BEHAVIOR RESOURCES & NEW PET GUIDE
Need more help with a new adoption? Please email:
Or call us at (530) 241-1653
Whether you have just adopted a pet or need help with your current pet, we have resources to help. Most pet challenges can be managed with training or addressed in other ways.
Online Behavior Resources
Dogs:
LifeLine Dog Training - training basics mini video series on YouTube
Positively - articles, advice, community forum
AKC Canine Good Citizen: Connect with classes at petco, online classes or teach yourself
GoodPup: GoodPup provides private virtual dog training with certified trainers. Click the banner below to sign up and get a free week of dog training + 10% off, and GoodPup will also donate to Haven!
Cats:
Kitten Lady - kitten care
Paws Whiskers & Claws - cat behavior articles
PawsperousPets.com - articles and tips for adopted cats & dogs
Alley Cat Allies - articles especially for kittens, feral cats, and litter box issues
New Pet Guide
Congratulations on your new pet! Here are some tips on helping them successfully adjust to your home.
If you ever need more help with your adopted pet, Haven Humane Society has an excellent Behavior Specialist on staff to answer any questions and help with a training plan. Email her at training@havenhumane.org.
Adjustment Period
We can all relate to how stressful moving can be and it’s no different for animals when they get adopted into a new home. It’s an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, smells, and sounds. This can cause some dogs to experience an upset stomach and diarrhea, house-trained dogs can regress and have accidents, and others will shy away from you for a while until you earn their trust. Be patient with your new baby, it may take a while for them to adore you as much as you adore them. It can take anywhere from three days to three months for your new pet to settle in. The most important thing when bringing home your new pet is to allow them time to acclimate to their new space. Remaining calm and quiet and limiting too much excitement for the first few days will allow them to settle easier and it will give them more one-on-one time to get to know their likes and dislikes. If you’ve adopted a cat, allowing them to spend time in their own room for a while will help them adjust to their new home. If you have other animals in your home, provide the cat with a blanket that smells like the other animals so that they can get to know their smells. If you’re having problems, or have questions during the adjustment period, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Puppies & Potty Training
When it comes to potty training, you should never assume your new pet knows where to go. When first introducing your new pet to your home, be sure to take your pet to where you would like them to potty and spend time in that area until they go. Be sure to praise them and give them treats every time they go until you feel they understand. For dogs, do not wait for them to ask to go outside. For the first few weeks, you will need to take them out every few hours. If you’re adopting a puppy, prepare yourself for an adjustment period as well! Adopting a puppy can be like having a baby. There are lots of potty breaks, getting woken up in the middle of the night and making more trips home during the day.
Establishing the Rules:
We know all too well how tempting it can be to be lax on the rules when bringing home a new pet, but resist the temptation. It’s much easier to prevent a bad habit from forming than to break it. Much like with children, rules and structure are important. Without these, things like pushy and undesirable behavior, as well as potty accidents, can begin. Structure makes pets feel more secure by knowing what is expected of them and exactly what happens if they do not follow the rules. A key tip when working to establish rules of the house is to crate your animal if you have to. This will help prevent bad habits from forming because if you don’t see the behavior, you can’t stop it. Crating will also help with house-training. It’s important to remember, though, that a crate should not be used as a place for punishment. Your pet should feel that their crate is a safe space, not a place where they go when they’re in trouble. Expect your new pet to break the rules frequently, but keep in mind they are not doing it to be stubborn or difficult. It can take thirty or more perfect repetitions before a pet truly understands a command.
Meeting the Other Pets
When adopting a dog from Haven Humane Society, we require that introductions are done with other dogs in your home. If the introductions go well, the adoption process will proceed. Our hope is that once you bring your new dog home, the pets you already have are just as excited about the new addition as you are. We would like to offer some tips to help make sure of it. Let your new dog meet your current pet(s) before going into the home, if possible. We recommend taking the dogs on a walk together so they begin to feel like a pack. When your new dog comes home, re-introduce all the pets with the new dog in a crate. This is for safety reasons. You should wait until all pets are calm and relaxed, even if that takes several hours, before introducing them on a leash. Do not push the animals to be friends too fast. Slow is better. Crate your new dog periodically in order to give your other pets a break, especially if they seem stressed or annoyed with the new dog. Your new dog may need to spend a lot of time crated for the first week or two but a slow introduction is better in the long run. Make sure to supervise playing with toys in order to prevent fights. Providing more toys than there are dogs is a good practice. Even if your existing pets are not dogs, some of these same tips apply. Observe all pet interactions and watch for signs of stress. Cats should always have a quick escape route.
Go to PawsperousPets.com for more information on how to introduce your pets.
Licensing & Identification
In the State of California, it is required that you have your dog licensed and for them to be current on their rabies vaccine. When adopting a pet from Haven Humane Society, your dog or cat will have a rabies vaccine and your dog will receive a license. From there, it is your responsibility to keep your animal’s rabies and license current. For more information on these, you can contact our licensing department at 530.241.2550. Animals that are adopted from Haven Humane Society also have microchips. Microchips are rice sized and are injected into the back of your pet’s neck. When scanned, the microchip will show who the animal belongs to along with contact information. Microchips can save pet owners hundreds of dollars as well as provide a peace of mind knowing that if your pet is found, it has a better chance of being returned to you. The most important part about microchips is making sure you keep the information attached to them up-to-date. You can do that by calling the company that your microchip is registered through or visiting their website. Haven Humane Society uses Home Again microchips. They can be reached at 1.888.466.3242. For more information on bringing your new pet into your home visit humanesociety.org or petfinder.com.