Welcoming your new puppy! (Or a dog new to your household.)

Congratulations!  You're about to welcome a new puppy into your household.  I'm so excited for you, I wanted to write a post about my common recommendations for new puppy owners.

If your puppy came from a breeder or a foster home, they likely already have a head-start on socialization, separation anxiety, crate training, and house training.  If your puppy is from a shelter kennel, then you'll have to be extra diligent to avoid accidents and destruction in the house, as well as ramp up your socialization efforts with items they couldn't be exposed to in a shelter environment.  Whether you did or didn't rescue isn't the point -- I don't judge!  This is just information you need to set yourself and your new puppy up for success.

First off, your new puppy is disoriented being in their new home.  Please be patient, and the first order of business is to teach your puppy their name and come so that they will come back to you if they get away for any reason.  After that, house proof your home.  Remove excessive hazards from puppy reach:  cables, laundry, remotes, shoes, decor that is purely decorative, etc.  This protects your home, belongings, and the puppy!  If you are unable to remove or hide cables, consider blocking off that area of your home so your puppy doesn't electrocute themselves chewing on what looks like a fun chew stick that turns out to be extra chewy and bendy.  Oh so satisfying!  Decide if you want your puppy to be allowed on the furniture, and stick to it unanimously throughout the household.  All my dogs are allowed on my furniture, and all my dogs sleep with me if they want to.

Next, house training.  My regimen looks something like this:

• Go out very first thing in the morning to their designated potty area or on a walk.  Wait until they pee and poop, then offer them an extra scrumptious treat, like string cheese or a tiny piece of hot dog.  Be sure you reward after every elimination for the first 2 weeks at least, longer if they're having trouble catching on.
• Go out every hour, on the hour, when someone is home.  Make a habit of offering your puppy the opportunity on a regular basis to eliminate outside.  Just like toddlers, they may not think of it on their own until it's too late.  As your puppy matures, they may not have to go every time, and that's ok.  Wait about 5 minutes just to be sure.  When they aren't going every hour, you can stretch it out to every 2 or 3 hours.  The general rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold it 1 hour for every month they're alive, + 1 hour when active during the day.  Overnight is longer, because their body is in rest mode and all their systems slow down.  I often receive reports of 8-week-old puppies lasting 5-8 hours their first night home!  Set an alarm to take your puppy out after about 4 hours overnight if you won't hear them crying to be let out.
• Go out after anything that may trigger their digestion or bladder:  eating a meal, getting a drink of water, playing, training, napping, etc.  Also go out just before you leave the house for any length of time or to go to bed for the night.
• If your puppy cannot be actively supervised by someone while they're home, be sure to tether the puppy to someone responsible enough to notice the puppy's signals if they need to go out.  Those may include:  pacing, whining, circling, sniffing, trying to get to the door that leads outside, scratching at a door, etc.
• If no one can tether the puppy to them (for example, when cooking dinner and the puppy will be in the way) or if no one is home, confine the puppy to a small area.  The area may need to start as a small crate, only big enough to let the puppy stand up, turn around, and lie down to avoid accidents at first.  They can graduate to bigger and bigger areas as they are successful not having accidents.  If no one is available to walk the puppy after 2-3 hours, it is alright to leave a potty pad in their enclosure, but this is NOT ideal.  I only recommend potty pads for very young puppies when they first come home.  Otherwise, a crate-trained puppy can hold it 4 hours in your absence, because they will be sleeping. 
• Note:  I do not recommend leaving a puppy or a dog for longer than 4-6 hours without an opportunity to relieve themselves.  Daycare or a dog walker is an option for professionals who simply don't have the ability to walk while they're at work for 8-9 hours.  Please allow a budget for this if you fall into this category before getting a dog or puppy.  Yes, dogs can hold it the whole time, but they are very bored and it does put a strain on their system.
• I never recommend having an indoor potty area for an older puppy or adult dog.  It confuses the dog that inside could ever be a toilet and it's best to just avoid it altogether.  Yes, many dogs do well being "litter trained," but that's not the point of a dog's lifestyle.  They need to get out, sniff, patrol, explore, walk and travel with their family.  That's what dogs do.
• You can start to allow your puppy more freedom and a larger confinement space as they are successfully choosing to go outside and not having accidents.  There will likely be setbacks, and that's normal!  Go back a step and try again in a week or so.  All my dogs free-roam my house while I'm at home and away without issue.

Once house training is squared away, it's time to plan some activities to fulfill your puppy's drives!  Many dogs and puppies are food motivated, so scent games where they have to find a treat in a box and use their nose to tell where the box is and which box has a treat is a must.  After that, is your dog a terrier?  They'll love to chase a toy, catch it, and "kill" it!  If your dog is a retriever, fetch is the obvious game.  If your dog is a sighthound, have them practice stay, walk away as far as you're able, then have them launch to chase a flirt pole.  If your dog is a scenthound, the above nose work game is a good start, but tracking a trail (hot dog juice?) outside in the yard would be way more fun, especially if they found a prize at the end!  If your dog is a herder, I find a flirt pole and/or the sport of treibball are excellent substitutes for sheep or cattle in urban environments.  If your dog is a brainiac in need of constant stimulation, trick training can be a wonderful outlet.  If your dog loves the water, consider getting them a kiddie pool if you don't have a full-size pool for them to use.  If your dog loves to dig, build or purchase them their very own sandbox to save your yard and give them an outlet for that drive.  Never consider a "naughty" behavior something "bad" about your dog, it's just a drive waiting to be given an appropriate purpose!

If you're having any trouble with your new dog or puppy, I'd be happy to do what I can to help!  Some things I can answer with a quick email, other things we'll need to schedule a consultation for.  I do remote consults via Skype for those out of my service area.

Separation anxiety will be addressed in a separate post soon.  I'll link it here when I've written it.  Stay tuned!

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