A list beats hopeful exposure
Household noise socialisation fails most often by being random: the vacuum appears at full roar, the doorbell rings only when a real delivery arrives, and the puppy practises either panic or frenzied barking with no graded steps in between. A systematic approach treats each sound as its own small project. Write the list out: vacuum cleaner, washing machine spin cycle, dishwasher, hairdryer, kettle, doorbell, knocking, letterbox flap, parcel drops, and the voices and footsteps of delivery people at the door. Work one item at a time, at the level where your puppy notices but stays relaxed enough to eat treats and look away voluntarily. That relaxed-but-aware zone is where learning happens; a puppy frozen, hiding, or lunging is over threshold and is rehearsing the very reaction you are trying to prevent.
Appliances: distance and volume are your dials
For each appliance, start with the easiest version. The vacuum sits silent in the room while treats appear around it; then it moves without switching on; then it runs briefly in another room with a door between; then in the same room at a distance, always paired with high-value food scattered for him to hunt. The washing machine usually needs work on the spin cycle vibration, so begin by feeding near it during a quiet wash stage and build toward standing happily nearby while it spins. Keep sessions to a few minutes and end on an easy win. If he startles at a new level, return to the previous level for the next session rather than repeating the frightening one, because confidence is built from a stack of successes, not from flooding him until he gives up reacting. Puppies who go quiet through exhaustion or overwhelm can look calm while learning nothing good, so judge by loose body language and willingness to eat, not by stillness alone.
Postmen and deliveries: rehearse with a helper
Real deliveries are unrehearsable chaos, so manufacture calm versions. A family member or friend plays the delivery role: footsteps outside, a knock or bell, an item through the letterbox or a parcel set down, then footsteps leaving. Your puppy watches from behind a baby gate or on a lead at a distance where he can stay settled, and every sound in the sequence predicts treats from you. Practise the ending too, the footsteps retreating, because many puppies wind up at the departure bark as much as the arrival. Manage real deliveries while training is young: keep him away from the front door when the post arrives, with a chew in another room, so he does not get daily full-intensity rehearsals of door frenzy that undo your graded work. If he barks during a staged session, do not scold; increase distance, lower the knock volume, and rebuild, because barking is information about the difficulty level, not disobedience.
Tracking progress across the whole list
Move through the list over days and weeks, revisiting completed items occasionally so they stay normal, and generalise each sound to different rooms, times of day, and family members handling the puppy. A sound mastered in the kitchen at midday can still surprise him in a quiet hallway at night, and that gap is normal rather than a failure. Note honestly which items are solid, which are in progress, and which still produce a reaction, because that record decides where the next session's effort goes. For a sound she is stuck on, put a follow-up question to KinsLe's Kimmy; she answers using the KinsLe Answers library.