Last year, I got to foster my very first puppy and it was everything I could hope for! There were also so many things I was not expecting - the responsibilities, training, and not getting proper sleep because of puppy tantrums!



I am a big time animal lover and I've always wanted a pet dog. My parents, on the other hand, weren't up for it. My dad had a pet when he was growing up and he also likes animals, however, my mother was...rather is still terrified of any animal. She is far far away from the idea of owning a dog. My family also moves a lot, probably every 2 to 4 years so that was one of the reasons I was never allowed to have a pet. The main reason, though, was that my brother and I would be in school for most of the day and my father at work. There was no way that my mom would agree on taking care of, feeding, and cleaning the puppy's poop and pee. Hence, it was just not possible to get a dog. Even during vacation it wouldn't be ideal as a month is probably not long enough to train and potty train a puppy (I doubted my ability to do so. There was also the risk of "what if the puppy needs more time to be a little more independent. I didn't want to take that risk).

Every few years my mom would say "we'll get one after a year or so" but she would keep postponing what she said. Soon, I stopped asking because I knew it would never happen. Once high school began, school load increased and I, myself, didn't want to bring in a puppy home because I knew I wouldn't get to spend as much time with it as I would like to and that wouldn't be fair to the small fluff ball.

Soon I knew I would be headed off to the USA again and many more hurdles arose: What happens to the dog after I go? I can't keep the puppy in India but I also can't take it with me. I don't want to put it through a 20-hour travel and pets most probably won't be allowed on campus

Once I realized how long my degrees will take (3 years for the bachelor degree and 4 for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, followed by an expected 3 years of residency) I lost all hope for having a furry companion before I was in my late twenties.

All of a sudden one day, my brother came up to me and told me there was a puppy in the parking lot of my building and a few days later I went to meet it. Just meet it and maybe give it food. I saw the little sweetheart in a box with some random clothes and towels that the kids in the building kept in the box to keep her warm when it rained. She was so adorable I didn't want to leave her there.

I went back home, quickly made a plain omelet (no salt or anything because that's bad for dogs), got some yogurt and a little bit of peanut butter. She looked very small and probably was only supposed to have liquid or semi-solid food but I thought it was worth a try. She gobbled up everything in just a few minutes. I decided to coach the children on what not to give her because they were giving her things like milk which I knew was bad for her. I decided I'd give her at least one meal per day or per two days (the kids were feeding her regularly already).

I went back home and told my mom how adorable the puppy was and just casually stated how I wish she could just stay in the small space outside our kitchen since that would be safer (some small kids were holding her and annoying her and I didn't like that). She said yes. WHAT? I didn't expect it at all...



I brought Snowy home that night. My cousin argues that she looks more like a Cappuccino (I agree) but the kids in my building kept that name for her and she already responds to it so I decided not to change it. She was scared at first which is understandable, but she became more relaxed and even playful after we gave her some food.

The following pictures are from the first night she slept in my room:








Obviously, I took hundreds of pictures of her the first night.
My cousin and I had to do some last minute puppy proofing in my room because the original plan was to bring her home the next day after taking her to the vet.
We discarded the box she was kept in when she was in the parking lot and got her a new bed sheet. We made makeshift barricades so she was confined to one section of the room before we got her cage and so that she couldn't climb on to my low nightstand and then on to my bed (she tried doing that a lot the first few days).

She mostly peed on the newspaper so I would say she's partially potty trained, but throughout the week she had peed elsewhere and even on her bed sheet. She's too young and I didn't expect her to learn in just a few days but she is still really smart. Being only 5 weeks, she already sits on command (even without offering some puppy food) and she will sleep and spin with a little food motivation. She also understood "down" when combined with a finger snap when she tried to climb on the bed (but it's too high for her).

She had, for most nights, woken me up at 5 am or 6 am, whining for food or just for attention but it's all good because she is so cute and I feel so responsible now that I know I have to wake up and take care of her and clean the pee puddles.

On day 2, I took her to the NGO (Thane SPCA), where I'd been volunteering for over 2 years, for a check-up, followed by deworming a few days later. The following next week she got her first vaccine.

