8 Essential Steps To Bringing A New Dog Into The Home

When you are bringing a new dog into the home for the very first time, you should not jump straight in without preparing the dog, your family, or even your furnishing. You certainly do not want your dog to be afraid of your overzealous children, or you wouldn’t want your dog to start destroying the furnishing in your house. With that, let us take a look at the 8 essential steps to bringing a new dog into the home for the first time.

Prep your family

If you intend to introduce a new pet to your family, always make it a point to prep them first as you wouldn’t want your overzealous child to scare the new dog with their enthusiasm.

Get the important necessities

Make sure that the you get important items that your dog will need so that you will not be caught unprepared. Some of the items includes:
Dog crate
Dog food
Dog leash and/or collar
Playpen
Dog bed
Water bowl

The above are just some of the important necessities that the dog will need. It is never harmful to over-prepare!
Set their play area, sleeping area, as well as their toilet

It will be good if you can go about to demarcate the dog’s sleeping area, play area, as well as their toilet. This segregation will be helpful next time when it comes to training your dog.

Be calm

Just before you enter the house with your new dog, always ensure that you remain calm at all times. You will need to know that the dog is entering a whole new place for the first time, and as such their sense will be heightened. If you elevate your excitement levels, it will rub off wrongly on your dog.

Bring the dog for a house tour

Instead of letting your new dog run about alone, we will advise you to bring your dog along for a tour in the house. Walk slowly with them and introduce each area with a calm tone. If possible, pet or stroke the dog on their coat as you bring them around as it will help to calm your new dog!

Bring the dog out to tour around the area

Once you manage to bring your dog on a house tour, you should next bring your dog out to tour around the exterior of the house. This will help to get the dog acquainted with its surroundings.

Take a long walk

Once the new dog has toured around your house and the vicinity, it is time to bring it out for a long walk. This helps to serve several purposes.

First, by taking it out for a long walk, you are starting on the process of bonding with your dog. Secondly, during this process, your dog will be naturally curious and will start sniffing during the walk. This is good as it allows your dog to be acquainted with the area. Thirdly, the long walk will inevitably drain your dog’s energy, and this is helpful as you wouldn’t want your new dog to be overly excited in your new house.

Stay energy neutral

This is perhaps the most important step should you want your dog to acknowledge you as the leader of the house. While showing affection is good to the dog, do not over do this as your new dog might disregard you as the leader of the house.