Introducing A New Pup To The Home

[Miss B]

Not a problem per se, but I felt this was the right spot for my question.

What do you feel is the most effective way of introducing a new puppy to the home? Specifically for those who work full-time.

Is it better to take a sizeable amount of time off work (around 2 weeks) to help settle pup in, or is it better to just allow him/her to settle in over a few days or a weekend perhaps, and then go back to your normal routine.

We have always taken time off work in the past, but I'm wondering if this actually makes it harder for the pup to settle in. They spent two weeks being fussed over, and then all of a sudden their full-time companion (aka owner) goes back to work and they are left alone during the day.

Interested to hear your thoughts and experiences on this matter We will hopefully be introducing a new pup into the home in the near future, and I'm in two minds about which way to approach it.

[Parkeyre]

Not a problem per se, but I felt this was the right spot for my question.

What do you feel is the most effective way of introducing a new puppy to the home? Specifically for those who work full-time.

Is it better to take a sizeable amount of time off work (around 2 weeks) to help settle pup in, or is it better to just allow him/her to settle in over a few days or a weekend perhaps, and then go back to your normal routine.

We have always taken time off work in the past, but I'm wondering if this actually makes it harder for the pup to settle in. They spent two weeks being fussed over, and then all of a sudden their full-time companion (aka owner) goes back to work and they are left alone during the day.

Interested to hear your thoughts and experiences on this matter We will hopefully be introducing a new pup into the home in the near future, and I'm in two minds about which way to approach it.

With Millie, I had three days off work followed by the weekend, so i got to spend alot of time with her and make her feel welcome. Going back to work was hard though because she would howl and carry on like a dying cat.

I think personally; it's more difficult for puppy to adjust to it's new home if there is no routine to her environment from the beginning.

When we got Cooper, We brough him home on the saturday evening, and he stayed inside the lounge room where he met Millie and Tiny. Sunday he was allowed to play with them and be a happy boy but wasnt' allowed unsupervised due to the size differences. Cooper was locked in our kitchen while I was at work eg: 8.30am till 12pm locked in the kitchen with radio, 12-1pm i was home and tending to him, cleaning up my kitchen (mopping his mess, checking his food water and praising him for being a good boy) then 1pm till 5. Upon arriving home from work he would sit patiently at the baby gate and wait for me to enter, no crying, or whining.. just waiting like a good boy. Two weeks after we got him he had gone from the kitchen, the the laundry, to the outside area to almost full time with millie (5months) and tiny (7months) who were really good with him, this whole time it was no people from 8am-12pm + 1pm-5pm.

I think what I am getting at is that whichever you go; come to some sort of routine and stick to it.

[wish_4_cockerspaniel]

Is it better to take a sizeable amount of time off work (around 2 weeks) to help settle pup in, or is it better to just allow him/her to settle in over a few days or a weekend perhaps, and then go back to your normal routine.

We had 2 weeks booked off work and our breeder encouraged us to cancel it - she said it would completely throw him when we finally did leave him all day - so we just had a day with him then started our routine. Can't say he loves being left alone, and he cries when we leave, but we are lucky that a downstairs neighbour keeps an ear out for him (she is dog friendly, lovely, and gives him his lunch, we are v lucky!) and he only cries/barks for 5 mins so he's doing pretty good.

We also took the "pre-bribery" approach and took bottles of wine round to anyone who might hear him "getting used to the place" and that seemed to be a good side-tactic!

Good luck with your new pup!

[Cockerlover]

Start as you mean to continue ,leaving pup for longer periods of time during settling in time ,remembering that pup wil be sleeping a lot for first few weeks .

[Miss B]

Thanks guys.

I'm leaning more towards the idea of just taking a couple days or weekend off to settle him in, then going back to work.

Luckily our neighbours just got a new puppy themselves, so hopefully they will be a bit more tolerant of the 'settling in' period

[poodle proud]

Thanks guys.

I'm leaning more towards the idea of just taking a couple days or weekend off to settle him in, then going back to work.

Luckily our neighbours just got a new puppy themselves, so hopefully they will be a bit more tolerant of the 'settling in' period :rolleyes:

I picked our pup up on my last day of work for the week and then had 5 days off. But we didnt stay home with her that whole time. I had read elsewhere to go out for bief periods in the day and gradually make them longer so the pup doesnt get used to you being there 24/7.

We have and older dog too so I still took him for walks and left her in her pen or went and did the groceries. Also when she was looking sleepy we would put her back in her pen. So even when we were home she wasnt near us all the time. She cries a little when we leave or go to bed but at night she stops after a couple of minutes. Now after sleeping through the night and crying to get out in the morning thats a whole other story. When shes awake, thats it, theres no being quiet in her pen then

I dont know if you plan to crate her or use a pen but that initial few days taught us that she was part mountain goat and she worked out how to climb out of her 1m high enclosure in the first day. It took us a few days and a few ideas to stop her getting out. If we hadnt been home in that first few days then she would have got out, and maybe she and the older dog could have had a scuffle or she could have gotten stuck somewhere and we wouldnt have known til we got home from work.

We chose not to crate her because we didnt have anyone that could let her out to toilet during the day. So we use a metal pen with a lino mat underneath and have newspaper down for her to use during the day.

I know there is a lot of different opinions out there but this is just our experience. As one of the other posters said, ask your breeder what the pup does during the day currently. Our pup was crated for periods during the day so it obviously wasnt too much of a shock to her system to spend some time alone in the pen. That might be a good start.

One other thing I did was buy a stuffed toy dog that was reallys soft and the same colour as our pup and put that in her pen. She cuddled up to it from the first night and I think that has comforted her when spending time on her own. It wasnt an expensive one from a pet shop. It was from a local variety store and was cheap as chips. My theory is that she thought it was her brother or sister. She doesnt chew it and she still cuddles up to it now.

All the best with whatever you decide