Your First Day at Home With a New Puppy: Tips For Day One

Introduction to Puppyhood

The day you bring your new puppy home is the day you’ve been waiting for. It’s your first day as long-term companions, and you want to begin bonding with your pup immediately. Start off right by staying home, so you can make your puppy feel secure and enjoy every minute of this experience.

 

Here are some tips to make sure the first day is the best it can be for your puppy, for you, and for your family.

 

Introducing Puppy to a New Home

Limit your puppy’s access. Too many new places, smells, and people at once may confuse puppy. Instead, let puppy explore a designated area where you are, too. Then introduce him to the rest of the house, one room at a time.

 

Choose a potty spot. Start by taking puppy to the outside area where you want them to eliminate. When they do relieve themselves, use a command that you’ll stick to, like “go potty” and reward puppy with a special treat and praise.

 

Introduce puppy to their new family. If possible, do this one person at a time. Give them a chance to meet each of you quietly. Supervising young children. Discourage them from picking up the puppy. Let them hold the puppy in their laps with your help.

 

Minimize stress and excitement. Don’t invite friends and neighbors over to meet him or her yet. That will be important very soon, but should not start on the first day.

 

Introduce other family pets. Puppies are still developing their communication skills and don’t understand the rules set in place by adult dogs. As long as an adult dog’s behavior is appropriate when correcting a puppy, it’s okay if he or she growls a little. If the elder dog becomes agitated, separate and redirect the puppy.

 

Don’t interact with dogs outside your home. Because your puppy hasn’t gotten all of his or her shots, puppy shouldn’t interact with strange dogs or even walk where other dogs do.

 

Start enforcing rules. The puppy needs to learn the house rules from the very beginning. Praise good behavior. Set your rules ahead of time and stick to them, for example: Where do you want puppy to sleep? Is puppy allowed on furniture? Can puppy have food scraps from the table? (I advise not to!)

 

Make a veterinary appointment. Your vet should give your puppy a checkup in the next few days.

 

Start a Routine and Stick to It

Structure will help your new puppy feel secure and understand what’s expected of him or her. Routine makes it easier for everyone, humans included. Create a schedule and stick to it, Keep in mind:

*Mealtime

Young puppies eat three times a day. Put your puppy on a regular feeding schedule. What goes in on a regular schedule will come out on a regular schedule.

*Potty Breaks

Every time your puppy eats, drinks, wakes up, plays, sniffs around the room – most young puppies have to eliminate at least every 45 minutes when awake. Pick the puppy up and carry him or her to the designated potty area. Never punish puppy for housetraining “mistakes”. When puppy eliminates outside, reward him or her immediately.

 

Create a mental schedule for taking puppy outside to use the potty:

• First thing in the morning

• After playing indoors

• After eating

• After drinking

• After spending time in a crate

• After chewing a toy or bone

• Last thing at night

*Playtime

Your puppy needs exercise and interaction with you. A word of caution: sustained, strenuous exercise (long runs, jumping) is not good for puppies, but playing with toys and with you, mental stimulation with puzzles, and running in the yard are great, a tries puppy is a good puppy.

*Dreamland

Young puppies sleep a lot; in fact, some will sleep 16-18 hours a day. Plan on several nap times during the day. You may need to put a crate in a quiet part of the house so puppy won’t be disturbed. At night, set a puppy bedtime and help him or her get used to the routine.

*Crates

Crates make life easier. It’s a good idea to get your dog accustomed to a crate for many reasons, such as vet visits, travel, convalescence, and safety. Dogs are den animals and will seek out a “cave” for security whether you provide one or not. That makes it relatively easy to train your dog to love their crate. The principle behind using a crate for housetraining is that dogs are very clean creatures and don’t like a urine-soaked rug in their living spaces any more than you do. It’s important that the crate is the right size-just large enough for the dog to lie down, stand up, and turn around. If it is too large, the dog will feel that its OK to use one corner for elimination and then happily settle down away from the mess. Many crates come with partitions so you can adjust the size as your puppy grows.

 

When puppy feels an urge, the puppy will usually let you know by whining and scratching. That’s their signal that they have to go and want out of their little den. NOW! Don’t delay because if you let your pup lose control in their crate, they’ll get the idea that it’s OK to mess up their living space. Then they’ll think nothing of leaving little packages around where you live, too.

