INTRODUCING A NEW DOG TO YOUR HOME

The following advice contains general guidelines to help integrate a new, young, lively dog into your family home and may help to avoid potential problems in the future.  In some cases, such as with elderly or sedate dogs, allowances can be made.

The first few days in a new home can be very difficult for your new dog.  They don’t know you very well, your home or routine and can therefore become quite stressed.

• Stick to the diet given to you by the JSPCA Animals’ Shelter, to prevent any problems with diarrhoea.  Dogs can get diarrhoea through stress so simply going to a new home can cause it.  Therefore, if you immediately change their diet as well, it is far more likely that your dog will suffer from diarrhoea.

• When you arrive home, take your dog straight to the area where you will be happy for him to go to the toilet.  Keep him in that area until he goes, praise him afterwards, and only then take him into the house.

• Dogs are creatures of habit and will return to the same places to go to the toilet.

• Do not let your dog ‘off lead’ in the park or on the beach for the first few weeks, until you have had a chance to practice recall in secure areas.  Your dog needs time to bond with you before he will want to return to you.

• Try and decide on the dog’s rules in the household before you arrive home. For example, not letting the dog on the furniture.  It is vital that everyone in the house is consistent in applying these rules. 

• Do not allow too many friends and family to come and visit your new dog in the first few days – he needs time and space to feel comfortable with you before meeting too many other new people.

• For the same reasons, do not introduce your new dog to your cat on the first night - instead try swapping the animals scents.  By doing so, when they are introduced they will already feel comfortable with each other’s scents.

• Every dog that becomes available for re-homing through the Animals’ Shelter undergoes a behaviour assessment, during which it is possible to establish whether the dog is compatible with cats or not, although there is no guarantee that any dog will be well behaved with cats.  Dogs that do not like cats will obviously not be re-homed to people who already own cats.

• Care must be taken when introducing your new dog to your cats or other animals, in order to ensure the safety of both your new dog and the other animals.  When introducing your new dog to your existing cat, introduce the two animals indoors, with the dog on a secure lead.  Only once the dog does not react to the cat, even when it moves, should the lead be taken off.  The dog must be discouraged from chasing the cat.

• It is not unusual for cats to take a dislike to the new dog and some may disappear upstairs or be reluctant to stay in the same room as the dog for several weeks.  The cat must never be forced to be near the dog as this will, at best, lengthen the bonding process or cause one animal (probably the cat) to attack the other.  Given time, they will accept each other and probably become friends.
• Cats and dogs should not be left together unattended for the first few weeks, or until they are relaxed in each other’s company.  When they are left alone together, always ensure the cat has an escape route.

• After adoption, you should register your new dog with your local veterinary surgery.  Your vet can then advise you about any future veterinary treatment.

• Try and ensure your daily routine is as normal as possible from day one.  If you make exceptions, perhaps to make up for the dog spending time at the Animals’ Shelter, you will set a precedent for the rest of the time the dog lives with you.

• Sleeping:
• Dominant animals in the pack will choose the best place to sleep and rest.  If a lower-ranking or subordinate animal is in that place when the dominant animal wants to sleep, the subordinate will have to move out of the way.  A dominant animal will like to look over the pack from a high place and survey the territory.  They will also determine when the pack is ready to hunt and in what direction they should go.
• If you allow your dog to sleep on your bed, sit on furniture, rush through doorways or run upstairs ahead of you, he will consider you to be a weak animal.  Therefore, dogs should not be allowed to sleep in your bedroom or on your bed.  Very pushy dogs should be made to sleep in the utility room or kitchen at night so they are on the edge of the pack.
• Doorways and entrances are also important to the dog; they represent another part of the territory.  You must go through doorways first.  If our dog is allowed upstairs he should walk up and down the stairs behind you.  If your dog is lying in front of a cupboard or in a doorway, make him move rather than walk around him.
• Ever so often, call your dog from his sleeping place or bed, get someone to hold him, then go and sit or stand there yourself.  This lets the dog know that you own all of the territory and have access to it at any time.  In your dog’s eyes, you will be worthy of being the pack leader; you are in control of the territory and the movements in it.
• Games:
• Puppies will play fight amongst themselves and other members of the pack as they grow up.  In these games, they learn about their strength and weaknesses and therefore where their natural position in the pack lies.  Our dogs play with us and learn similar lessons.
• Dogs are usually given many toys.  Owners play with the dog with these toys, but it is often the dog who wins final possession of the toy when the bored human wanders off to play his own games.  Unfortunately, through owners doing this, the dog learns that humans are physically and mentally weaker than themselves and therefore not suitable to lead the pack.
• All your dog’s toys should be in a bag or box out of his reach.  Do not allow him to dictate when to play, you must decide when to start and when to stop.  When you wish to stop, take the toy and put it away, out of reach.

• Feeding:
• In a pack of dogs, the more dominant animals will eat first.  If you are to be the leader of the pack, you must control the order of feeding.
• Prepare your dog’s dinner at the same time as your prepare your own.  Only once you have eaten and cleared away the dishes should you offer your dog his dinner.  Give him 15 minutes to eat his meal, then remove the bowl.  Do not offer him any more food until his next meal.  Feeding times should be consistent.

JSPCA working to

“prevent cruelty, promote knowledge, provide for aged, sick, lost and unwanted animals.”

Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Inc.)

Founded 1868 – Incorporated 1936

89 St Saviour’s Road, St Helier, Jersey JE2 4GJ         

Tel: 01534 724331          Fax: 01534 871797

E-mail: info@jspca.org.je          Website: www.jspca.org.je