Pet shops sell a great deal that nobody needs and very little of what makes the first fortnight easier. What follows is the list I would give a client who is collecting a dog next month, in the order the items matter.
The twelve that matter
- A flat-buckle collar and an identification tag, engraved with a mobile number. The microchip is the legal identification; the tag is what a passer-by uses in the first ten minutes
- A Y-shaped harness, fitted after you can measure the dog. Two fingers under every strap, nothing across the point of the shoulder. For a nervous or newly adopted dog, one with an extra waist strap
- A two-metre double-ended lead, which clips to harness and collar at once for safety and adjusts in length
- A five to ten metre long line, flat webbing, for recall work and safe sniffing. More useful than most owners expect
- A bed, washable, placed away from the front door. A second, cheaper one for the room where the household spends the evening
- Two bowls plus a collapsible one for walks
- Food, the same food the dog is already eating, enough for a fortnight. Change later, gradually
- Kitchen scales, which sounds absurd and is the single cheapest weight-management tool there is
- A puzzle feeder and a stuffable rubber toy, which turn meals into twenty minutes of activity
- A brush suited to the coat, plus a tick hook, nail clippers and dog toothpaste with a finger brush
- An enzyme cleaner, not an ammonia-based product, which smells like urine to a dog and marks the spot as a toilet
- Poo bags, in every coat pocket and by the door
Buy the bed, the bowls and the food in advance. Buy the harness when you can put a tape measure round the actual dog.
Worth having, not urgent
A crate or a pen, if you intend to use one, introduced properly rather than as a container. A baby gate, which is the most useful item in a flat with children, a cat, or a dog you want to keep out of one room. A towel by the door, which prevents more skin problems than any shampoo. A reflective or lit collar for the months when the evening walk is in the dark. A coat, but only for thin-coated, very small, very young or elderly dogs: double-coated breeds do not need one.
A basket muzzle belongs on this list too, trained calmly over a fortnight while the dog is well. It is the tool that lets a scavenger walk in a city and lets a hurt dog be handled safely, and the worst time to introduce one is the day you need it.
What to skip
Retractable leads teach a dog that constant tension produces more line, which is the precise opposite of the behaviour you want, and they give you no control at the moment a dog reaches a junction. Choke, prong and electronic collars are unnecessary for everything they are sold to solve, and several European countries have restricted or banned them.
On chews, the rule of thumb is a thumbnail: if you cannot dent it, it is hard enough to fracture a tooth. That rules out antlers, hooves, bones and rigid nylon, and cooked bones are never acceptable in any form. Laser pointers deserve their own warning, because the chase that never ends in a catch produces genuinely obsessive behaviour in some dogs.
Then there are the purchases that feel responsible and are not. Scented shampoos and ear cleaners bought on a whim, when healthy ears need no routine cleaning at all. And a cupboard of toys, when three good ones rotated are worth more than fifteen ignored.
The flat, before the dog arrives
Decide where the bed goes, away from the front door and out of the walkway. Decide which rooms are allowed and fit the gate now rather than after the first accident. Move cables, houseplants that are toxic, shoes, medication and anything small enough to swallow.
Set up one room properly, so the dog's first hour is in a space that is finished rather than a flat full of boxes. If the dog is coming from a rescue or a breeder, ask for a blanket that smells of where it has been living and put it in the bed.
The paperwork and the appointments
Register with a veterinary practice before you need one and book a check for the first week, whatever the seller or the rescue has already done. Add the dog to your civil liability insurance, which is compulsory here, and keep the attestation: your commune will ask for it.
Declare the dog to that commune within four months of its birth, or within one month if it has come from abroad or from a previous owner, and check that the identification register shows you, your address and a telephone number that works. That last detail is what brings a lost dog home, and it is the one most often left out of date.
Two more decisions belong to the same week. Whether you insure the dog's health or pay into a savings buffer instead, set up by standing order rather than by intention. And how out-of-hours veterinary cover works where you live, with the number saved in your phone before the night you need it.
The item nobody lists
Weekday cover, arranged before the dog arrives. Knowing that someone comes at one o'clock changes which dog is a sensible choice for your household, and it is far easier to arrange in advance than in the third week, when the flat has a chewed door and a neighbour has already mentioned the barking.
If you are collecting a dog in the next month, book the meet & greet now and start the routine on day one. A dog that meets its walker in week one, with you present, in a calm flat, treats the arrangement as normal rather than as something that happened after the household changed.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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