Life with a Puppy

Meet Winston! If you follow along on Instagram, you know that Alex surprised me this Christmas with the sweetest Golden Retriever puppy! Since then, we have had a few accidents on my favorite West Elm rug, the backdoor is always covered in muddy paw prints and there are bones and toys all over the house. Okay, maybe he is not always sweet, but we have loved having a dog in the house. The second we picked up Winston my brain started running with a million questions. We always grew up with dogs but owning one on your own is a little scary. I am answering some of the questions we had going into life with a puppy!

Where is the best place to buy pet supplies? We have loved using Chewy to buy just about everything for Winston. Alex hit a Black Friday sale on Chewy before I even knew about Winston, and he ordered food, treats, toys, a kennel and a collar. Since then we have ordered heart worm prevention and more food through Chewy. It is so easy to price compare online and nothing beats having a heavy bag of dog food delivered right to your font door. Pro tip: don’t order multiple bags of dog food at once if you want to be able to pick the box up off your porch (speaking from experience).

How do I find a good vet? We asked friends, read reviews on NextDoor and online. We ended up taking Winston to CityVet at their Preston Park location, but they have locations all over Dallas. The staff is so friendly and Dr. Tucker is extremely knowledgable. He had some great tips to deal with a teething puppy and talked us through all the shots that we had the option to give Winston. We feel like Winston is in good hands and we are not being taken advantage of or up-sold.

What do I do with the dog while I am at work? One of the first things we did was kennel train Winston. When we leave for work he goes in his kennel for a few hours, and I am fortunate enough to be able to come home during the day to play with him. We have been looking a few daycare places but have not found one we love. We would like for him to be able to play with other dogs some days to release that puppy energy!

Should I have my dog trained? Some breeds are easier to train than others, and puppies are even easier to train. It took us about two weeks to get Winston comfortable in his kennel and house trained. I was not about to allow another stain on my rug so with enough praise and treats (and racing him outside), house training happened quickly. We used meal times as an opportunity to teach him sit and he has kind of learned shake. We still need to work on not jumping on people, walking on a leash and staying put. We have not taken Winston to any training classes, but are planning to take him.

I have linked some of my favorite dog accessories below and be sure to follow @sirwinstonphillips on Instagram to see more! xoxo

Images via Alex Phillips.