Before bringing our new puppy, Mica, home, we prepared carefully. From purchasing the necessary items to setting up a comfortable space for him, we made sure everything was in place to help him settle in smoothly.

There are 3 steps we recommend to prepare your home for your newly adopted dog or puppy to foster a smooth transition you and your dog.

1. Make a Shopping List

To start, make a list of all the things you will need for your new dog or puppy. I found myself considering all the things we already have since we were a two dog house hold not that long ago. So you will want to do a quick inventory of what you already have. It’s likely that many of the items you already have will also work well for your new dog. You may have extra beds, place beds, bowls, treats, and leashes. For instance, I didn’t need to purchase a new food/water stand since he would be eating his meals in his crate and the water would be shared with our current dog, so I crossed that off my list. I am also already training my dog Max, so I had plenty of training treats on hand. There were certain things I purchased on Amazon so I would get them quickly and they would be exactly what I wanted. Then we made the trip to one of our favorite pet stores in town (Patton Avenue Pet Company) with both dogs to pick out some new toys, food platter, etc.

My shopping list:

Enrichment items:

Food and treats:

Open Farm Raw Mix
K-9 Kraving Raw
- This is the most affordable complete diet raw food option available in our area. Receive 10% off when ordering in bulk from Patton Avenue Pet Company!

Chews

2. Make a List of Commands you Want to Teach Them

Jot down the different commands you want to teach your dog based on past experiences. To do this, I thought of all the things I liked about my previous dogs and all the things I thought I could be proactive about in the next dog. Things I LOVE about my current and previous dog are their calmness and well rounded social skills. The main skill I wanted to teach for calmness is “Place.” Teaching them to go to their place to chill out has been a huge help with our dog Max. Also, teaching him “Free” as a release word helped him understand when he could leave his place or eat his food. Things I have struggled with in the past have been reliable recall and walking close to me when necessary. Reliable recall is super important if I’m ever going to take my dog off leash, and I’m responsible for the consequences of anything that happens when my dog decides to blow me off from their recall (like not coming back when they see wildlife and jumping in the pond when I wasn’t feeling up to giving them a bath after).

Commands to start with for most dogs:

Sit
Name game – to teach their name:-)
Place
Free
Drop (if you have a chewer or a puppy/dog that wants to eat things off the ground)
Off (for jumping down off of furniture and other places we don’t want him)

3. Consider How You Plan to Socialize Your New Dog or Puppy

The other main point that’s important to consider is how you are going to socialize your new dog. For me, I imagine a life with my dog where I can take them just about anywhere with me. I want them to be comfortable joining me on neighborhood walks, trips to the park, hikes in the woods, walks around town, eating on a restaurant patio, and visits to my friends and family’s houses. Those are the main things I want them to be comfortable with, which is asking for a lot, but it’s definitely doable with a lot of dogs when the time and effort is put in. We started by getting him accustomed to our neighborhood noises and activities then we started making frequent trips to the town square in Black Mountain. These activities have helped him acclimate to traffic, and meeting other people and dogs.

If you need help acclimating your dog into their new home or socializing your dog, I highly recommend working with a dog trainer. They will help you make the process of socializing your dog as smooth as possible for your individual dog and their breed.

Check out our dog training program here to work with one of our trainers.

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