Tips for settling a new dog into their home - £200 voucher to be won

[LibbyMumsnet]

One of our Mumsnet families, with kids aged 6 and 10, is preparing to adopt a 2-year-old Labrador. They live in a house with a small garden and are looking for your top tips to make this transition as smooth as possible.

• How did you introduce your dog to your kids and home?
• What strategies helped your new dog feel safe and settled quickly?
• Any advice for balancing family life with the needs of an energetic dog?
• How can everyone, including the kids, help the dog adjust?
• How did you handle walking and socialising with other dogs?
• What was your experience leaving dogs at home alone? How did you reduce stress?

All advice is welcome - you don’t have to have had a rescue or a Labrador!
Share your best tips and you could win a £200 VEX voucher for a store of your choice!

Thanks for your help and good luck.

MNHQ

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Bring something from their 'old home' which is a familiar smell, and keep this in their basket. This will be the first step to settling in, be calm around the dog and don't handle too much for the first 2 or 3 days.

If possible, transport them from the breeder in the same crate, and with the same bedding, that they will be using for their night-time sleep. The car will likely lull them into a deep sleep which will help them to associate the crate with security and rest.
On the first few nights, position the crate somewhere near your bed, and then gradually move it further away

• How did you introduce your dog to your kids and home?

So we had the dog before I got pregnant, and got the in laws to come meet us at a neutral place on the way home from the hospital so we all came back home together. It seemed to make our DD seem less of a "big thing".

• What strategies helped your new dog feel safe and settled quickly?

Routine, especially with walks / food / sleeping. We also placed the crate in a safe place and always been clear that's her space.

Also ask if you can have a blanket/toy from the rescue for the first couple of nights so they have something familiar.

• Any advice for balancing family life with the needs of an energetic dog?

Regular walks and also making some family activities dog friendly such as walks and the beach in the winter.

• How can everyone, including the kids, help the dog adjust?

Make sure they understand the dog will need its space, but they can help with walks and measuring out food.

• How did you handle walking and socialising with other dogs?

It can be more tricky with rescues as most socialising classes are for pups but a post on your local FB page will get you some doggy friends and training classes can be done at any age.

• What was your experience leaving dogs at home alone? How did you reduce stress?

Start a routine of leaving the dog early on, even if initially it's just 5 mins and you walk down the road and back. We also pop a radio on when we are going out so she knows she's alone.

We had a dog which was due to be trained as a guide dog, but did not make the final cut, so to help settle in, keep to the same food, let them sniff around the house, garden and upstairs, don't do the hoovering for a couple of days, and take for short walks - only when they have been fully vaccinated.

Bring something from old home- blanket, soft toy etc to go in their new bed.

try to keep food and routine as close as possible to what they are used too and slowly change food if you plan to (eg if you are going to change to a different brand of kibble, start adding a small amount to their old brand and gradually transition to the new).

I found a really good toy on Amazon where the dog taps the covered bowl and a treat appears, it keeps them busy. Also always make sure the dog has somewhere quiet where they can go undisturbed if they feel overwhelmed .

I would give them their own space, basket, or crate, where they can have their safe space, put in something from their old 'home' so it smells familiar.
Keep their routine, walks, feeding, grooming and toileting.
If they have an accident, don't scold, they may not know how to ask you to go out, or what they need to do. Reward for good behaviour and praise when they have asked to go to the toilet.
Give them time to adjust, they will be sad and worried, just give plenty of love.
If they have bad behaviour, growling or snarling, tell them to sit, sharply and say no with your palm to their face.

having a comfort with a familiar smell helps. Also getting the children onboard so they aren't too overwhelming for the dog and they know not to touch it's tale, to be patient, no sudden movements or noises etc. A crate is good for giving the dog it's own space.

My tips are to spend time with the dog beforehand in it's own environment, and do this a couple of times, take the dog for a walk before you commit - you really need to check for bad habits before you rehome.
Saying this my mum rehomed a beautiful Westie - who seemed ok at it's home. but was a complete nightmare, was not housetrained, and barked constantly. We since learned it has been kept in a crate 22 hours in the day, and we think was damaged. We had to ask the RSPCA to take in the dog.

Find out as much as you can about the dog's current routine, and try to stick to that as much as you can when they first arrive. If they're allowed to sleep in the bedroom, don't shut then I'm the lounge, for example. Don't change their diet suddenly.

Don't mistake overarousal for a dog having pure fun - Err on the cautious side not getting to wind them up too much until you know each other well.

You will likely notice a difference in them after 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. It takes time to settle in fully.

A two year old lab, for reference.

I would be with the dog for a few hours in their old home to get them used to you and your noise levels and smells, do this 3 or 4 times to check the dogs temperament around young children.
When/if you choose to rehome and commit, keep the routine, food, bed the same for the first few weeks.
It's a BIG commitment to extend your family an adoption of a new family member which is what a dog should be.

I really agree with comments above, getting to know your dog beforer hand, having a familiar smell, and toys with him/her, keep feeding times and food similar, and give them their own place to call their own in your home for their bed to go.

