Dog A-Z > S > Settling an adult dog into a new home

Settling an adult dog into a new home

• It can take some dogs months before they settle in and show their true colours, whilst others may just take minutes – as if they’d belonged with you all their life.
• Don’t invite people around to meet your dog, or take him to busy, potentially scary places for at least a couple of weeks. Give him plenty of time to bond with you, get to know his new home, feel safe and secure before expecting him to cope with too much!
• Start as you mean to go on with regards to what you find acceptable or not. Once habits form, they can be hard to break.
• Find a daily routine and stick to it.
• Don’t over compensate for the fact that your dog may have had a hard life up to now by lavishing attention on him for the first few weeks. Your dog could become over-attached and develop anxiety problems when you leave him alone. Make sure that you don’t let him follow you everywhere around the house and arrange times when you leave him alone for short periods every day.
• Be careful when opening the front door or getting out of the car, until you know that he’s not likely to bolt.
• Keep him on the lead when on walks, until you can be sure that he won’t run off, or bother dogs or people. Make sure you do some recall training at home, before giving him too much freedom.
• Be very careful when meeting children for the first time, especially if your dog came in as a stray. Never leave any dog alone with children.
• If you have any problems, contact your Rehoming Centre. We are here to give you help and advice on any aspect of your new dog, for the whole of his life.