Before Barney, a Cavoodle puppy, arrived at his new home in Randwick, his owners spent the weekend before pickup preparing every room, asking one question as they went: what could go wrong here? By the time Barney came through the door, the bin was out of reach, the phone chargers were off the floor, and everyone in the house knew who was doing the first toilet run each morning.
Luke Buchanan, owner of The Toe Beans Co and Sydney's puppy trainer, treats home preparation as the difference between a settled first week and a stressful one. Get the environment right before your puppy arrives and you spend the first days building good habits instead of undoing bad ones.
Think environment, not checklist
A list of hazards to remove is useful, but it misses the bigger point. The real job is designing your puppy's environment for success, making the right choice the easy one and the wrong choice hard to reach. A puppy that can't get to the bin can't raid it. A puppy that can't reach the shoes can't chew them.
Room by room: what to prepare
Kitchen: latch the bin lid or store it behind a cupboard door, keep tea towels and food off the bench edge, and tape down or unplug any loose cords.
Living room: lift phone and laptop chargers off the floor, check down the side of the couch for coins or batteries, and move houseplants that are toxic to dogs, lilies and sago palm among them, out of reach.
Bedroom: shoes, socks, and anything left on the floor are fair game to a teething puppy. A closed door or a lidded laundry basket solves most of it.
Bathroom: keep the toilet lid down, medications in a cabinet rather than on a shelf, and cleaning products stored up high.
Garage and laundry: this is where the genuinely dangerous stuff lives. Antifreeze, fertiliser, snail bait, and rodent poison are common causes of emergency vet visits, and a small amount can be fatal. Shelve them somewhere your puppy can't reach. A closed door alone isn't enough if it can be pushed open.
Get the household on the same page
Before your puppy arrives, decide who's doing what. Who's taking the first toilet run of the day. Who's covering lunch if someone's working from home. Who's calling the vet if something looks off. Write it down, even a rough roster on the fridge, so nobody assumes someone else has it covered in the first exhausting week.
Save your vet's number and the nearest emergency animal hospital in your phone before pickup day, not after something's happened. It takes five minutes, and it's the five minutes you won't have time for once your puppy is actually home.
Set up a puppy zone
Your puppy doesn't need the whole house on day one. Giving too much space too soon is one of the most common setup mistakes, and it makes toilet training and chewing harder to manage before either has a chance to click. Set up a contained area with the crate, water, and a small play space, using baby gates or an exercise pen, then expand it room by room as your puppy earns it.
Check the garden before you check anything else
Your garden is where most toilet training actually happens, so it needs to be secure before it's useful for anything else. Walk the fence line and check for gaps at ground level, loose palings, and gates that don't latch properly. Puppies find gaps adults would never notice. If there's any doubt, temporary mesh fencing at ground level buys you a season while your puppy grows out of escape-artist mode.
Want help getting your setup right before pickup day?
The Toe Beans Co runs a free SKOOL community where Sydney dog owners get training guides, Q&As, and direct support from Luke. It's free to join.
Upcoming Puppy Schools Across Sydney
Luke runs regular puppy schools right across Sydney, from the Lower North Shore through the Eastern Suburbs and out to Campbelltown. Check upcoming dates and book your spot.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What's the most dangerous thing people forget to puppy-proof?
Garages and laundries. Antifreeze, snail bait, and rodent poison are common causes of emergency vet visits, and they're often stored at floor height where a puppy can reach them.
Q: How much of the house should my puppy have access to at first?
Start small. A contained puppy zone with the crate, water, and a play space is easier to manage than the whole house, and you can expand it as your puppy earns more freedom.
Q: Do I need to puppy-proof the garden as well as the house?
Yes, and check the fence line specifically. Gaps at ground level and gates that don't latch properly are the most common ways puppies get out.
