By Sarah Groves Dog Training: your puppy training specialist covering Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea
Getting a puppy is such an exciting time! But can can also bring up a lot of questions and concerns.
I often get asked about how to settle a puppy at their home on the first day and night, so here are my top 5 tips!
Your pups first day with you is going to be a BIG one and it's likely to be quite an overwhelming experience. Not only are they moving away from their littermates, mum and breeder, but they may need to travel with you in a car for possibly hours and then get used to a new environment with a brand new family. This is a LOT of newness in just one sitting!
So taking this into consideration, here are a few things you can do to help prepare yourself and make this transition as smooth as possible for you and your pup!
1) Get all of your pups shopping done before hand
Many moons ago when I worked at a pet store, I was often greeted at the till by an excited family with a brand new pup straight from the breeder rushing to get all of the pups belongings there and then.
Whenever this happened I thought of how exhausting and overwhelming this extra experience must have been for the puppy.
By the time you bring your pup home from the breeder, it's likely that puppy will be 8 to 12 weeks old, and very much going through a sensitive socialisation period.
During this time any extra stress or overwhelm can create a long term negative behavioural outcome, so getting your pups belongings set up ready in advance will help to limit any stress.
Some essential items to consider getting before pup arrives:
- Puppy food
- Crate/playpen
- Bed
- A variety of chews
- Enrichment activities such as a kong or licki mat
- Collar
- Lead
- Food and water bowls
- A variety of toys
- Treats
2) Puppy proof the house
Puppies explore with their mouth - which can be dangerous!
Go around the house and make sure that anything which might be harmful to your pup is clear out of reach.
Items which are known to be found by puppy mouths include:
- Wires/cables
- Shoes
- Ornamental vgarden stones/rocks - cover these up as much as you can
- Garden plants - many plants can be dangerous if ingested
Use baby gates to section off areas of the house that puppy isn't allowed in yet and make a decision on what room your pup will spend most of their time in within the first couple of months.
3) Set up your pups safe space in a quiet area of the house
Young pups need a LOT of sleep! At around 8 weeks old your pup will need around 17 hours of sleep a day - and if they are not sleeping for this amount of time, you are more likely to get an overtired puppy.
Make sure that everyone in the house knows to avoid disturbing puppy when sleeping.
There is such thing as too much freedom at a young age! Allowing too much freedom too soon will give your pup more opportunity to get into trouble, and will likely cause overstimulation.
Limit your pups access for now and slowly introduce to different rooms over time.
4) Your pups first day
If you have a choice on what time of day to pick puppy up, I would recommend in the morning.
This will help to give your pup all day to get used to their new family and home environment.
Once pup is home, pop them out into the garden straight away to allow them an opportunity to have their first toilets outside.
Introduce your puppy to their crate. Use some of their own food allowance to hand feed them inside the crate.
Your puppy is likely to be tired now, so pop them in the crate to have a nap.
You might be tempted to invide the whole family around to visit pup straight away, but give it a few days for pup to settle in to prevent overwhelm.
5) Your pups first night
The first night might be a tough one - your pup is going to find everything so strange being away from their usual routine and environment, so expect some stirring through the night.
Your pup needs to know that they are safe in their new home so to make the first few nights go as smoothly as possible, youe puppy will feel at their safest being close to you.
I normally recommend either having pups crate in the bedroom with you and then once your pup is settled through the night you can start to slowly increase the distance of the crate from you.
Alternatively you can sleep downstairs with the puppy and once you have a pup who is fully settled through the night, you can go back to bed.
Sometimes having a ticking clock close by or a heartbeat dog toy can help to sooth your puppy during the night.
Your pup may cry through the night - usually there is a good reason. Either they need to go to the toilet, are hungry or cold. As pup gets older, they will be able to hold their bladder for longer and the waking up will become less consistent.
Don't allow your pup to cry and cry for ages - this will just make them feel even more insecure in your absence.
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Call Sarah: 07891222454
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