A Puppy at Home

The first weeks with a puppy shape the years that follow. A calm guide for the new owner — and for the question of when a dog is ready for his portrait.

Anyone bringing a puppy home — from a breeder, or better still adopted, since shelters hold dogs waiting too — usually wants to do too much at once. The animal needs far less: one quiet room to begin with, a fixed bed nobody disturbs him in, and considerably more sleep than you would expect. A puppy allowed to sleep undisturbed learns faster than a puppy who is shown to visitors all day.

The first weeks are also the window in which a dog learns what is ordinary. Vets place that window roughly between the third and the fourteenth week of life: everything that introduces itself kindly in that period — hands, stairs, bicycles, the vacuum cleaner, other dogs — is no battle later. Short and often works better than long and seldom, and the order of vaccinations, the microchip and the right moment for the first walk is decided by your vet, not by the internet.

A dog gets used to anything he found dull early enough.

And then the question the atelier is asked most often: when is he ready for a portrait? Later than you hope. A puppy’s face goes on changing for months — the muzzle lengthens, the ears come up or pointedly do not, the woolly puppy coat is replaced. Small breeds are largely grown at around nine to twelve months; large and giant breeds take eighteen to twenty-four. Wait until then, and what goes on the wall is the dog he will be for the rest of his life.

That is no reason not to photograph — quite the opposite. Photograph the puppy for yourself, because nothing changes as fast. Sit on the floor, find the window light, and take the picture after the walk rather than before it: a tired animal holds his head still. Today’s photo is the keepsake. The portrait comes once the face is finished.

— the atelier