Congratulations on your puppy! The first step is to get your home ready before you bring home a puppy. Bringing home a new puppy is very exciting but it can be also challenging during those first few weeks. Here are a few tips for settling a new puppy into your home.
13 tips for settling a new puppy into your home
- Sleeping area – designate a special, quiet space for your puppy to sleep inside your house.
- Get a crate to provide a happy, safe space for your pup to escape the other household members. Crate train your puppy SLOWLY step by step so your pup learns to accept the confinement area happily.
- Adaptil diffuser or collar – releases the dog appeasing pheromone, which may help your pup to relax in his new environment.
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Settling a new puppy into your home. Photo: freestocks-org/unsplash
Puppy school – find a good puppy school with a dog trainer qualified in positive reinforcement methods. Start training as soon as possible!
- Start socialising your puppy. The critical period of puppy socialisation is from the age of three weeks to 14 weeks. This means it is the ideal time to socialise (gradually expose) your pup to new people, other animals and things like noisy household appliances and cars driving by. Only play in pairs (with another puppy).
- Supervise interactions between young children and your puppy to ensure everyone is safe.
- Introductions – if you already have a cat or another animal, introduce your new pup to other pets SLOWLY step-by-step. Find out more in our Paw Perfect Introductions series
- Toilet training can be challenging. Never punish your puppy for eliminating in the wrong spot inside the house! Check out our Toilet Training Do’s and Don’ts.
- Register the new pup with your local council and ensure the microchip details are up to date with your contact details.
- Get pet insurance or set aside funds for those costly emergencies – the cost to look after a dog is $25,000 for the average lifespan of a dog.
- Vaccinations – ensure your puppy has the required vaccinations against infectious diseases.
- Protect your pup against nasty fleas and deadly ticks. There are many good products available now in the form of a chew, collar and spot-on applications, talk to your veterinarian about different options.
- Give your puppy lots of love!
Reviewed by Kelly Giles, pet parent of Bee the Groodle and Lincoln the rescue cat.
