6 Ways to Make your Puppy Comfortable

01 Aug 2008

1 Aug, 2008 Training

If you are considering bringing a puppy home and have never done it before, there are some important things you need to know. A puppy is a new member in your household and therefore needs your care and attention just like another human member in your home.

The pup has just left its family and is going to be lonely. So, whenever it is awake it will seek company and a caring touch. If you are not able to provide these crucial elements and of course food and water, maybe you need to reschedule the ‘bringing home’ event.

In the meantime do some research on what kind of an attitude you need to have and how you can care for your puppy. One thing you can expect when a new pup comes to your home is restlessness and whimpering. You can minimize this discomfort. Let’s take a look how.

1st way to make a puppy comfortable: Do not bring a pup which is less than two months old. The puppy needs to be with its mother until it is two months old. It needs the nourishment, the security and the sense of identity that comes from being nursed by its mother.

2nd way to make a puppy feel comfortable: The means of transport. It’s a pup remember, so treat it tenderly, gently. Bring it home as comfortably as possible.

Prepare a basket with a cushion, a coverlet and some chewable doggy toys. Put the pup in it. Make sure you caress the pup’s head every once in a while during the journey home.
Talk to it. It will whimper for sure, but your soothing voice will calm it down.

3rd way to make your puppy comfortable: Introduce the pup to your home. Carry the pup around your home. Introduce it to the rest of your family. Let them and the pup get acquainted with each other.

Let the pup down and look out for it when it goes exploring. Gently but firmly stop it from doing things that are unacceptable in your household.

Fourth way to make a puppy comfortable: Prepare its corner/basket/bed in a cozy place in the house. Take the same care that you did when you prepared the basket for the transport.

The place where you intend to keep the puppy depends on the rules of your house. Some people prefer to take the pup to their bedroom; others would have it in their living room, etc.

No matter where you put it, your task is to look out for it every once in a while, caress it, talk to it (maybe you could name it right away), take it out whenever you think it might need to relieve itself.

Fifth way to make a puppy comfortable: Give the puppy a bowl of milk and some water in a separate bowl. Keep these next to its basket. Coax the puppy to drink up. If the pup does not drink at all, you might want to use a dropper to feed it some milk and water.

You might also try giving it something semi-solid, like bread soaked in milk. Keep the quantity small. Feeding it too much might cause an upset stomach, and the puppy might throw-up.

After all this might be the first time that it has had anything other than its mother’s milk. Keep some soft paper towels with you to clean up any messes that you or the puppy might make.

Sixth way to make a puppy comfortable: The pup will need to relieve itself on its first night away from its family. It may not be possible for you to step out of your house in the dead of the night for the sake of the puppy.

Spread an old newspaper near the pup’s basket. Whenever you see that the pup is getting restless, lift the puppy and put it on the newspaper and keep it there until it has finished its task.

The first night with the pup is going to be mostly sleepless for you, what with the whimpering and the waking up. Hey, but you won’t mind, after all you love your pup don’t you?