What to Track in Your Puppy’s First Year (and the Easiest Way to Do It)

Your puppy’s first year is full of small, important details — a booster date here, a weight change there, the first time they sleep through the night. This guide covers what is genuinely worth tracking, and the simplest way to keep it all in one place. It is part of our complete first-year guide for new owners.

What should you actually track in your puppy’s first year?

Track seven things in year one: vaccinations, deworming and parasite prevention, weight, feeding, training milestones, vet visits, and firsts or photos. Together they give you a clear picture of your puppy’s health, growth and progress — and make every appointment easier.

You do not need to record everything every day. Some things are one-off dates, some you note weekly, and some you jot down whenever they happen. The table below shows what each one is for and how often it usually matters.

Why does tracking your puppy’s first year matter?

Tracking matters because it helps you spot problems early, makes vet visits faster, and keeps a growing puppy’s fast-changing needs on schedule. In a year when so much changes month to month, a simple record is one of the kindest things you can do for your dog.

• Catch changes early. A dip in appetite or an unexpected stall in weight is easy to miss day to day, but obvious when it is written down.
• Save time at the vet. Instead of trying to remember dates and symptoms, you can hand over clear notes — which often leads to better advice.
• Stay on schedule. Boosters, deworming and the move to fewer meals all happen on a timeline. A record keeps the next step in view.
• Keep the memories. The first year only happens once, and the little firsts are gone before you know it.

Why does one paper log book beat scattered apps and notes?

One paper log book beats scattered apps and phone notes because everything lives in a single place you actually keep — no logins, no lost screenshots, and nothing spread across three different apps. When the record is in one book, you are far more likely to keep it up.

Most new owners start with good intentions and end up with vaccine dates in one app, weights in a notes file, and photos buried in a camera roll. When your vet asks a simple question, the answer is somewhere — just not anywhere you can find quickly.

• Everything in one thread. Vaccinations, weight, feeding and milestones sit side by side, so the whole story is on a couple of pages.
• Easy to hand over. A book travels to the vet, the groomer or a dog-sitter without a phone, a password or a signal.
• Nothing to lose. No account to forget, no app that shuts down, no update that wipes your data.
• A keepsake, not a chore. Filling in a page by hand is quick, calming, and something you will want to keep long after the first year ends.

Apps have their place for reminders. But for the record itself — the one you keep and share — a single book is simpler, more reliable, and far nicer to look back on.

How do you turn tracking into an easy daily habit?

Make tracking easy by keeping one book in an obvious spot and writing in it at the same moment each day — usually right after a meal or an evening walk. A habit that takes thirty seconds is one you will actually keep.

Start on day one, before the details pile up. Note your puppy’s arrival weight, the first vet visit, and the dates already on the calendar. From there, add a line whenever something changes rather than trying to write a diary. If you would like a gentle way to begin, our free printable puppy checklist covers the essentials to buy and track in those first weeks.

What health details should you track, and when should you call the vet?

For health, track vaccination and booster dates, deworming and parasite treatments, weight, appetite and stool quality — steady growth and firm stools are reassuring signs. Call your vet promptly if your puppy repeatedly refuses food, vomits, has ongoing diarrhoea, loses weight, or seems unusually tired.

Health tracking rarely stands alone. Vaccinations line up with weigh-ins, feeding changes and training, so it helps to see them together. Our puppy vaccination schedule shows how the shots fall week by week, our puppy feeding chart covers portions by age and weight, and our potty-training timeline shows what progress looks like month by month. For everything to buy and record, see our new puppy checklist.

This is general information, not veterinary advice. Every puppy is different, so please confirm vaccination dates, deworming, portions and any health concerns with your own vet.

Want one calm place to hold every date, weight and milestone from day one? The Puppy Log Book gives you weekly weight and feeding charts, vaccination and vet-visit pages, and monthly milestone spreads — a keepsake you fill in and keep. Pair it with our free printable checklist to make those busy first weeks feel wonderfully simple.