The first day home for your new dog is the most important. It really sets the tone for the rest of your time together (no pressure!).
So, here is what I do and it has always worked well for me.
The first thing you'll want to do before you open your front door to your new friend is walk! Not a massive walk, but a nice stroll around your area, in my case that is open countryside. I always start and end the walk with the dog on the lead and with some dogs it's necessary to keep the dog on the lead for the entire walk depending on the dog and the location.
When on the lead, it's good to keep your dog next to you or slightly behind you. If the little lovely has tons of energy, it might me necessary to drain that energy before you can expect a perfect performance on the lead! The purpose of the dog being behind and beside you is so that your new pack member sees you as the chief. If you have other dogs, they should come witha you on this first walk, it's the best way for them to get to know each other. Be careful here, if the dogs take a disliking to each other it can get nasty quickly so keep them all under control. I recently brought home a German Shepherd that my Chihuahua mix took an instant disliking to and if the German Shepherd wasn't on the lead or wasn't so damn sweet natured, the little rascal could have become seriously injured - she's fearless and will have a go at anything!
After bonding on your walk, it's time to welcome your new dog to your home. Here's the essential tip to set the tone, do not let the dog enter the house before you and the rest of the human pack do and try your best to make sure he is in a calm state!
Good luck!
Emma
I lived on a yacht since I was 16 so a life in my olive grove is certainly a change of scene! Although I loved sailing and making a great career aboard I always dreamed of the country life that I experienced when I was child. Of course, the UK is a little chilly after travelling much warmer climes so I settled on Portugal. It was an accident really. The yacht I was working on was based here and we made lots of friends in the area. Land people!
One day, one of my land friends called me up and was in a real pickle because he had run out of money and couldn't support his family and so asked me to buy his house! I told him I'd call back in 30 minutes. It only took 20 minutes to convince my then boyfriend (now husband :-) and before I knew it we were on our way to the bank and driving to meet him! That's how my life works... I try not to think too much, I let my gut feeling decide things for me, it's always right!
Three years later and we have filled the land with horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
The focus of this blog will mainly be dogs. I rescue, rehabilitate and foster dogs. I love it! I have a pack of 6 dogs of my own which I will introduce in another post.
The purpose of this blog is to help people with their blogs by sharing the experiences that I have with mine. Also, if you have any specific problems, I will do my best to answer them for you!
Until next time,
Emma
