Dog adoption is close to my heart. I adopted my dog, Larkin, and my entryway into the world of dog training was through a wonderful rescue where I still volunteer. 

So it’s been lovely to see so many people show interest in adopting and fostering over these last several months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing quarantine. I’ve now worked with dozens of families who recently brought dogs home, many of whom are working hard with their dogs and thriving.

I know how exciting (and difficult) those first few weeks with a new dog can be. Although some dogs spend most of their first days and weeks subdued, others can engage in a range of challenging behaviors, such as jumping and mouthing. 

Undoubtedly stress plays a big role and those first few weeks aren’t true indicators of a dog’s normal behavior and personality. To make this transition easier and set everyone up for maximum success, here are five things to focus on when bringing your adopted or foster dog home.

Although I wrote this with adult dogs in mind, it can also be applied to puppies. The only caveat is that young puppies require socialization and our goal should be to balance the points below with thoughtful and positive exposures to the world. 

Allow for decompression

Simply put, keep things very low key for the first few weeks after your dog comes home. Here’s why this is one of THE most important factors for ensuring success in a new home:

Your dog undergoes a profound life change when you bring them home. For many rescue dogs this means having been rehomed, often more than once, and having spent time in a foster home or a shelter. Shelter environments can be especially stressful and take a toll on dogs.

What’s more, although you’ve been overjoyed preparing for the arrival of your new family member, your dog has absolutely no idea who you are or where they’ve ended up. Please take a moment to consider just how stressful this must feel.

Decompression allows for stress reduction and acclimation. By keeping things quiet for the first few weeks after your dog’s arrival, you will help decrease their baseline stress and prevent trigger stacking, and give them time to get their bearings and acclimate to their new environment. 

This means you want to avoid taking your dog to busy places, such as dog parks, outdoor restaurants, friends’ houses, or social gatherings. Resist the urge to show off your dog to friends and family by having lots of visitors during those first few weeks. Try to limit interactions to immediate family only.

If you have children in the home, be sure to provide active supervision and encourage parallel interactions with the dog that don’t involve a lot of touching or petting. Children can help care for the dog by coming along on walks, providing the dog with meals or puzzle toys, and tossing balls or treats for sniffing games. 

Separate your newly adopted dog from other pets in the home. It’s never a good idea to throw new dogs together on the first day. Utilize gates, pens, crates, and other barriers such as separate rooms to allow for slow and structured introductions over a period of weeks, not days. 

Finally, make sure your dog has a safe place to rest where no one can bother them. This can be a crate in a quiet area, or another room with a gate or a closed door. Some dogs tend to sleep more after arriving at a new home, while others find it difficult to settle. You can help encourage your dog to sleep by creating a quiet rest space, covering a crate, or playing white noise or soft music. 

Establish a routine

Frequent and unpredictable changes in the environment increase stress. In contrast, predictability and control help decrease stress and increase resiliency. Newly adopted dogs as well as foster dogs have already gone through significant changes in their lives. The sooner you can establish a consistent and predictable daily routine, the better.  

This can mean ensuring that meals, walks, play time, and rest all happen at consistent times of the day. When taking your dog for a walk around the neighborhood, try to stick to the same route in the beginning. This is especially helpful for dogs who are unsure or overwhelmed by their environment.

Give your dog time to adjust and keep their activities and social interactions consistent and predictable. 

Provide enrichment

Enrichment is any activity that is species appropriate and allows the animal to engage in natural behaviors. It’s a fancy way of saying, let your dog be a dog as much as you can.

Start with enrichment feedings to give your dog the opportunity to sniff, scavenge, chew, and lick. Puzzle and treat dispensing toys can be used for dry treats or kibble. Put your dog’s breakfast and dinner into a puzzle toy instead of a bowl. 

Kongs and Toppl toys can be stuffed and frozen with a variety of ingredients to provide licking and chewing enrichment. Licking and chewing can also be great decompression activities and are excellent for conditioning crates and other safe spaces. You can use long lasting chews, lickimats, DIY puzzles and sniffing games throughout the day for additional mental stimulation.

Let your dog sniff. I’ll say that again—let your dogs sniff as much and for as long as possible. Sniffing has immense benefits for dogs. It’s enriching and mentally stimulating and it lowers their pulse. Allow your dog time to sniff and gather information about their new environment and neighborhood when out on walks. 

When safe, consider using a long leash (connected to a non-restrictive harness) and taking your dog on a decompression walk in nature where they can freely move, sniff, and explore. 

Providing adequate enrichment and meeting our dogs’ needs is the first step to behavioral health and preventing unwanted behaviors. Consider making enrichment a non-negotiable component of your dog’s life. 

Don’t worry about “obedience”

You read that right. Please don’t worry about teaching your new dog to sit for every treat, shake, or stay when they first arrive at your home. Instead, consider capturing as many behaviors your dog naturally does that you like and want to see more of.

Capturing is a wonderful way to build behavior without the added pressure of formal training. This can be especially beneficial and empowering for shy or fearful dogs, dogs new to training, or dogs with punitive training histories.

Behaviors that are reinforced become stronger. By simply observing your dog throughout the day and reinforcing the behaviors you like you will give your dog powerful and clear information about what you want and what works in your home. Your dog will begin to choose to do more of those behaviors. 

The bonus here is, of course, that using food and positive reinforcement creates positive associations through classical conditioning. Not only will you be teaching your dog what you want them to do, but they will be forming positive associations with you and their new environment in the process. A win-win!

Kathy Sdao outlined a simple protocol through her See Mark And Reward Training (SMART). Just gather a few containers of treats (or kibble) and place them in accessible spaces in your home. Observe your dog and when you see them do something you like, say “yes” and then reward them with a delicious treat.

You get to decide what you want repeated in your home. There’s no shortage of “good” behaviors you can capture, but some simple ones are: eye contact; four paws on the floor; bum on the floor; belly on the floor; belly on the mat, bed, or in the crate; response to name. 

Give it time

Let’s face it, we have some really unrealistic expectations of dogs and dog behavior in our culture. These expectations tend to color our perception when first bringing dogs into our homes. We immediately expect them to be friendly, and cuddly, and playful, and well behaved. 

But dogs are individuals and it takes time to get to know them. It takes time for them to acclimate to and feel comfortable with us and our homes. It takes time to build a relationship. 

I find Patricia McConnell’s take on the magic of 3’s really helpful. It can take up to three weeks to see your dog’s true personality and up to three months for them to learn how your household works. 

It can’t happen overnight, so don’t rush it! Give yourself some time and space to adjust too. Don’t despair when things feel challenging. We can’t always control the behavior of others and we can’t dictate the pace of progress. If you find yourself struggling, reach out to a reputable positive reinforcement-based trainer for help. Many trainers now offer a variety of virtual services.

Finally, when we choose to bring sentient beings of another species under our care it requires us to expand our circle of compassion. It encourages us to practice patience and empathy. It pushes us to see the world from the point of view of another being. If we take this as an opportunity to connect, rather than compel, what we find on the other side will be more joyful and rewarding than we could have ever expected.

Thank you for choosing to adopt or foster. You’ve saved a life.