Getting Started - Necessities for Puppies - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Hi, my name is Aishe Berger and I own and run SF Puppy Prep. When you get a puppy you want to think about all the essentials you will need so you are ready and you will have stuff your puppy will love and will be busy with and it will make it much easier when you settle them in. One of the first things, and so important for training, is a little crate. So this is a crate and I know that it looks like it might be a dark, scary place for a puppy but and it might be for us but actually they learn to love their little den and it becomes a home within a home. You can put a chewy in there with them. Something that they just only get when they go in there and they are like, 'oh wow that is my little den' and they chew on it and then they can sleep in there. Then when they have to go to the bathroom, open, take them out to their potty area and you know they are ready to go because they have not gone inside their crate. So it is a great tool. And then this is a puzzle toy. You can put a treat in one of these things and they have to sniff it out and figure out which cup their treat is in. Squeaky toys. They can try to get. Puppies will be, 'how do I get that toy out of there' and they will pull out these toys and that can give them a lot of fun things to do for a while. Really important to have treats that you can train your puppy with and help them get comfortable with things like by showing them here is a little treat next to something that is kind of scary and that things starts to feel yummy, so you finding really healthy treats. Make them the size of like a tiny little pea and use them to reward them for good behavior. Then you also want to have plenty of activities because your puppy is all mouth. They are going to be nibbling and chewing and discovering the world through their little puppy teeth. So you want to give them lots of, what we call, puppy pacifiers. Things to pass the time to chew on. So there are a lot of things made out of animal parts. There are pigs ears and tendons and they sound yucky but they are not too dogs. They are actually quite delicious and they are safe and digestible whereas rawhide is not digestible so I recommend you get something that they can chew on and if they swallow. And it is also nice to get them comfortable in a crate by giving them something yummy inside their crate. This is actually a food toy for your puppy to eat a meal and it is ingenious and it is one of many toys that they now make to help your puppy get busy doing doggie things like hunting for their food. You put the kibble in the top and then they, it does not clatter on the floor. They bob it around and the kibble comes out this hole here and they just will try to figure out how to get their kibble out. It fascinates them and it takes time and it gets them a satisfying meal. There are a lot of toys that they make now that are kind of like that where the dogs have to figure out, they hunt for their food. They have to push it around or find a way to get the food out. It gives them a great old time eating their meal. Occupies them, tires them out and you can go take a shower. And then there is the kong. Kind of like the classic. The old standby and you can put their kibble in here, yummy treats. You can feed them their meals. They get real excited about the kong. You can make it harder. Put it in the freezer for a kongsicle. You also want to try to get a variety. Dogs love, some dogs love to play fetch and some dogs like to tug and there are a variety of toys that you can find out there. There is the squeaky toys and you can tug. You want to play games with the puppy and find different toys that they love. Then when they have certain toys that you know really are like their rubber ducky, so special, you put them away and you rotate them out. So everytime they have a new, there toy, it is like something new versus the thing they are not allowed to get on the other side like your remote control.