Deciding to get a puppy is a massively exciting decision but also comes with a lot of responsibility. So, it is essential that you prepare for your puppy to come home and have the whole family working together to ensure the transition from leaving mum to becoming part of your family is as smooth as possible. Here are a few things you should consider before the big day.
Planning and Preparation
It is a good idea to take time as a family to decide on the rules you want for the puppy. It’s really important that everybody is consistent and uses the same commands, so the dog does not get confused. For example, you need to agree on the words you will use for basic training such as sit, stay, down and more.
Once the puppy is home, you need to be sure that everybody sticks to these and says sit for example sit down or the puppy is going to get utterly confused and not know what it is meant to do. Who is going to be responsible for taking puppy to the toilet regularly? You can either use papers or give access to a back garden.
Safety First
Compared to an 8-week-old baby an 8-week-old puppy is streets ahead developmentally. You need to think of your eight-week-old puppy more like a 2-year-old that doesn’t understand right from wrong and safe from dangerous. It is vital that you puppy-proof the area where you are going to have pup sleeping or left when you pop out of the house. This means considering things like electrical wires plants, breakable items and more. You may need to consider dog gates to confine puppy to one area of the house to be safe.
A quick tip is to lay down on the floor and try and see the world from the dog point of view. Now you need to pop out into your garden and make sure that this is also safe for your puppy. If needs be you may have to remove some plants as some green things can be toxic to dogs. You should also check that back gates are secure and there are no gaps under the fences as puppies can be excellent escape artists.
Shopping
Finally, you need to take a trip to the local shop to get everything you will need for your puppy in advance. This will be things like a food and water bowl, chew toys that are safe for teething puppies, a nice bed, the harness and lead, a caller for an identity tag, a crate to sleep in and maybe some dog gates.
Puppies tend to be very regularly and poorly, so it’s quite useful to have a harness rather than a collar, so they’re not being dragged around by the neck. By law, you have to have an identity tag on your puppy so they can wear a collar for decorative purposes and to hold this critical information. You may want to think about registering your puppy with the local vet as you will need to visit them within the first week or so to begin the vaccination process.
