Anyone who has ever had a dog knows that the first few days of having them in your home are incredibly crucial. Whether you just adopted a dog from the shelter or bringing a puppy home for the first time, those first couple of days are essential in how your dog or puppy will adapt to your environment. Even though I was bursting with joy and excitement, I was scared and worried. Bringing a dog into your life is a significant responsibility. Their lives are in your hands. How you train your dog and behave around them will reflect how the dog will interact with you, your family, and others.

When we got Luna, I didn't necessarily think that we would be taking her back home with us on that day. My fiancé and I were not ready in the sense of having the proper supplies waiting at home for the puppy. We weren't sure exactly how we wanted to go about certain things such as, do we crate her when we aren't home, do we set her up in a playpen, where will she sleep at night, do we want to use puppy pads, or not use them at all. While I believed I was emotionally prepared for the responsibility of owning a dog, I hadn't quite figured out all those tiny details. And to top it all off, I found out that very day that my fiancé, Jose, had never actually raised a dog from the puppy stage before. This was going to be new territory for him. That almost seemed to put even more pressure on me. I knew that Jose was more than likely to follow my lead during these first few crucial days, weeks, and months. Having this realization was a major wake-up call. While the whole situation was daunting, I felt, in the end, that I was ready for it.

Once we made the decision, there was no turning back. Immediately my brain went into hyperdrive, trying to process what needed to be done as we brought our little fur-baby home with us. We weren't sure how Luna would handle the two-hour car ride home, so the first thought that came to mind was that we needed to pick up the essentials before making the trip back. Off we went to the local Petco to buy all the goodies. We bought a bed, collar, leash, name tag, training treats, puppy training pads, and her food. Those we felt were the absolute must needs for at least the drive and the first night.

On our way back home, Jose and I had to have some serious long conversations on how we wanted to go about things in the upcoming days. One of our biggest concerns was how we were going to potty train, Luna. The majority of our place is carpeted, which is every puppy owner's nightmare. The kitchen, entryway, and bathrooms are our only areas that are tiled. Not to mention, potty training would be a bit more difficult since we live in an apartment. For the dogs my family has own in the past, potty training was essentially fairly easy. When we felt like they needed to go outside, we would open up our back door and let them out into the backyard. This was something we couldn't do in an apartment, especially with us living up on the second floor. While the whole puppy training and raising was new territory for Jose, having a puppy and training them in an apartment was new territory for me.

Luckily for us, Luna did reasonably well with potty training! Usually, when people adopt puppies, they are generally brought into the home around 8 to 10 weeks. However, due to Luna being the last of her litter and the breeder having a hard time finding her a family, we took Luna home when she was 15 weeks old. Getting Luna at an older age was, in all honesty, a blessing in disguise. The breeder had already started potty training with her, so she knew exactly how the puppy pads worked, which helped a great deal in the apartment. We could contain the majority of her accidents right on the pads, in our tiled areas. Another bonus was that Luna never once left us a number two package in the house. The only accidents we ever had to deal with only involved a piddle here, or there-this was a major victory for us! Getting Luna at 15 weeks old also had some other benefits. I was fully prepared to have a crying puppy all night for the first few days. To my amazement, Luna never cried. Not even once. While I can't be sure about this, I believe her being older played a role in this. Not to mention, Luna was also the last of her litter. Her brothers and sisters had been gone for a few weeks by the time Luna join our family. Her being the last, in my opinion, prepared her for the transition of leaving her mother and moving in with us. This may have also helped out with how we had her bedtime situation set up.

I am a massive sucker for letting your dog sleep in bed with you. However, Jose and I both agreed that while Luna was still in the potty-training stage, we were going to keep her out of our bed. This meant we needed to create the ideal sleeping situation for Luna. In the beginning, I was against Luna being crated. My family dog, Sophie, never had to be crated, and I wanted the same thing for Luna. That night when we got home, we needed to be creative. I had Jose run to the store again to pick up some essentials we hadn't quite thought about when we were at the Petco earlier. He grabbed a few puppy toys and, most importantly, a baby gate. Our bathroom is connected to our bedroom. The way we had our bed positioned, I could look straight into the bathroom. We felt as though this was the ideal spot for Luna. We set up the gate right in the doorway. We had her bed and blankets right next to the gate so that she could see us. We also had a puppy pad right next to the tub. We didn't want to encourage going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. But because this was a new and potentially scary situation for her, we wanted to be prepared. We made it as cozy as possible. Luna enjoyed it, and we used this gate situation for bedtime and whenever we had to leave her home alone for a little over a month.

As many can imagine, or know due to their own experiences, the first few days, even the very first day with a new puppy, can be overwhelming. However, looking back on those crucial moments, you realize that it was all worth it in the end. Even though we went through a roller-coaster of emotions that day, I would not do a single thing differently! Luna adjusted very quickly to her new life with Jose and me. I think it's safe to say that she loves us very much and is very happy and content with her family.