Hi there and elcome to te forums!
When we picked up Jenni at 8 weeks our breeder advised it was best not to have her rolling around in a crate in the back of the car, she suggested that until she was a little bigger that she was held whilst travelling in the car.
Now she generally goes in the crate in the boot with Millie, or if travelling singly I stick a car harness on her and pop her on the back seats. She still hasn't quite gotten used to the 'rolling' around tat occurs when she's on her own - when she's with Mil she wedges herself between Millie and the side of the crate!
As for puppy essentials, yup lots of newspaper! a soft brush as Anita has said. A DAP diffuser is good, we didn't have one right from the start with Jenni, but found that once we did have it she seemed more settled, although would still sometimes cry when on her own.
Sounds daft but, a water and food bowl
I nearly forgot to buy an extra water bowl when we got Jenni.
If you're going to buy a crate the one sold by Argos is suitable for a cocker, although its a bit big for a puppy at first, just put bedding in half of it and newspaper in the other half for accidents. We used puppy pads aswell as newspaper, Jenni seemed to like to piddle on these, but number 2s were reserved strictly for the laminate flooring
Don't forget to buy some puppy food - ideally whatever the puppy is being fed on now is the best to get in. This should help to minimise tummy upsets, however your puppy will still probably have a dicky tummy for a few days whilst adjusting to the new environment and local water.
perhaps a toy like a nyla-bone or a hard rubber bone would be good as well to aid her when teething, and hopefully to save your skirting boards
On the bed front, when we got Millie (our oldest cocker) we opted for a hard plastic bed when she was a puppy, and in the bottom just put an ordinary thick cotton blanket - Which we were glad we did because she with 'strip' out the fur / fluff from anything remotely fleecy that we put near her as a pup - so when Jenni came anything fluffy or fleecy was removed at first. She's not too bad though, and prefers the labels on her fleecy blankets to stripping out the fluff :roll:
Some people like to get a "Snuggle Puppy" or "Snuggle Pad" - which basically heats up in the microwave and is placed under a blanket in the puppies crate / bed - it acts as a kind of littermate replacement, and can be soothing as it keep sthe pup warm and feels like someone else is there. We got one for Jenni, but she wasn't that fussed over it really and sleeps without it. On a similar note a clock that ticks, well wrapped in a blanket can sometimes soothe a puppy by sounding reminiscent of a heart beat - we never did this, but it works for some people.
If you're looking for a bit of pre-puppy reading, there's a book called "The Perfect Puppy", by Gwen somebody - it helps with initial training hints and prepares you for kinda what to expect and what to do
You can buy it from Amazon using the links on the COL Home page, that way Amazon will make a donation to COL to keep us going
finally, lots of patience, and lots of pro-plus for your sleepless nights ahead
HTH
