Well it is very likely that you are all exhausted after your first day together. In our case we didn’t actually get Fig home until it was about 6pm.

After his initial potty training we let him roam around the house and explore. We have a pet hamster which we decided not to introduce the dog to on his first evening (I’ll tell you how that went in another post).

Whilst he explored the house being shadowed at a distance by my daughters I prepared his and our food. I gave him the same brand of food that he had been fed at the dog shelter, that night, so as not to cause any stomach upsets and then we all settled down into our usual routine of work, homework, watching tv liberally sprinkled with episodes of walking the dog every hour or whenever he showed signs of wanting to go to the toilet.

We all went to bed at our usual times, with a little trouble I find it’s not easy to get kids to bed with a new pet in the house even if they are teenagers, I settled the dog down in his basket just before I went to bed and we all settled in for the night.

Fig roamed around a little after we had gone to be, I could hear him, but he settled down soon enough. There were a couple of accidents awaiting me by the morning but that was to be expected as we were not in a routine as yet.

photo credit: ChicagoGeek

It’s very easy as a family to be over excited by the fact that you have got a new addition to the family. There are somethings that you must do as soon as you get home to start you dog training off from the very start. The most important thing to do is to show him where he has to go to the toilet.

As soon as you get into the house take the dog to where you will want them to go to the toilet not only will this give him the opportunity to relieve himself but it will also allow him to check out his new environment by sniffing around. Once he has finished going to the toilet you should make a fuss of him by giving him lots of praise, this will positively reinforce to him that this is the place to go to the toilet. If he didn’t go to the toilet then keep taking him out to the same place at regular intervals until he does go to the toilet only praise him there once he has actually been to the toilet.

Potty training or house training your dog is very important. It is the thing that causes most friction and stress when you get a new dog. You want to avoid as much stress as you can so it is important that you take the lead nd guide your dog in this way right fro the off.