You just got a dog.

Make them findable before anything else

Before the fun stuff, before the toys — get your dog wearing ID. A dog is never more likely to bolt than in their first few days somewhere new, when nothing smells like home yet. ID on the collar is the difference between a phone call and a flyer on a lamppost.

• sellPut ID on the collar today. A gotcha tag is free — register your dog, print the QR tag, and clip it on. A finder scans it and reaches you in seconds, no app to download.
• photo_cameraPhotograph them from every angle while you have daylight. Face, both sides, full body, any unusual markings. If they ever go missing, these are the photos on the poster — and good light today beats a blurry phone shot at dusk.
• campaignDecide the name you'll actually shout across a park. Say it out loud a few times. A name you're slightly embarrassed to yell is a name your dog learns slowly.

A microchip is worth doing too — your vet can do it in the first week — but a chip only helps once someone catches your dog and gets to a scanner. A visible tag works the moment a neighbor spots them.

The vet, sleep, and food

This is the settling-in week. One vet trip, a place to sleep, and a plan for meals will carry you a long way.

• stethoscopeBook the first vet visit and start the paper trail. A new-dog checkup sets a baseline and starts the vaccine clock. The paperwork piles up faster than you'd think — the first visit alone can be three or four documents. gotcha's optional vault keeps those scans and health records in one place if you ever want that; the checklist works fine without it.
• bedSet up the crate and a sleep spot. A crate isn't a cage — for most dogs it's the one den that's reliably theirs. Put it somewhere quiet, make it cozy, and let them choose to go in before you ever close the door.
• restaurantSort out food — and don't overthink it. If your dog came eating a food that agrees with them, keep it; switch slowly if you switch at all. Good kibble is complete nutrition and perfectly fine. Fresh-food subscriptions are a real convenience some people love, not a requirement — a few honest options are below.

Fresh-food delivery, if you want it:

Decide about insurance — the honest version

Here's the part nobody explains plainly: pet insurance only covers what hasn't happened yet. Almost every policy excludes pre-existing conditions, and here's the catch — each vet visit can turn a new finding into a pre-existing exclusion the next day. So a healthy young dog is exactly when a policy covers the most, because nothing is on the record yet to be excluded.

That's not a scare tactic; it's just how the math works. If you're going to insure at all, insuring early is when a policy is worth the most. If you'd rather self-insure by setting money aside each month, that's a legitimate choice too — plenty of people do it.

gotcha doesn't sell insurance and isn't giving you financial advice. Read every policy's own wording — deductibles, wait periods, exam fees, annual limits — and decide what fits your dog and your budget.

Insurers worth comparing:

Write down the day you got them

Somewhere in all of this, note the date your dog came home. Rescues call it "gotcha day," and it's worth keeping — the day this particular dog became yours. gotcha marks it every year and reminds you, free, for as long as you have an account. No upsell attached; it's just a nice thing to remember.