The first week with an Australian Labradoodle puppy is one of the most beautiful and disorienting weeks a family will ever experience. The puppy is suddenly there: small, soft, smelling faintly like their littermates, and very clearly trying to figure out what just happened to their life. The family is sleep-deprived, googling everything, and quietly worried they are doing it wrong. Both sets of feelings are normal.
This guide walks through what an Australian Labradoodle puppy’s first week actually looks like, day by day, from the morning before arrival through the small wins of day seven. It includes the things families worry about most, the mistakes that are easy to make in the first week, and the moments when calling the breeder is exactly the right move.
Before Your Australian Labradoodle Puppy Comes Home: First-Week Prep
The week before pickup is the right time to handle the logistics, because once the puppy is home, everything moves fast. The basics families should have ready: a crate sized for the puppy’s adult weight (a divider to shrink it temporarily is ideal), an exercise pen or gated area, food and water bowls, the food the breeder is currently feeding, a few simple toys, and a soft blanket or bed.
The single most useful piece of prep is deciding in advance where the puppy will sleep, where the puppy will eat, and where the puppy will go to the bathroom. Decide these things as a family before the puppy arrives. Changing them after day one is harder than getting them right at the start.
At Loving Labradoodles, we send every puppy home with starter food, a blanket scented with their littermates, and a written guide to the first weeks. Whatever your breeder provides at pickup, build your routine around what the puppy is already used to. Sudden food changes, sudden environment changes, and sudden routine changes all stack up to a harder first week.
Day One: What Arrival Day Looks Like for an Australian Labradoodle Puppy
The puppy comes home and almost immediately needs to do three things: pee, sleep, and find their family. In that order.
The first stop after pickup should be the area you have designated for bathroom breaks. A puppy who has just spent the morning being driven home will need to go almost immediately. Stand quietly with the puppy in the bathroom area, wait for them to relieve themselves, and praise them gently when they do.
After that, bring them inside and let them explore on their terms. Most Australian Labradoodle puppies on arrival day are some combination of curious and overwhelmed. They will sniff a few things, possibly drink some water, and then look for somewhere safe to rest. Let them sleep when they need to. The biggest mistake families make on day one is treating arrival as a celebration with lots of visitors and high energy. The puppy needs quiet, predictable, low-stimulation time to start to settle.
Plan to feed a small first meal a couple of hours after arrival, using the food your breeder sent home. Many puppies eat less than usual on day one, which is normal and not a sign of anything wrong.
Surviving the First Night with Your Australian Labradoodle Puppy
The first night is the hardest. Almost universally. The puppy has spent every night of their life sleeping in a pile with their littermates, and now they are alone in a strange new place. They will cry. Sometimes for hours. The crying is heartbreaking, and it is also normal.
A few things help. The crate goes in the room where someone in the family sleeps, at least for the first week. The puppy can hear you breathing, smell you, and know they are not alone. A blanket that smells like the breeder’s home (most ethical breeders send one) gives them a familiar scent. A few quiet check-ins through the night are fine. A long visit to comfort them every time they cry teaches them that crying summons company, which makes the next night harder.
Most puppies cry intensely the first night, less the second, and have settled significantly by night three or four. By the end of the first week, many are sleeping through most of the night with one bathroom break.
The thing not to do: take the puppy into the bed to stop the crying. We understand why families want to. The crying is awful. But it sets a precedent that takes weeks to undo, and most families later wish they had toughed out the first few nights instead.
How a Routine Forms in Your Australian Labradoodle Puppy’s First Week
By day three, most families and puppies are starting to find a rhythm. The puppy is learning when meals come, where the bathroom area is, who their people are, and what is allowed and not allowed.
A useful daily structure for the first week looks roughly like this. The puppy wakes up and immediately goes outside for a bathroom break. They eat breakfast. They have a short play session, then a nap. Bathroom break when they wake up. Short play, short training (sit, name recognition, gentle handling), nap. Lunch. Repeat the pattern through the day, with bathroom breaks every 1 to 2 hours when awake.
Australian Labradoodle puppies sleep more than new families expect. Around 16 to 20 hours a day is normal for an 8-week-old puppy. If your puppy seems to want to nap constantly, that is healthy development, not a problem.
