Nothing can be more exciting than adopting a new dog. Whether it’s a puppy, an older rescue dog, or something in between, getting a dog is a life-changing experience. But, with that new life comes a lot of changes to day-to-day life. Even if you’re a seasoned dog owner, a new canine member can pose all kinds of challenges. There are so many factors that can make each dog experience different, whether it’s their breed, previous life experience, or their personality.
If you’re wondering about how to introduce your new dog to your home, and also care for it in the best way possible, below are some top tips.
Properly Introduce Them to Their New Home
When you bring home your new dog, it may be tempting to simply open the door and let them go. However, renowned dog expert, Cesar Millan, says that the first moments of bringing a dog to their new home is crucial for establishing a healthy rapport, making them feel safe and secure, and creating boundaries.
When bringing a new dog home, it’s essential to provide a structured introduction to the house. Remain calm, don’t be overly excited, and give the dog a tour to key places like the feeding area, the bedroom, etc. Once you’ve done your tour and introduced them to the family, it’s important to take the dog for a walk as this helps you bond and allows them to drain any excess energy.
Establish a Schedule
Like humans, dogs need a schedule too. Ensuring that your dog keeps to regular feeding and walk times helps them feel more secure. While it may not seem obvious or necessary, a chaotic schedule where exercise, training or mealtimes are staggered and not consistent, can lead a dog to act out and become irritable. You owe it to your dog to treat them respectfully by creating a schedule, just as you would with your children. Make sure to check out this feeding calculator for dogs and puppies for feeding.
Create a Plan for Their Health and Essentials
Caring for a dog is so much more than just feeding and exercise. There are a lot of things to take care of, such as training, registering with a vet at veterinarianfriscotx.com, taking out pet insurance, or getting them micro-chipped. Creating a plan also involves grooming schedules and developing an adequate meal plan to ensure you’re not loading your dog up with treats and table scraps.
Get Your Family Members to Work as a Pack
Dogs, by nature, live in packs, and that doesn’t change when they enter a human household. If you’ve decided to bring a new dog into your home, don’t just put it on yourself to take on all the duties. By working as a group and sharing duties or alternating tasks such as dog-walking, feeding, or playing, it will enable you to work together as a pack, providing greater stability.
Be a Calm, Assertive Leader
Being a good leader is perhaps the most important thing you can do for your dog. Dogs are at their best when they follow strong leadership, which means that you need to be a good canine parent by displaying calm, assertive energy. While it can be nerve-wracking if your dog barks at people, try to remain calm and direct the dog so that it doesn’t fixate on things that make it excited or anxious. This requires training and patience but being calm and assertive while walking, feeding, or training your dog is key to good behavior and a healthy rapport for years to come.
A new dog can enrich your life in so many ways. Give them the care they deserve by following the above tips. And most of all, enjoy the company of your new companion!
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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