Bringing Your Puppy Home: 4 Essential Tips

So you’ve decided to adopt a puppy into your family and will soon be going to collect him. Bringing a new pet home is always exciting, but it’s important to remember that your new pup will be nervous. While you and your little ones are sure to be excited about your new addition, it’s important that you don’t overwhelm him.

To help make the process of bringing your new puppy home a little easier for you and him, here we have put together four essential tips. Take note of these, and you can ensure that bringing your pup home goes exactly to plan.

1. Don’t go and collect him with the kids

As excited as your little ones are to welcome the new puppy, it’s best to leave them at home when you go to collect him. That way, you can chat with the breeder and take note of everything that you need to know, without being disturbed by your little ones.

Being away from their parents for the first time can be scary for young puppies. So it’s important that they travel to their new home in a quiet environment. Otherwise, they can become panicked and stressed out.

2. Have his bed and bits and bobs ready

It’s best to have your puppy’s bed, bowls, toys, and anything else that they’ll need, all ready for their arrival. You can get the bits that you need for your new addition from your local pet store, or you can order them online from the Shinola collection.

Make sure that before your dog arrives, that you have a bed, collar and leash, bowls, and, of course, lots of toys. Ideally, for a small puppy, you’ll also want to get some puppy blankets, to ensure that he isn’t cold at night.

3. Make his first night as easy as possible

Whatever you do, unless you want your new puppy to sleep in your bedroom for life, don’t take him upstairs. How you treat him to start off with will affect his behaviour for the rest of his life, so you need to get it right.

If you want him to sleep downstairs in his own bed, that’s where he needs to spend his first night. (Regardless of how much he cries and whines, make sure to leave him downstairs.) Aim to make him as comfortable as possible by popping a hot water bottle in his bed, along with a small clock. The clock is meant to sound like his mom’s heartbeat, and should calm him.

4. Be gentle but firm

You need to be firm from the start so that your new addition knows his place and understands what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour. If you don’t want him sitting on the couch, don’t let him up there.

You need to be gentle but firm with him, and need to make sure that he understands what he is and isn’t allowed to do. Any behaviours that you don’t want from him cut out from the start. Otherwise, you’ll find them incredibly hard to break as he gets older.

Make bringing your puppy home as easy and stress-free as possible by following these four tips.