Five Easy Tips For Bringing Home A New Puppy

Bringing home a new puppy is an exciting time.

Depending on your home circumstances, there are plenty of things to consider to prepare for your new puppy’s arrival.

To ensure the transition to a new home is smooth sailing, we’ve gathered some top tips to consider to prepare for your new puppy’s arrival.

When Is The Best Time To Bring Home A New Pup?

Bringing home your pup is exciting and daunting all at the same time.

There is nothing worse than bringing them home and then you have to head off to work in the morning.

It’s important to plan for the best time to bring your new pet home.

Consider picking up your new pet at the start of a weekend.

You may even consider taking a few days of annual leave so you can spend time with your puppy helping them to adjust to being away from their mum.

Prepare A Special Sleeping Spot

Your new friend will feel out of its depth in a new environment so prepare a special sleeping spot of its own.

A place it can feel safe.

Remember that your puppy has just left their mother and littermates and now looks to you for every little thing in their life.

Prepare a bed or crate setup that is out of the way of the main traffic in the house, but positioned so your pet still feels that they belong.

Crates are an excellent training tool for dogs and can become a dog’s safe place as it emulates a den.

Put some water in there, and a couple of their favourite toys and leave the door open to encourage them to use the crate as a place to play or take refuge.

Close the door at night to keep the house safe from a curious furry family member while you sleep until they are old enough to trust loose in the house.

We have some excellent articles on crate training that you may find useful.

Puppy-Proof Your House

Puppies are curious beings. They will get into everything.

Nothing is safe from a puppy exploring its surroundings.

Before bringing puppy home, you need to puppy-proof your home.

Start in the areas puppy will spend most of its time. Get down to puppy eye level.

Everything you see is fair game for a puppy.

Remove or make safe everything you can see at that level and above.

You may have to move things upwards a few times as they get bigger until it grows out of this phase.

Pay particular attention to electrical cords that are a huge temptation to your new friend.

Take A Trip To The Vet

The most important trip you will make within the first 72hours is taking your puppy to meet your local veterinarian.

You want to make sure that they are in excellent health with no issues that can cause problems.

While you are there, talk to your vet about puppy vaccinations, appropriate feeding, flea and worm management and pet health insurance.

Your vet is there to help you get it right from the start.

Toilet Training Your New Puppy

It’s important to start toilet training on day one.

Consistency is the key.

Every time your dog wakes up, finishes eating, drinking, and playing take it to its special toilet spot outside to ‘go potty’.

You can use whatever word you want, but keep it consistent.

When they do go to the toilet, reward them lavishly with a treat and verbal praise.

If you do this every time consistently in the first few weeks, your puppy will soon start to ask to go out in no time at all.

Remember to watch for the signs, such as the puppy whining at the door to go out.

Have you recently acquired a new dog for your family? Tell us all about them below! We love to hear your stories.