What to buy, and what to skip

Buy the adult crate now

A 42-inch wire crate with a divider costs about the same as a puppy crate and you only buy it once. The divider is the whole trick: a puppy given a crate the size of a studio apartment will use one end as a bedroom and the other as a bathroom, which teaches exactly the habit you are trying to prevent.

Set the divider so there is enough room to stand up, turn around and lie down flat. That is it. Move it out an inch every couple of weeks.

Enzymatic cleaner, and buy two bottles

Regular cleaner takes the stain out and leaves the smell. A dog reads that smell as a signpost saying this is where we go. Enzymatic cleaner breaks the compound down instead of masking it.

Two bottles because you will run out during the week you need it most, and the shop is a twenty-minute drive when you are already tired.

A metal comb matters more than the brush

Everyone buys a slicker brush. A slicker glides over the top of a matting coat and makes you feel like you are on top of it while a felted layer forms underneath, against the skin.

The comb is the test. If a metal comb goes cleanly to the skin behind the ears and under the front legs, the coat is fine. If it snags, you have a mat, and a mat is a groomer problem within a week.

Frozen stuffed toys, made in batches

Fill six rubber toys with wet food or soaked kibble on a Sunday and freeze them. Every one of them buys you thirty to forty minutes of a puppy who is happy to be in the crate.

This single habit does more for crate training and for your sanity than any product you can buy.

What to skip

Skip the retractable lead while you are teaching a puppy where your leg is. Skip the puppy pads unless you live twelve floors up, because they teach a dog that going inside is sometimes fine. Skip the fluffy bed for now, because it will be shredded and it hides accidents. Skip the enormous toy bin: three toys rotated weekly beats twenty toys on the floor, which just become furniture.