Get to know the dog beforehand. Make sure the children are calm and know how to behave around the dog. Don't get into bad feeding habits early or you'll get a scrounger.

Great comments and tips. We rehomed a one year old into a home with another dog. Both labs.

I used Adaptil collars on both and diffusers in the main area of the house. My vet added Nutracalm supplements for the adopted dog.

We had a blanket and toys from her previous home in her bed. She made it very clear she hated the crate she came with, so she transferred to a dog bed within days.

We had met her on her own, walked the dogs together and she spent an hour or so with us in our home, before we made the transfer permanent.

She struggled to be left alone and barked a lot, so we had to go back to puppy training, building up the minutes she was left, rewarding her for not barking.

We don’t have kids but we do have nieces and nephews. We introduced them gradually, making sure the dc knew that they let her approach them; not to hang round her neck ; give her space.

We were lucky, other than barking , she had no real issues.

My top advice is, don't.

Having two at a time and booking time off work has been great for us. Being prepared is helpful, have a variety of treats, beds, bowls ready is useful. Find a decent park/enclosed area where the dog can safely be let off lead once recall is established is great.

I adopted a 2 year old lab. My tips are as follows (and some are counter intuitive):

1. Ignore the dog when it arrives. Let it look around, smell all the smells, and settle in it's own time. Whenever you come home, ignore it until it is settled. This will help it learn that calm is the way to get attention.
2. Play with it. Once it is settled, the best way to build a bond is through play. This could be fetch, tug (side to side, not up and down), and nose games (hide treats and get the dog to find them).
3. Grooming. This is also good and will help with preventing hair distribution over the house. A good brush every day will keep your dog's coat in great condition and build the bond.
4. Walking. At least two walks an hour long one in the morning and one in the evening. Start local and gradually extend to let the dog get used to it's surroundings.
5. Take it as many places as you can. The pub, the coffee shop, the town.
6. Enjoy your lovely new family member. And remember, it is a dog, not a human. It only knows what you are asking it to do if you have taught it previously.

• How did you introduce your dog to your kids and home?

Our current dog was a puppy when we got him. Our main problem settling him in was that he wanted to do everything with our older dog but it took the older dog about a week to get used to him.

• What strategies helped your new dog feel safe and settled quickly?

We gave his previous owners a blanket for him, his mother and siblings to sleep on and he brought that home with him so that he had familiar smells. We actually took turns staying up with him overnight for the first week because he found it hard to settle with another dog in the house that wouldn’t acknowledge him.

• Any advice for balancing family life with the needs of an energetic

dog? It can be easy to fit in walks around current activities, walking him on the school run or to any from after school activities etc. Also getting him used to “quiet time” where he can sleep, undiscovered, in his bed whilst everyone is busy or out.

• How can everyone, including the kids, help the dog adjust?

Let sleeping dogs lie. It’s tempting to want to keep picking up and showing off a new dog but it’s good to be respectful and allow him his space to eat and sleep. Routine is very important and it’s amazing how quickly he will get used to it.

• How did you handle walking and socialising with other dogs?

Walk him on a lead until his recall is reliable. Encourage socialising with friends dogs. Dog classes can be fun for dog and owner and they will meet lots of dogs there.

• What was your experience leaving dogs at home alone? How did you reduce stress?

Start leaving him in his familiar place (bed, crate etc) for short spells to start with. I always give a treat and tell them I won’t be long. Make a big fuss of them when you get back. Gradually leave them for longer spells. My dogs have generally slept whilst we’ve been out and haven’t been stressed at all.

I actually slept downstairs in the kitchen with her, until she was house trained. I walked her off lead from the word go and she got used to following me. She’s now a year old, and people do comment how calm she is.

When we rehomed our dog we bought something from their old home, and bought a calming diffuser plugged in for where they slept. Before we brought him home we had 3 home visits, the final one with just us in the room, whilst he got used to us.

Hi,
I was told not to bring any old clothes or things from a past home - as we were their home now. To give them an allocated space and bed, and toy so they felt safe. Not to overwhelm them meeting too many people at once. Allow them to sniff and come up don't let children pick them up or be too lively with them. Gradually allow them to adjust to their space. Praise rather than tell off. Decide on phrases for toileting, or rewards. Make sure garden is safe and enclosed. Book with a local vet. Find out what feed they were on before so that their diet is not disrupted. Enioy the new family member.

My top tip for leaving doggy alone is making sure they've been worn out both physically and mentally.

We go on sniffy walks, use lick mats/kongs/snaffle mats and do little training sessions (recall in the home, sit, wait etc.)

We left pup alone from when they first came home at 8 weeks, initially for quite short periods, but we made sure she knew we sometimes left and it wasn't a big deal.

When we arrived home, we didn't make a fuss.

She's only 5 months now but so far so good and she's relaxed when we're away at the shops and school pick ups.

Against the grain but always taken the view that dogs are pack animals so didn’t want to leave ours in the kitchen/downstairs to cry for her mum, or be scared. 10 weeks old so young.(4 now) So she’s on the bed nestled in. Lovely and settled. Bring on the comments 🤣

Bring things familiar to him from previous house. Lord and lots of cuddles!