Your new puppy: a guide to the first months in India

PDSA says puppies need a toilet trip about every 2 to 3 hours in the day, and the RSPCA advises taking a puppy out when it wakes, after every meal, after play or excitement, before bed, and before and after you leave it. Merck's puppy care advice is four meals a day at 6 to 12 weeks, three a day at 3 to 6 months and two a day after that. Puppies also sleep up to 20 hours a day and should be left to sleep. All of that needs a person at home, which is why a puppy suits a household where someone is there for most of the day.

Dogs do not have full bladder capacity until they are about 12 months old, the RSPCA notes, so accidents in the first months are normal, not naughtiness. Expect chewed slippers, broken sleep for a few weeks and a lot of cleaning. If long office days are unavoidable, an adult dog whose habits are already formed may suit you better; Petym's guide to getting a dog compares the two.

The Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules, 2017 bar the sale of pups less than eight weeks old, require every pup sold to be microchipped and in good health, and require the breeder to give the buyer, in writing, the pup's feeding details, the dates of its vaccinations and deworming, and the name of the vet who attended it. The breeder's State Board certificate must be displayed at the premises. Rule 8 also bars displaying pups in public places for sale. The Pet Shop Rules, 2018 count online platforms as pet shops and need their own registration, and treat pups under eight weeks as un-weaned.

Shelters often have puppies too. AWBI publishes a state-wise list of the organisations it recognises. Whichever route you take, ask for the vaccination card and deworming dates, the food the puppy is eating and how often, and take all of it to your vet in the first few days.

WSAVA advises a commercial food labelled complete and balanced for growth, from a maker that can give a typical nutrient analysis, chosen with your vet's help. Change foods over at least three to four days by mixing in more of the new food each day, and keep treats under about 10% of the day's calories. VCA advises set, measured meals rather than food left out all day. A home-cooked diet is hard to get right: in a UC Davis study of 200 home recipes for dogs, 95% were short of at least one essential nutrient, so ask your vet for a recipe from a veterinary nutritionist if you want to cook.

Do not add calcium syrups or bone powder to a complete puppy food. A growth food already has calcium in balance with phosphorus, and too much calcium can harm the growing bones of large-breed puppies. Milk is not a puppy treat: ASPCA notes dogs lack enough lactase, so dairy can cause diarrhoea. Onion and garlic in any form, grapes, raisins, tamarind, chocolate and anything sweetened with xylitol are dangerous. If your puppy eats any of them, call your vet straight away.

WSAVA's 2024 guidelines start the core puppy vaccines, usually written DHPPi on Indian cards, at 6 to 8 weeks, repeat them every 2 to 4 weeks, and give the last puppy dose at 16 weeks or older, with a booster at or shortly after 26 weeks. Rabies is core in India and starts at 12 weeks or older, and many vets add leptospirosis. Merck advises keeping a puppy away from unvaccinated dogs, and dogs whose vaccine status is unknown, until about 4 months and its vaccines are finished. Petym's dog vaccination guide and the puppy vaccination schedule tool explain each dose and where Indian and global advice differ.

Puppies can be infected with roundworms before birth, from larvae that reactivate in the mother during pregnancy. TroCCAP's guidelines for the tropics start deworming at 2 weeks of age and repeat it every 2 weeks until 8 weeks, then monthly; your vet will set the plan from the dates the breeder or shelter gives you. Ask at the same visit when tick prevention can start, because ticks are common on Indian dogs, especially in the monsoon.

AVSAB calls the first three months of life the primary and most important time for socialisation, and notes that behaviour problems, not infectious disease, are the leading cause of death in dogs under three. It says puppies can start socialisation classes from 7 to 8 weeks, with at least one set of vaccines 7 days before the first class and a first deworming. The balance is to meet the world without meeting unknown dogs on shared ground.

In an Indian flat that means carrying the puppy to see the street, the lift and the society gate, letting calm visitors and children sit with it, and introducing household sounds such as the mixer, the pressure cooker and the doorbell, one new thing a day. Invite a healthy, fully vaccinated adult dog you know, and avoid dog parks, lift lobbies and roadside patches where many dogs pass until your vet says it is safe. A puppy that seems frightened should be allowed to retreat; never force it closer.

Plan play and training for the early morning and after sunset in summer, with a long nap in the coolest room through the afternoon, water in stable bowls and a fan on the inverter for power cuts. Feel the floor and the road with your hand before a puppy walks on it. In the monsoon, keep it out of puddles and floodwater until the vaccine course is done, dry the paws and belly after every outing, and check for ticks. For a first Diwali, PDSA advises being home before dark, closing curtains, playing music and keeping the puppy on a lead outdoors.

A puppy cannot be left for a trip. When Petym opens in your city, a sitter who stays in your home keeps the meals, toilet trips, cue words and rewards the same, with a free meet and greet first and a daily photo update. Until your vet says your puppy can mix with other dogs, care at home avoids dogs of unknown vaccine status.