Feeding, Potty Breaks, and Sleep in the First Week
These three are the foundation of the first week.
Feeding: stick with the food your breeder has been using. Three to four meals per day for puppies under 12 weeks, on a consistent schedule. Most Australian Labradoodle puppies eat about 1/2 to 3/4 cup per meal at 8 weeks, depending on size and the specific food. If you want to switch to a different food, wait at least a week and then transition gradually over 7 to 10 days.
Potty breaks: a puppy can typically hold their bladder one hour per month of age, plus one. An 8-week-old puppy needs to go out every 2 to 3 hours when awake, plus right after eating, right after waking up, and right after play sessions. Yes, this is constant. Yes, this is normal. The diligence in the first month pays off in faster house training.
Sleep: puppies need a lot of it. A puppy who is over-stimulated and not getting enough sleep gets cranky, nippy, and harder to manage. If your puppy seems wild and bitey, the answer is often “more sleep” rather than “more exercise.”
Common Worries from New Australian Labradoodle Puppy Families
The same handful of worries come up in our check-in calls during the first week. None of them usually indicate a real problem.
“They are eating less than I expected.” Most puppies eat less the first few days at home than they did at the breeder’s. The new environment, the new bowls, the new everything affects appetite temporarily. As long as the puppy is drinking water and acting energetic, give them a few days.
“They cry whenever I leave the room.” Separation distress is normal in the first week. Most Australian Labradoodle puppies attach quickly to their new family and then panic briefly when their person leaves the room. The cure is short, gradual practice with separation, not constant company.
“Their stool is loose.” Stress, food, water changes, and new environment all affect digestion. Loose stool in the first few days is common. Loose stool with blood, or loose stool combined with lethargy or vomiting, is a different situation that needs vet attention.
“They are biting everything.” Puppy teeth are sharp, and puppies use their mouth to explore the world. The first week is when families start the long process of redirecting biting to appropriate toys. It gets dramatically better over the next several months.
If you want a deeper look at the temperament traits we evaluate before sending each puppy home (and what they tell you about how your specific puppy will adjust), our piece on what an Australian Labradoodle temperament test actually measures walks through the evaluation in detail.
What Not to Do in the First Week Home
A few things we ask families to avoid in the first week.
Hold off on having multiple visitors over to meet the puppy in the first week. The new environment is already overwhelming, and adding a parade of strangers turns it into too much.
Avoid high-exposure public places until the vaccine series is complete. Puppies under 16 weeks have not finished their vaccines and are vulnerable to diseases (especially parvo) that can be picked up in dog parks, sidewalks downtown, or anywhere strange dogs have been. Backyards and trusted friends’ homes are fine. Public dog spaces are not.
Keep the food consistent for at least a week before considering a switch. Stick with whatever the breeder sent home, then transition gradually over 7 to 10 days if you want to change.
Use the crate from day one. Many families feel guilty crating a puppy and skip it in week one. The result is almost always a much harder house-training process and a puppy who never learns to settle alone. Crating done right is a kindness to the puppy, not a punishment.
When to Call the Breeder About Your Australian Labradoodle Puppy
A good breeder is available during the first week and beyond. Specific situations where calling makes sense.
Anything that feels physically wrong: lethargy that does not improve with a nap, refusing food and water for more than 12 hours, vomiting more than once, diarrhea with blood, any difficulty breathing. These warrant a call to the breeder, often followed by a vet visit. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s pet owner resources include helpful guidance on what to watch for in the first weeks home.
Behavior questions that feel urgent: severe separation distress that is not improving, sleep problems past night four or five, escalating biting that is not responding to redirection. The breeder has seen these patterns many times and can usually help.
Just to check in: most ethical breeders welcome an update call during the first week, even when nothing is wrong. We send a follow-up at one week post-go-home for every family, and we encourage families to reach out before that whenever they want.
Ready to Welcome Your Australian Labradoodle Puppy Home?
If you have read this far and are still excited about the first week ahead, you are exactly where most great Australian Labradoodle families start. The first week is intense, but it lays the foundation for the next decade-plus of life with your dog.
You can also meet the parent dogs behind our current and upcoming litters, or see who is currently in our nursery. When you bring a puppy home from us, we walk you through every part of the first week and stay close through the months that follow.
