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Introducing Your New Puppy

The cute dog

In our last blog we explained how to prepare for a new pup coming into your home. This month we’re going to chat about how to introduce your new bundle of energy into your life.

Calm and quiet start
Start by shutting your other pets away and have a quiet and calm introductory time with all the humans in your family. Although this is a really, really exciting time it’s very important that everyone stays calm and quiet.

Ideally ask your children to sit quietly while the puppy sniffs and explores his new environment – he’ll come up to people as his confidence grows.

On this first day just show your puppy the room where his crate is kept – he doesn’t need to see the whole house yet. The best way to approach him is to come down to puppy level (kneel or sit) and hold out your hand palm up so the puppy can sniff your hand without feeling scared. You can then tickle your puppy under the chin.

Avoid giving your new pup any rich treats – small amounts of the food they are used to is the way to go.

Use your common sense as to when to introduce your other pets. You might be smart to wait a couple of days if your pup seems very nervous and if your other pets are boisterous. But in most circumstances it is a good idea to introduce them early, and ensure that they are both well supervised until you are comfortable they are going to get along. Ensure the original pet is under sufficient restraint just in case there is any aggression, and let them have a good sniff of each other in a controlled environment.

Let your puppy rest
After all the stress, excitement and change of moving to his new home your puppy will likely need to sleep fairly soon after he arrives. As soon as he starts to look tired put him to bed in his pen and stay quiet while he rests.

Puppies, like children, vary a lot in their personality. Some speed around like crazy, bouncing, yapping and playing and sniffing everything. Others are quiet and overwhelmed, remain quiet and withdrawn and want to hide in a corner.

Either of these extremes and anything in between is normal.

Feeding your puppy
For the first few days feed the same as the breeder did – changing diet on top of moving home is a recipe for sickness and diarrhea!

Arrange for a vet check in the first 24-48 hours – this is ideally done by a mobile vet who can check your puppy in his own environment. Your vet will give you great advice on what is a balanced diet and what is not.

Your vet will also explain all about vaccinations, heartworm prevention, flea and tick prevention and worming.

Feed your puppy 3 or 4 small meals each day – he has a small stomach and he can’t take big meals. Gradually you can reduce to 2 meals a day by 6 months.

The next few days
As your puppy begins to settle into your home his personality will begin to shine through. This is a lovely time – you can really start to enjoy him and his little quirks. It will only take a couple of days for your pup to get to know you and get all excited when you come home.

The trick with training your pup is to encourage and reward the behaviour you want. So with a shy pup reward them when they are brave and outgoing, with a boisterous pup reward them when they are calm.

Try to get into a routine for feeding, play and trips outside to the toilet and your puppy’s body clock will fall into that schedule.

Got questions about how to care for your new puppy? Contact us

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