puppy in your home is joyful, smooth and stress-free for both you and the dog.