About New Dog Co

What New Dog Co is

New Dog Co makes plain-language, printable guides and trackers for the hardest, most disorienting stretch of pet ownership: the first weeks and months with a new dog or cat. Vaccination schedules, feeding, house-training, decompression, litter-box setup, body language: it all arrives at once, usually at 2 a.m., pieced together from a dozen conflicting websites. I put the calm, sourced version in one place.

Everything is a digital download or a simple fillable PDF, sold in my Etsy shop. The guides on this site are free to read.

How I work: positive methods only

Every method I publish is reward-based and force-free. I do not recommend shock, prong, or choke collars, or any aversive "correction"; the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) is clear that those tools increase fear, anxiety, and aggression, with no advantage over reward-based training. That position runs through every guide.

I am also vet-first. The content is educational, not a diagnosis, and on anything medical (a cat suddenly avoiding the litter box, a dog in pain, a sudden behavior change) I tell you to call your veterinarian before anything else, because sometimes that call is an emergency.

How I source everything

I am not a veterinary practice, and I don't ask you to take my word for anything. Instead, the health and behavior claims trace back to a recognized authority, cited by name inside the guide and in each article's sources list. The bodies I lean on:

• AAHA — American Animal Hospital Association
• AVSAB — American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (humane, reward-based training)
• AVMA — American Veterinary Medical Association
• ASPCA — American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• AAFP — American Association of Feline Practitioners (for the cat guides)
• International Cat Care (iCatCare) — feline welfare and behavior
• Fear Free — low-stress handling and care

Some guides reach beyond general pet care, and there I go straight to the primary authority for that topic. My service-dog guides cite the ADA (U.S. Department of Justice) and the U.S. Department of Transportation directly for the law, never a "registration" site, because no registration is required or exists. For specialized health topics I add the body that owns the subject: the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Epilepsy Foundation, Dysautonomia International, Cornell's Riney Canine Health Center, the FDA, or Washington State University's Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology Lab (for the MDR1 drug-sensitivity guide).

Naming my sources is the whole point: it's how you can check my work, and it's why I'd rather be transparent than sound authoritative. New Dog Co is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the organizations above; I cite their public guidance.

Who makes this

New Dog Co is made by M. Ruiz, a dog owner, not a veterinarian or a certified trainer. It started with a dog named Lobo, brought home before I was really ready, and the long first weeks of guessing and googling that followed. The guide I wished someone had handed me didn't exist, so I built it, and then kept building.

Because I don't carry a behavior credential, I don't rely on one. What I bring is the lived experience of getting it wrong and then doing the homework, plus a strict rule that nothing goes in a guide unless a credentialed body backs it and I can cite it. If that ever changes (a completed certification, a professional review), it'll be named right here.

Questions or feedback

The fastest way to reach me is a message through the Etsy shop. I read and answer every one, whether it's a question about a specific guide, a correction, or a request for something I haven't made yet. If you spot anything in a guide that looks wrong, please tell me; accuracy matters more than looking polished. Every correction is dated and logged on how I check facts.