Puppy Care Tips – Bringing a Puppy Home For the First Time
Bringing home a new pet is often an enjoyable time in a person’s life or a great way to add to an existing family. The joy of bringing home a new animal to play with and love is great for people of all ages. Most times, people want an animal that will be a loyal member of the family and want to enjoy their pet’s company for a long time. For these reasons, many people will choose to bring home a puppy for the first time.
When bringing home a brand new puppy for the first time, there are several things that must be taken care of in order to ensure that the transition goes smoothly. First off, it’s important to note that the puppy has had all of the necessary shots and is well-tempered if it is going to be joining a family that has kids. Most kids are thrilled with the idea of bringing home a new puppy as a pet but fail to realize they can’t play rough with the animal just yet. It is of great importance to note how well-behaved the puppy is before bringing him home around the children for the first time.
The next challenge when caring for a puppy is making sure to puppy-proof everything. If you work long hours and aren’t going to be around to attend to the animal for the entire day, it’s important to make arrangements to ensure the animal is cared for and will not get into trouble while you’re away. New puppies have a tendency to get into everything and will rip apart curtains, slippers, and coaches without knowing what kind of destruction they’re causing. One must always make sure the puppy is in a cage for a few hours or in a gated-off section of the house in which he is likely to cause very little damage if he decides to start chewing up a few things.
Once these basic things are out of the way, caring for the puppy is easy and simply includes feeding him on time and giving him water, teaching the puppy to be housebroken, and playing with the puppy to ensure he gets exercise and is healthy. Chores may need to be delegated among the kids when it comes to whose turn it is to feed the dog or give him a bath. As with any other animal, puppies need to be well-fed, bathed, and kept up to date on all shots and medicines required as they grow into dogs.
Playing with the puppy by tossing a tennis ball, giving him a rawhide bone, or taking him out for a walk in the park are all things that need to be done to keep the animal healthy. Many of these things seem easy to do, but before bringing home the puppy for the first time, all of these activities must be planned out and kept up on a daily basis to ensure the animal is well cared for and happy.