Bringing A Puppy Home-Our Top 5 Tips to help settle your puppy

By Jayne

Fri 19th Mar 2021

It can be very exciting bringing a new puppy into the home for everyone. Sometimes it can be overwhelming for the puppy so we need to help our new puppy acclimatize themselves to the new environment. It will take your puppy a day or so to settle in and your puppy will learn quickly about all members of the home, who feeds them, who lifts them too much who is kindest etc. This is valuable information for the puppy. Here are our Top 5 Tips to Help settle your puppy in and make sure it as comfortable as possible.

  1. Give your puppy time and a chance to explore the new environment, perhaps even toilet outside first.

  2. Try not to over crowd the puppy, everyone will want to interact with the puppy but this can create negative emotions for the puppy and be a bit scary.

  3. If you have children at home ask them to sit quietly and offer the puppy a treat, give the puppy the choice whether to approach or not. Too much petting may make the puppy uncertain of hands. Children should not pick the puppy up as the puppy may not be comfortable with this and also not enjoy handling. This can be frustrating for kids but the puppy and kids will be growing up together so the relationship between them needs to be a positive experience.

  4. Do not overstimulate your puppy. Normally puppies need up to 20 hours of sleep a day and if it is over handled or lifted too much or if they do not get enough sleep they can get over tired and over stimulated which results in behavioural issues such as play biting.

  5. Play biting is a regular problem I get contacted about and it certainly puts kids off the puppy.Play biting is a natural process but there are other factors which we need to consider to reduce play biting.
    Biting can be worse if the puppy does not trust hands or is over handled or lifted, if they do not get enough sleep, up to 20 hours, they can be over tired and over stimulated. Play biting can be worse if they are hungry or do not have enough things to chew on.

Read our article also on how to puppy proof your home before your puppy arrives!