Thinking of adopting a ? Continue reading to learn how to help your puppy adjust to his new home. Between now and the day you bring home your puppy, you’ll need to make sure you have a plan for introducing the newest member of your family to other household members, including pets.
The more effort you put into helping your puppy adjust, the more happy and confident he will feel in his new surroundings. For more information, The Barking Boutique recommends reaching out to an adoption center for puppies.
Introduce Puppy to Other People
While everyone in your family will want to see the at once, remember that your puppy is just getting used to his new home. Introducing your puppy to too many people at once can quickly overwhelm him. Before bringing home your new puppy, hold a family meeting to make sure everyone understands their responsibilities for puppy care. If you have small children, take this time to teach them how to behave around puppies. Make sure your children know that puppies don’t like to be hugged or petted too hard.
Give Puppy a Tour
At first, your puppy may be a little overwhelmed in his new home. It’s also not uncommon for puppies to miss their mother and littermates during the first few days. As a dog owner, it will be your responsibility to give your purebred puppy the grand tour of his new home. This means making sure he knows where to find food and water, as well as showing him where he can take a nap in his puppy crate or bed. Supervise your puppy as he explores your home and remember to be patient.
Introduce Puppy to Other Pets
Dogs have a keen sense of smell, which is why we recommend you switch collars between your new puppy and resident dog. When your two pets finally meet, their scents will seem familiar to each other. We recommend setting up the meeting on neutral territory (outside the house) so the resident dog feels less threatened.
A resident cat can be introduced to your puppy inside your home, just make sure that your puppy is held back by a leash or baby gate so your cat feels less threatened. You should also never allow your puppy to chase your cat. Be sure to have plenty of cat and dog training treats in your pockets so you can reward your pets when they interact. While we understand you want your pets to get along, be sure to give them time and space. Eventually, your pets will learn to coexist peacefully.
Start House Training Immediately
Once your puppy gets used to his indoor surroundings, take him outside so he knows where to use the potty. It’s important that you begin house-training your puppy as soon as possible. Since accidents happen, it may be a good idea to buy some puppy training pads during the house-training process. If you plan on using dog training treats, we recommend picking some up before you bring your puppy home. A potty training puppy will need consistent feedback from his humans.
Consistently Enforce Rules
Taking care of a puppy is a commitment, which is why it’s important everyone in your household understand how to enforce the rules. The more consistent rules are enforced, the better-behaved your puppy will become. (To help you out, we also wrote a blog post on how to train your puppy.) If you want your dog to stay off the furniture, you’ll need to consistently enforce this rule. Otherwise, your puppy may learn that it’s okay to sleep on the couch.
The Barking Boutique is a Grand Rapids adoption center for puppies that is dedicated to helping puppies find their forever homes. Our purebred puppies for sale come from reputable dog breeders. If you are interested in any of our puppies for adoption, give us a call at (616) 446-6766.
