Advice for new dog

[alixb]

It is very likely I will be adopting a 6 year old female on Saturday. She is an American Field Lab. Has been a "kennel dog" most of her life. Any tips for bringing her into my house? Everything will be new to her. I live in the city. I just want a smooth transition for her with very little stress. I'm a bit nervous as we have never met. Like a blind date that is coming to live with you. I'm very excited

[Tanya]

congrats.

baby step. treat her like a puppy, tether her to you and/or limit her movements and take her outside often and praise/reward. she may catch on qiuick (may depend how often she was let out of her kennel and how clean she was) but the more effort you put in at first the better.

give her some space. she may pace and pant a lot at first if she isn't use to city sounds and being in a house. each dog is different. if she likes crates maybe get her crate going as a safe place.

Much of the rest will depend what she is used to. If she hasn't bee in the city it may be awhile for her to get used to sights and sounds. try to find quieter area to walk in at first. She may need major leash training.

Even if she is friendly with dogs I would take it slow and do everything by the book for intros (slow intros, don't let the dogs linger). Just because when a dog is uner lots of stress and in an entirely new situation they sometimes are fearful adn defend themselves. Find gentle friendly dogs to organize positive visits/intro first to test her out.

don't rush to show her off too much too soon. Give her time to settle before having lots of people over and going to visit new places (stores, friends/family).

[POPTOP]

We've been in the same situation several times.

Biggest issue for us was potty training. Being in a kennel, they could do whenever they needed. Potty training 101 is the way to go. Good thing, they have the ability to "hold it" and learn quicker than a puppy. Don't remember any problems with Potion or Bandit as they had been rotated inside the breeders home along with the other kennel dogs. Melody took a few days; the same with Mardi. Archie, who probably did not see much of the inside of a house, took longer, about a good week and then still had to watch him carefully. He would poop outside but had no problem thinking he could pee inside.

I took out current dog when we did pickup and did a meet and greet along with a short walk. They all traveled home very well. When we got home, DH and I each took a dog and we went on a walk, letting them get more used to each other. Back home, the new dog had full run of the house to inspect under close watch.

Mealtimes were closely monitored, opposite sides of the kitchen.

Toys were also closely monitored. With Mardi and Archie it turned out good because Mardi is not particularly toy driven and Archie is totally toy driven.

Introductions to outside family members was again closely monitored.

All of our newbees were crated for at least the first couple of nights. Found that kennel dogs were familiar with this and no fussing at night, going into the crate readily. Kennel was kept up for about a month and used for when we were out and often found one or the other would go in for a nap.

Several of ours have been "blind dates" also. Fortunately, they have all worked out very well.

[CraftHer]

Congratulations! There's lots of good advice here. What's her name? Looking forward to some pics

[alixb]

Great advice. thank you especially about the being a kennel dog. No one I know has a kennel dog. Everyone I know has inside dogs.
her name is Hope.

[Tanya]

would be worth asking what type of socialisation she is used to if you can. has she been out and about much? Ever one on walks, ever gone off the property? If so to what types of places and how often? Just so you have an idea. But at the same time, many will do just fine with time and patience so not a big deal.

[Georgia]

Congratulations on your new addition! Hope is a nice looking girl! We adopted our new dog Frank about four weeks ago. We weren't sure if he was housebroken so that was our biggest concern. We closed doors to carpeted areas and let him outside frequently. He either learned very fast or was already housebroken because he had no accidents. We brought Frank into a house with another dog so we made sure we got him his own bed, some toys that were new, set up his food and water bowls away from Sam, and basically tried to give him his own space and things without having to share. The boys don't care now but I thought it was a good idea at first to keep things separate. We don't know a whole lot about Frank's background and so far we have kept his new world small. He has only been with Sam dog wise and we haven't let a bunch of people pet on him when we're out walking. I have let him meet a few of my friends and family, but no neighborhood kids yet. I want to have a better feel for him before I let kids approach him. All the neighborhood kids know Sam but I've told them we need to wait until Frank adjusts to his new life before he meets too many people. Leash manners and walks are a work in progress. We either have to use an easy walk harness or gentle leader or he pulls like a maniac. Frank wasn't neutered and the rescue had me paranoid about that. He had his surgery last week and will be healed up soon so I think we will start to get out more. I did notice that Frank slept a lot when we first brought him home. I think that was his way of dealing with all of the changes going on in his life. His personality is coming out more every day as he has gotten used to us. He's very playful now, and we are really enjoying his silly antics. I hope all goes well on Saturday. I think if you're patient and don't expect much at first, things will work out just fine!

[shelly]

We just rescued a dog a week ago today. We had a long list of questions to ask the original owner and still didn't get to cover all we wanted in the heat of the exchange. We did exchange email addresses/phone numbers and were able to contact them with other questions that came up. What we didn't get right away was a copy of his medical records. We never thought we would need to see the Vet so soon but he had to go in today and we had no records. Luckily our Vet was able to get them but it would have been nice to have them on day one.

[Maxx&Emma]

Great advice! I hope it all works out, I know you have been looking for a while.

[Dallas dawg]

Good for you, I hope it goes well. Hope is one lucky pup