She slept all the time (which was like my break time from cleaning her pee, feeding her and all that) and when she'd be awake she was either hungry, wanted to play or was peeing.




Honestly, I didn't realize how much effort goes into taking care of a puppy and this wonderful experience has definitely taught me a lot. I'm miss Snowy so much (now renamed "Angel" by the amazing family that adopted her but I'm so extremely happy for her and I'm glad she got such an amazing family to take care of and love her! Even though she was so naughty, it was very bittersweet seeing her go.

She now has an Instagram too so I can see how she is doing every now and then 😊❤

Here are a few pointers to expect if you are about to get your first puppy, or foster your first puppy (or even puppy sit for someone else).

Here's the video on the same, if you'd like to check it out:

There is no in-between. There may be a 5-15 minute transition stage between the two depending on your puppy but otherwise, it's just running around with toys in his/her mouth or having a one or two hour nap every few hours.

I didn't realize how much a puppy was capable of peeing till this little one came into my life. There will be little trickling once in a while but when your puppy's bladder is full, there will be a lot of pee (and it will be everywhere if your puppy chooses the floor over your grass bed or newspapers).

If your puppy is allergic to something (a lot are allergic to milk, for example), fully expect to find out when your puppy has explosive diarrhea. However, once you start figuring out what works for your puppy and what to stick to, you should be good.

My puppy, on her first night at my place, only peed on the newspaper and I was pretty surprised because I didn't try to make her do it that way. I would reward her when she peed on the right place and tried to get her used to an absorbent sponge sheet by keeping it under her when she peed (hoping the pee scent would make her want to pee there again), but it didn't work a bit. In fact, the next night she peed on her bed. Twice!

If you don't want your room to stink of poop, you will probably want to keep an eye on her after she's done eating. But the problem is that your puppy won't always finish digestion and excretion in 5-10 minutes. In my case, Snowy (my foster pup) only pooped twice a day so sometimes she would poop right after eating and sometimes she wouldn't. I try positioning her right under the newspaper in hopes to potty train her but somehow she manages to poop right when I go to clean something up in the bathroom (e.g. her sponge sheet or her bowl).

My puppy was luckily pretty healthy and so there was nothing draining her energy. When she plays, she plays. She will even play on her own if I'm busy and bang her head into every solid thing possible. 

...and getting dirty paw prints everywhere. If you have noticed, full grown dogs (at least the ones I have encountered) will dodge their poop while making it look like they didn't even have to look at it to do so. Either it's a puppy thing or it's just my puppy, but she gets at least 2 paws in her poop/pee. If I'm not in my room, I come back to a hundred tiny pawprints on the floor.

Puppies will whine when they want food, when you leave them alone in the room when you are about to bring them their food but they think whining will make the process faster, you name it. It requires a lot of patience to deal with that and try to teach your puppy that whining won't give her everything she wants.

My puppy woke up me a few times during the night the first 2 or 3 nights. It's tiring but you know you have the responsibility. There will be a lot of cleaning pee in the middle of the night and also you may have to wake up early when your puppy wakes you up. If you don't wake up, you will just wake up the floor filled with pee (and maybe even poop).

Life hack (works perfectly for me): Keep your puppy awake right till you want to fall asleep. If she's energetic, she'll play on her own and eventually fall asleep. This may keep her from waking up at night and whining till you get up too.

My puppy instantly learned to pee and poop on the newspaper most of the time but she also instantly learned how easy it was to rip it. Next thing you know, newspaper pieces are everywhere. My puppy doesn't ingest it but you should keep an eye.

Puppies are biting machines. It's understandable because they are getting their teeth and it itches the crap out of them probably but sometimes your puppy will get a really good grip (you may even bleed, and trust me when I say it's not fun). You may find chew marks on furniture, your body, etc. Giving a chew toy helps, but when she's on your lap with nothing in her mouth, she'll go for it.

That's about 11 things I can think of to expect when you have a new puppy.

Here's my foster puppy, in case you were curious: