What an exciting time it is to finally get your new four-legged friend at home! It is one of the happiest of days for every dog lover. You are excited that finally you get a friend to spend your days with, for you or your children to play with, or just to talk to. It is a great achievement.
However, it does have its own share of challenges. Getting a new dog is almost similar to becoming a new parent to a new baby. You will have to take care of them, train them, feed them and generally help them learn how to do various things before you can actually fully enjoy their presence.
Your dog will need some work from you to settle into its new home. As a pet parent, you will have to take charge until your pet is fully settled. We understand that you may need to help your dog settle in very quickly. However, something like training your dog will take a few days to weeks depending on how you do it.
Here is how to settle your dog into their new home:
- Stock up on basics
Your dog will need a few basics from the first day they arrive. The best time to stock up on some basics for your dog is before they come home. You don’t want to be that unprepared dog owner shopping frantically for dog stuff after the pet is home.
Your dog will need a few things like a leash and collar, toys, treats, and poop bags or dog potty. Once you have these basics things stocked, you are good to go.
- Keep visitors to a minimum
Depending on where you got your dog from, the dog might need several undisturbed hours of sleep on the first day. Additionally, in the initial days when you don’t know how your dog might react to seeing guests, it is advisable to keep visitors to a minimum until you understand your dog.
Some puppies can be very aggressive to visitors. You don’t want your visitors uncomfortable. Also, some new puppies can be very shy or excessively anxious in a new environment coupled with guests coming in and out of the home.
- Establishing Routines
A new puppy will probably not be sufficiently trained when they first come home. It is up-to you the pet parent to train him on how to do various things.
First of all, your dog will need to be potty trained. They need to know where to poop otherwise you will find dog poop in every corner of your house. This is,as you can imagine, quite stressful.
Whether you want the dog to poop on a specific grassy area in your backyard, or you plan to use an indoor dog poop pad, you should do this training within the first few minutes of your dog’s arrival. Some dog owners set alarms for the new puppy to go to the potty area every few hours. This helps remind the dog about the potty area. It also helps associate the pooping behaviour to the potty area. Within a few days your dog will be ready for this activity.
Secondly, you need to train your dog about boundaries. Boundaries is referring to the actual boundary of your home, front yeard, and backyard. A new puppy needs to know where is too far off from home. They need to know the meaning of a fence and that they should stay within it.
One of the best ways to train your dog is to walk it around your surroundings, while ensuring not to take it too far. Ensure to get the best dog harness to stop pulling if your puppy seems to be pulling a lot when you walk them around.
- Check on mischievous or unwanted behaviours
New puppies might show signs of unwanted behaviour quite often. It is important to check on this and ensure that your dog is not doing mischievous things to endanger itself or your peace. For instance, some untrained dogs bark excessively. They bark about anything. This is one of the behaviours you will need your dog to drop. Additionally, some dogs are excessively aggressive.
You don’t want this or any other bad behaviours around you. If you have children, it is even more important to train your dog to stop these bad behaviours. One of the most effective and affordable ways to easily and quickly train your puppy is by using a shock collar for small dogs. They will send an uncomfortable warning beep to your dog when it does something bad. If it stops you should give it a treat. This way, within a week or two, your puppy will be fully trained and on good behaviour.
- Show them pet-friendly zones
You should designate various zones in your home as pet-friendly. This can be quite good for your pet. No dog wants to spend its full day in one area staring at a boring room. Create a rest, play, sleep and sitting areas for your dog.
In the early days you should spend some time with the dog in these areas so your dog learns where it is allowed to be at. Some workplaces have created pet-friendly offices and if this is the case for you, then take your dog to the office as one of the pet-friendly zones.
We hope these tips help you create a favourable living environment for you and your dog.