Prepare For Your Puppy

When you bring your dog home

Take your time: New places can be overwhelming for puppies, so you’ll need to make sure everything is nice and calm at home on the day they arrive. You might want to limit them to one or two rooms in the house at first so they can get used to everything slowly in their own time.
Create a routine: It’s important to get your puppy into a routine as soon as possible to help them settle. Try to keep meal, play, and bed times at the same time every day (as well as walk times once they’re able to go outside).
Calming products: Plug-in diffusers that release calming pheromones can be good for the first few weeks. They can help your puppy feel more relaxed around the home – especially during those first nights! You can also buy calming collars or supplements that might help your puppy if you’re travelling, visiting the vets or when they start venturing out into the world.
Be consistent: Make sure all of your puppy’s training and routine are consistent and that your family all stick to the same rules. If you don’t, your puppy might get confused and frustrated, as well as finding it more difficult to learn.
Set boundaries: Make sure your boundaries are clear from the beginning and stick to them. If you don’t want your puppy to go on the sofa, you need to make sure you and your family keep to this from day one. The same applies to parts of the house where your dog isn’t allowed – make sure it’s clear from the start so they don’t get into habits you don’t want.
Start socialisation: Your puppy’s socialisation period is a key time for them to learn what to expect from life. During this time, it’s really important to start socialising them to the sights, sounds and smells they’re likely to come across later in life. You can begin by socialising your puppy at home and by carrying them out and about with you. They’ll need to be fully covered by their vaccination before they start going for walks or meeting unvaccinated dogs – check with your vet to find out what’s best for your pup.
Give them space: Although it can be tempting to spend every minute with your new pup, they’ll need to have time to themselves too. If they need to sleep and rest, give them the space to do so and encourage them to play on their own sometimes to help prevent separation problems later in life.
Consider training classes: It can be a good idea to go along to training classes with your puppy, so you can let them have positive experiences with vaccinated dogs and people in a safe environment. They’ll start also learning their basic commands which will be really important later in life! Make sure you choose classes run by trainers who are certified or accredited and use reward based methods. If you’re not sure which class to choose, you can ask your vet for recommendations.