Are You Ready to Welcome A New Pet Into Your Home?

Welcoming a pet into your home can be one of the most exciting and emotional moments. You may want to ensure that you have everything available for your pet so you don't have to rush out for a quick shopping on your pet's first day home. Here are some recommendations to help new pet families so the happy journey of togetherness with your pet starts on the right note. 

Here is a post on the Benefits of Welcoming a Dog as Your Family Member.

1) Make Your Home Puppy-Friendly Before Bringing Your New Puppy Home

Before welcoming a new puppy home, you need to make your home safe and comfortable for her.

Designate an Area for Your Puppy: Puppies need space for their own. They will roam around and explore everything within their reach but they need a space for themselves where they will have their bed, some toys to play with and just settle down when they want to be on their own. Their personal space is where they will feel very safe. 

Choose a personal space for her that would be calm and preferably in a corner as most of the puppies would feel safe settling in a corner. Changing the personal space may affect your puppy and hence ensure you make a choice that would not require a re-consideration. 

Bowls for Food and Water and a Place for Them As Well: Having food and water bowls ready for your puppy before you welcome her home saves you lots of stress. You can visit local pet stores or you may order puppy food and water bowls online. 

Have a Puppy Bed and Some Toys for Her: It need not necessarily be a store-bought puppy bed but it needs to be comfortable for the little one to sleep in. It may be a soft blanket that does not hurt your pet's little body. You can get creative and make beautiful puppy bed at home or you can order puppy bed online. 

Designate a Place for Poop: Potty training your puppy has to start the minute you bring her home. On entering a new home, the puppy would want to pee. Having a spot designated for relieving will help with potty training her effectively. Pick your puppy up and take her to the designated spot for peeing. Every time you need to take her to the same spot so she will soon know where to relieve. 

If you plan on using pee pads, you may place them in the same space where you want her to do her business. Always reward her when does things right.

Keep Chemicals and Other Harmful Objects Out of Puppy's Reach: Puppy would naturally do all things puppy. Hence, care has to be taken that nothing hazardous is within the reach of your pet. Housecleaners, sharp tools and medications are to cleared off the lower shelves. If you have been a houseplant person so far, you may want to check if any of your houseplants is dangerous for dogs and have them removed before welcoming your puppy home. 

Just a shawl...what a waste trying to climb? 

2) Decide on Where Your Puppy Would Sleep at Night

Your puppy would use personal space for naps and whenever she needs the comfort of her very own space. Night times, though, are different. Decide on whether you are going to share your bed with her or if she is going to have her own bed close to yours. If you decide to allow her in your bed just stay consistent.

3) Know Your Puppy's Needs and Routine from Previous Owner

Learning your puppy's food habits and routine from her previous owner will help you to get started on a positive note. It also helps you to stock up food in case she has so far been used to store-bought puppy foods and treats. You can slowly introduce her to homemade foods.

Your Pet's First Day at Home

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After all the preparation is complete to welcome a pet, the next step would be to help her settle down smoothly at home. 

1) Let Her Pee in the Designated Spot

Once home, take your pet to the pee spot so she can relieve. After she pees there, praise her for her act. 

2) Introduce Your Puppy to Family Members, One by One

Everything will be new for the puppy, the environment, people, scents...just everything. Let the introduction be organized in a manner that is not overwhelming for the puppy. It is recommended to guide children to be calm around the puppy till she feels comfortable. It is also best that children are asked not to lift the puppy. 

If you have other pets at home, introduce your puppy to them and keep constant watch till they are comfortable with each other. 

3) Keep it a 'Family Only' Day 

The new environment as such would be overwhelming for your pet and having friends and neighbors visit her may be a bit tough on her. Your new puppy may not be ready for the excitement in the air. May be there are exceptions and in that case as a pet lover you will know.

4) Start Working on the Routine From Day One

Training puppies will be a lot easier if rules are enforced right from the word go. A time to feed, a time to play, a time for walks and a time to sleep. Also take her to pee every one hour or so to the designated spot. 

5) Set Boundaries

Boundary training your pet is very essential for successful housetraining. If you decide not to allow your pet inside your kitchen for safety concerns, you are absolutely right and you need to make your puppy understand that kitchen is a no-no place for her.

Kitchen barrier? But you can't stop the aroma from reaching me

It is also best not to let her into the whole house on day one itself. Limit access to other rooms of your home and gradually introduce her to each of your rooms one by one. This will also help you have less cleaning work on hand if the girl is not yet completely potty trained. 

Chezhi was initially restricted from entering our bedroom and kitchen. She now sleeps with us in our bedroom but kitchen access is still not allowed. We had a door made to prevent her from entering the kitchen initially but now the door is always open but the girl does not enter...though not always. 

You may want to check this post for Chezhi's first kitchen gate episode.

This post is about Chezhi's second kitchen gate episode. 

Veterinary Check

Before bringing your puppy to your new home or soon after you bring her home a veterinary check is essential to confirm all is well with your new pet member. You will also be informed by the veterinarian on your puppy's injections schedule. 

You may want to check this post on Things to Consider Before Getting A Dog.