10 Essential tips for when a puppy comes home

Having a pet is truly wonderful. A puppy comes into our lives, bringing novelty, joy, new responsibility, and initial questions. In this post, we'll give you 10 essential tips for your puppy's first steps at home. How do I feed him? How do I train him? How do I adapt him to my lifestyle?

In general, when your puppy arrives home, we should consider the following recommendations:

1.- Find him a comfortable and safe place.

Inside your house, he needs to have his own space, a place he considers his own, where he can rest, play, relax, and most importantly, feel safe when left alone.

Often, the spot we choose for our puppy isn't the one they like best, so when a puppy arrives home, it's better to give him time to adapt, and if we see he doesn't like it, try to move his bed.

2.- Do not subject him to stressful situations.

For the first two weeks, it's good to follow a routine and take him for walks in quiet places, without loud noises and without excessive contact with other dogs, because during this first fortnight, they experience stress due to separation from their mother.

3.- Avoid leaving food within his reach.

Puppies are notably voracious and could eat food that is toxic to them or that, in any case, would unbalance their diet.

4.- What do we feed him?

If you don't know what to feed your puppy, consult your veterinarian. The safest way to ensure proper development according to his genetics is to provide a complete and balanced feed, manufactured according to the specific needs of puppies and easy to store and dose.

5.- How do we feed him?

Feeding is very important for puppies. If you are going to give him one of the many feeds on the market, you must adhere to the manufacturer's specifications and your veterinarian's advice, especially regarding the number of meals per day.

Food is usually divided into three daily meals until 5 months of age, then they usually have one or two meals until they are adults, at which point they will have one meal per day.

6.- Create good eating habits:

If we want to prevent our puppy from gobbling down his food and potentially having gastrointestinal problems as an adult, we need to follow a few simple steps to accustom your puppy to eating and proper discipline:

• Always feed him at the same time.
• Provide the exact dosage at each meal.
• If your puppy doesn't eat everything, remove the leftovers immediately.
• We should never give any food between meals, it's better to give small treats when he does well.
• He should always have clean, fresh water available.

7.- Veterinary check-ups.

After the relevant vet visits and having received the appropriate vaccinations, you can start with short walks outside. This will be the time for him to begin socializing with other dogs, people, normal city traffic noises, and so on.

Of course, your puppy must be correctly identified with his microchip and have his European pet passport.

8.- Accustom him to our rhythm of life and customs.

After two weeks of adaptation, accustom your puppy to your daily habits: spending several hours a day alone at home, learning to travel in the car, or teach your puppy to walk on a leash, to relieve himself outside, to behave correctly on daily walks, and to sleep through the night without disturbing his owners and neighbors.

9.- Correct socialization and education.

The first four months of life are crucial for determining his education, socialization, and integration into our lives. How to socialize a puppy is not difficult, but it requires consistency. If we don't do it correctly at this stage, he may develop behavioral problems later on.

10.- Moderate exercise.

All dogs need exercise, and it's even better if you accustom them to it as puppies. He'll see it as a game, and it's great for socializing them and tiring them out before leaving them alone at home for a while. This way, he'll develop proper muscle mass and control his weight. This exercise should never be violent or excessive, as it can compromise the future bone development and joints of our dogs.

Remember that along with veterinary advice, proper nutrition, and good doses of patience and discipline will allow you to enjoy a healthy and happy puppy.

Receiving a puppy at home is always fun and exciting. In this post, we give you the 10 main tips, but we have more posts related to puppies. Try reading them all if you have questions, and as always, consult your vet about anything important.

See you in the next post