Bringing a new dog home is an exciting event. To ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, though, it is important that you are intentional when you are introducing new dogs to your home. This quick guide will provide a few important tips about how to introduce new dogs to your household.
Establish Rules
The key to successful pet ownership is often intentionality. In order to have a great relationship with your dog, it will be important to have rules already in place even before you bring the dog home. Dogs, like people, need boundaries and rules to help them stay safe and to help them fit in with the group they are living with. Decide before bringing the dog home what those boundaries will be.
Stay Calm
Not only will the dog be excited, but you and your family will be excited as well. It is natural to be excited when getting a new pet, but in order for the introduction to go smoothly, all of the humans that are present need to stay calm. If you exude too much excitement, it will make it difficult for the dog to stay calm and focused on what is being introduced.
Walk the Dog
It is a good idea to take the dog on a long walk outside before bringing it into the home. This will help get rid of excited energy, and also help to start familiarizing the dog with the new neighborhood as well.
Introducing the Home
Calmly bring the dog to the front door of your home. Open the door, but do not let him enter first. You should enter first, and the dog should not be allowed to enter until you have invited it inside.
Tour the House
The dog should remain on the leash while you give it a tour of the house. Take your new dog from room to room and allow it to sniff and explore, making sure it stays at your side with the leash. Each time you approach a door, repeat what you did at the front door. You enter first, and you invite the dog in. This lays down the groundwork for your authority as the master. Stay consistent with this. It will help later on when other types of training are needed.
No Touching, Talking, or Eye Contact
To help keep your dog calm during this process, you should avoid any talking, touching, or eye contact. All of these things excite the dog and will make touring the house difficult.
Feeding and Sleeping Areas
Once you reach the area where you will feed and water your dog, you should offer them a reward of some water and a little bit of food, but not a whole bowl. Always feed your pet in the same location to reinforce routine and consistency.
Once you bring your dog to its bedroom or whatever area will be designated for it, you can let it off the leash. Here there should be a bed or crate. Once you let the dog off the leash in that area, you are sending the message that this area is for it.