So, You Have a New Puppy! Now What?

By Dr. Andrew Jones May 21, 2021 0 Comment

5 Top Tips to Prepare and Familiarize

So, you’ve decided to welcome a new furry member into your household.

If this is your first time, you will want to be prepared! Today, we’ve got 5 tips to prepare and get your pet comfortable in their new home.

1. Supplies

To start, you’ll want to make sure you have all the supplies necessary to make them comfortable, help assist them in their training, and have a healthy food for their growing bodies!

Food and Water Bowls (metal or ceramic is best)
Crate
Food/Treats
Toys
Bed
Leash/Collar

2. Puppy-Proof Your Home

You’ll want to prepare your home to provide them with a safe space:

Remove any exposed wires they could chew on
Remove any items they could knock over/pull on that you don’t want damaged
Close off rooms you don’t want them going into yet
Clean your floors of debris that they could consume
Move any plants higher so they don’t knock them over or chew their leaves

3. Ease into it

You don’t want to overwhelm your puppy – this is a big change in their life! Try to keep a calm, comfortable environment for them.

If you have a cat, consider introducing them at a later point when your puppy is more comfortable in their environment.

If you have children, they may be very excited, as they should be! Remind them to handle your new puppy carefully and try to create a calm environment so that your child and puppy can get used to one another.

4. Establish a Routine

This is important for development.

Feeding at the same time
Taking them out to use the bathroom every hour/half hour
Getting them on a daily training schedule
Make time for lots of play!

5. Training!

And lastly, get your pet started on housetraining right away. Establishing a routine will make it more second-nature for them.

Start them off crate training during bedtime (so they aren’t getting into things in the middle of the night, and they are less likely to have an ‘accident’ in their crate)
Socializing your puppy and introduce them to different environments
Sign up for obedience classes, or go the DIY route and train them at home
Again, ease into it, and don’t be too hard on them! Keep up with it, and they will learn 🙂

ENJOY! This is an exciting time, hopefully this helps break things down for you.

Please let us know in the comments what topics you’d like to learn more about!