Getting Ready For Bringing Your New Puppy Home
Author Julie Nelson
Let's take a look at some of the most important basics to cover in your planning as you wait for your new puppy to arrive after you have made arrangements with a breeder to bring a new puppy home.
The planning for your life with your new canine family member starts with taking a good look at how you will live with your puppy for the first few months after you bring it home.
Depending on the breed and how the breeder has socialised the puppy and prepared it for leaving its Mum and litter mates your new puppy might be a bit scared and miss it's dog family for the first few days after leaving its Mum and brothers and sisters. It can take at least a few days for your puppy to get really comfortable and relax with a whole new environment.
Ideally, you have told the breeder about your family and some details of how you will live with the puppy when it comes home so the breeder can work with you in helping to prepare the puppy for life with its new family with as little change and stress as possible.
The puppy will need a little time to learn about what is normal in the household and what is expected. They will need time and lots of exposure to the normal routines of the household to adapt to the sounds, smells, rhythms and pace of a different household and learn about the habits, expectations and body language of different human family members and any other household pets.
One of the puppy's most important needs will be learning to trust and bond to you, his new family. Be patient and be prepared to use slow gentle movements and tender hands. This will help to build a rewarding wonderful relationship and a strong bond between the dog and its family. Your goal should be to provide a safe ,stress free place to be. Puppies are happy, playful and fun and it's difficult not to smile as your watch them but you will need to be firm and teach it the boundaries and basic good manners. It will be your responsibility to balance the puppy's need for activity, training, exercise and playtime with needed quiet time to sleep and grow.
Positive training with verbal, petting or food treat rewards for good behaviour will be the best way to keep your puppy coming back for more involvement with you. Check with your breeder about the best methods to use for training for your chosen breed and what breed characteristics you might need to take into account.
Before you bring the puppy home
PUPPY PROOFING
Puppies are curious and can get into all sorts of dangerous situations and mischief, not too much different to a human toddler. Walk around your home and property and look low for possible hazards.
Some things to take into account.
1. Be sure to place any hazardous chemicals, garden fertilizers, insecticides, cleaning substances, antifreeze, glues, paints, medicines or other dangerous materials high up off the ground or put them away in a closed cupboard.
2. Check for any small holes in and at the base of outdoor fences and gates and repair them so your puppy can't get under or through the fence - not just now when it comes home as a temporary measure, but ensure it will be secure into the future. Puppies can easily get through pool fencing and are just as at risk of drowning as a small child.
3. Make sure there are no electrical cords, cables or wires etc. which can be perforated with little teeth.
4. Puppies can easily get their heads stuck in small openings, so make sure holes or gaps are completely covered.
5. Check for any areas that might cause a fall, such as open stairways or landings or open decks with drop offs. Depending on the size of your puppy you may even need to consider garden edging or things that maybe harmful for a small breed puppy to fall from that may only be a few inches tall.
6. Young puppies may not have developed a good sense of how to navigate stairs and may jump from landings until they work it out so you need at least a minimum knowledge of your puppy's familiarity with stairs. Your breeder should be able to answer this for you.
7. Pools should be fenced with lighter mesh over the pool fencing or the area made unavailable until the pup is too big to fit through the gaps.
8. It's a good idea to use baby gates or baracades for stairs, open doorways or for rooms and areas that the puppy will not be allowed to access on a regular basis while it is becoming accustomed to your home and schedule.