It’s time to bring them home

You’ve been anticipating the big day. You’ve spent time preparing for it. Getting the right bed, toys, and maybe some soft blankets. Letting your current household residents know it’s happening. It’s time to bring them home.

No, it’s not a new baby.

It’s a new cat or dog.

The problem is, you need to introduce the new pet and the pet you already have, and that can be tricky. Sometimes, pets will take to each other easily, but often, they will understandably be scared, wary and even jealous of each other. It can be a little trickier introducing dogs and cats to each other too, especially if they’ve never seen the other type of animal before.

You’ll want to make sure to consider both animals’ personalities, and plan accordingly. You don’t want them disliking and fighting with each other (though sometimes it will be expected). If you have an aggressive dog, you may want to skip the idea of getting a cat, but an easygoing, friendly dog might welcome a new kitten.

Perhaps introduce your dog or cat to a friend’s dog or cat first, to see how they react, before deciding what new pet to bring into your own home. Once you bring the new animal home, rotate who has freedom in the house; one day the cat, the next day, the dog. This way they can learn to share the home with each other and have some time to explore on their own too. You’ll also want to keep them separated when no humans are home to keep an eye on them.

If you have any questions or problems, you may want to consider consulting a veterinarian or an animal behavioral specialist, because you don’t want stressed out animals. The goal is finding a way to have a happy home.

Tips to Remember When Bringing Home a New Dog

Adopting a dog as a new member of your family can be a great experience, but also an overwhelming one. Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. and PetFinder provide these initial tips to help smooth the process of bringing a new dog into your home.

Patience, patience, patience. Just because a dog isn’t a puppy anymore, doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t have a lot to learn about you and your family. It can take over a year for a dog to truly settle into a new home. Have patience! If there are some rough moments during the transition, don't panic! Compassion, training, and patience usually smooth things out.

Immediately start reinforcement. Train your dog from the first moments at home. Take time to create a vocabulary list everyone will use when giving your dog directions. This will help prevent confusion and help your dog learn commands more quickly.

Re-house train. Just because a dog is house trained in one house doesn't mean that is the case in your home. Treat all dogs, no matter how old, like puppies for the first couple of days. Take them out to potty often and give them instant praise for doing so in the appropriate place. Keep a careful eye on your new dog for quite awhile—just because they didn’t chew on someone else's couch doesn’t mean they won’t chew on yours!

Remember your dog has a past. If your dog came from another home, objects like leashes, hands, rolled up newspapers and magazines, feet, chairs and sticks are just some of the pieces of “training equipment” that may have been used on this dog. Words like “come here” and “lie down” may cause a reaction other than the one you expect.  If your dog led a sheltered life and was never socialized to children or sidewalk activity, this may also contribute to a never-ending series of scrambled communications and unreal expectations that will require patience.

Keep calm. For the first few days, remain calm and quiet around your dog, limiting too much excitement (such as the dog park or neighborhood children). Not only will this allow your dog to settle in easier, it will give you more one-on-one time to get to know each other and your dog's likes and dislikes.

Three is the magic number. Your dog will adjust slowly, so remember the power of threes. Repeating “three days, three weeks, three months!” is a wonderful way to remind yourself that most dogs are in shock the first three days in a new home, need three weeks to begin to show you their true personalities, and three months to begin to understand the family rules.

Source: Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. and PetFinder