The First Two Weeks With a Puppy, Hour by Hour
Before they arrive
Decide two things as a household and write them down: where the puppy sleeps, and who does the night shift. Most first-week misery comes from these being renegotiated at three in the morning by people who have not slept.
Pick up a crate or pen, a bed that can go in the wash, a lead and flat collar, food matching what the breeder or shelter has been feeding, and an enzymatic cleaner. Not a general disinfectant, an enzymatic one, because it removes the smell that tells a puppy this is the toileting spot.
Night one
The common mistake is putting the puppy somewhere separate on the first night to establish independence. What it establishes is panic. They have just lost their entire litter and every familiar smell in one afternoon.
Sleep next to them for the first few nights, crate beside your bed or a mattress on the floor by the pen. You can move the crate a metre a night once they are settled. Doing it this way usually costs you three or four nights of light sleep. Doing it the other way commonly costs weeks.
Toilet maths: a rough guide for how long a puppy can hold on is their age in months plus one, in hours. A two-month-old puppy is a three-hour dog, and less when awake and playing. Set an alarm for one night wake-up rather than waiting to be woken by crying, and keep that trip boring: outside, no talking, no play, praise for the result, straight back in.
The daily rhythm for week one
Out to the toilet on waking, after every meal, after every play session, and every hour or so in between. Three or four meals a day at set times. Short, calm handling sessions: paws, ears, mouth, a few seconds each with a treat, so the vet and the groomer are not the first people to ever touch those places.
Then, and this is the part people skip, enforced naps. A puppy needs somewhere between sixteen and twenty hours of sleep a day. An overtired puppy looks exactly like a badly behaved one: biting hard, racing about, ignoring everything. If your puppy has been up for more than about ninety minutes and has turned into a small crocodile, they do not need more exercise. They need a dark quiet pen.
Week two: the world, carefully
Socialisation is not meeting as many dogs as possible. It is having lots of mildly interesting experiences that end well. Carry them to a bench near a bus stop and let them watch traffic. Wheelie bins, umbrellas, people in hats, a floor that sounds different underfoot. Let them look, keep it short, go home before they are overwhelmed.
Ask your vet what is sensible before their vaccinations are complete. Carried outings usually are, and the window for this kind of learning is genuinely narrow, so it is worth doing properly rather than waiting.
What good progress looks like
By the end of a fortnight most puppies sleep a decent stretch at night, have far fewer accidents indoors, come running when their name is said in a friendly voice, and can be alone for a few minutes without falling apart. Biting will still be happening. That is normal and it takes months, not weeks.