 

Surviving the First Night

Some puppies sleep through the night right from the start. Others may cry for a few nights. And some may not be able to hold their bladder and will need a middle of the night trip outside – but this usually ends by age 4-5 months or so. A rule of thumb is puppies can hold their bladders for the number of hours corresponding to their age in months up to about 9 months to a year. (Remember, though, that 10-12 hours is a long time for anyone to hold it!) a 6-month-old pup can reasonably be expected to hold it for about 6 hours. Never forget that all puppies are individuals and the timing will differ for each.

 

For many puppies, evening is the “witching hour”, and if you anticipate it by initiating play, puppy may use up some energy and settle down. An evening stroll gives puppy exercise and a chance to take a potty break. Be sure puppy potties right before bed.

 

Put the crate in your bedroom. Your pup will feel more secure if he has you nearby. Keep the blanket that smells of their litter mates and mom in their crate.

 

A set bedtime makes puppy’s adjustment and house training easier for everyone. It doesn’t matter if it’s 8 pm or midnight, as long as it becomes a routine. Take puppy to their crate and help him or her settle down for the night – giving puppy a small treat when they go in willingly.

 

If your puppy is not yet able to make it through the night, when he or she whines, quietly carry him or her out for a quick and boring potty break. Then put puppy back in the crate.

 

If the pup cries, do not put him or her in your bed unless that is where you want puppy to sleep. You can put the crate right next to your bed and put your hand inside to reassure him or her that you’re there. A crate is like a den, where a puppy won’t eliminate (as long as there isn’t too much room in the crate).

 

Building Strong Bonds

With lots of affectionate contact with the family, consistent rules and routine, and rewards for good behavior, your puppy will quickly learn his or her place in his or her new “pack”. Most importantly, you will establish a bond that will endure throughout the puppy’s life.

 

Car Sickness in Dogs

There are usually two reasons for car sickness in dogs. Either motion sickness affecting balance or car-related anxiety caused by some fearful aspect of traveling in the car. Regardless of the reason for your pup’s puking problems, the main remedy to address the issue is the same, a good desensitization program.

 

Before we start with the desensitization program, there are a few steps to take since you don’t know whether the pup suffers from motion sickness or car-related anxiety. Try cuddling puppy upside down in your lap, pick puppy up in the air or roll puppy around on the ground like a log. These small motions a few times a day will mimic what they will be exposed to in the car.

 

Avoid travel in the farthest backseat where there is the most motion. Also, in the backseat pups can only see out the side windows where a whizzing blur of objects creates a fuzzy visual that causes or compounds motion sickness. By moving puppy closer to the front, say in the middle seat and having puppy look forward towards the windshield puppy will see less movement. Another option is to place puppy in a crate which has solid sides to limit their visibility. If you don’t use a crate, remember to use a seat-belt like harness on the puppy while in the middle seat to keep them safe in case of an accident.

 

Going for a Ride

Start with putting the pup in the car with ou for a few minutes a day. Don’t turn on the car or drive anywhere, just sit quietly giving praise and gently petting. Another good idea is not to feed the pup 6-12 hours before any planned travel or even sitting in the car. Feed puppy after the session or travel back in the house. Don’t use treats to reward puppy in the car. This will only stimulate an already off-balance digestive system.

 

After a few days sitting in the car, try starting the car and letting it run for a few minutes with puppy in it. Bring a toy and play with her in the front seat. Make it a happy time. Then shut off the car and exit. Do this for a few days until puppy shows great enthusiasm for going to the car. The trick here is to progress slowly after puppy shows no sign of sickness. The next step is to drive up and down the driveway one then stop and exit. Do this for a few days and then maybe try up and down the street. You get the picture. Increase the amount of travel each time puppy reaches a plateau of not getting sick. If puppy gets sick them move the process backwards until puppy is not sick again. By taking one step back to move two steps forward you will progress.

 

Leader of the Pack

One of the most important things you can do is be a strong pack leader for puppy. Show puppy that being in the car is fun and trouble free. Another tactic yo9u can do is to not make a big deal when puppy does vomit in the car. Do not pull over to clean it up, as this signals puppy that puking will stop the car. By ignoring puppy and the mess until you are at your destination puppy will not think anything about it. Then take puppy out of the car and go back and clean up themes without the dog in sight. If you get emotionally upset when puppy is sick in the car, such as yelling, puppy will begin to associate your emotional unbalance with something being “wrong” with the car.