5 Tips for Introducing a New Pet to Your Home
Adopting a new pet is a wonderful adventure! You’re excited to bring your new furry family member home. And your new four-legged friend is excited to have a home. But what about the pets that are already a part of your family? We sometimes get so caught up in the prospect of rescuing another cat or dog that we forget to keep in mind how our resident pets may react to someone new. Here are our best tips to remember when introducing your new pet to the gang.
1. Understand It Takes Time
The first thing to remember when welcoming a new furry friend into your home is that it may take some time for everyone to settle in and get along. Ensuring that your animals’ interactions go well over the first month is integral to maintaining happy, long-lasting relationships between them. However, it may take several months for your pets to truly become accustomed to one another. Everything you do in the beginning to help create positive interactions will be laying a solid foundation for your pets to develop positive lifelong relationships.
2. Start on Neutral Ground
If you’re introducing dogs, be sure to start somewhere neutral. A dog park, a friend’s house, on a hike, somewhere where your current pup hasn’t laid claim. This prevents territorial issues between the animals. Generally, your new dog won’t feel as intimidated in a neutral setting and your resident pooch won’t be as protective or territoriality aggressive. Beginning with this approach will allow the dogs to get to know each other in a safe space where, ideally, neither will feel defensive. Let them play together, but don’t involve toys or treats just yet.
Introducing cats may be a bit more challenging, especially since most cats prefer the comforts of home sweet home. Since most cats will be introduced indoors, setting aside a temporary space, like a small bedroom or bathroom for your new kitty, will provide a comforting space they can call their own. This will help them adapt to their new home over time, which also can be a helpful strategy for welcoming your first kitty to the family. Hanging out in this private space will help your new cat to grow accustomed to the smells and sounds of your home and will encourage interaction between pets safely through the door. Let your pets investigate the closed door so they, too, can develop a familiarity with your new cat’s scent and sounds.
3. Create Personal Pet Space
Initially, you’ll want to keep your pets separated if you’re not going to be around. If you’ve adopted a second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) cat, you should already have established spaces for each one, but this applies to dogs, as well. Ensure your pets, both old and new, have their own areas where they can go if they start to get overwhelmed or just want a bit of privacy. For a dog, this may be a crate set up in a separate room, or simply a room that your new pooch can go to calm down or relax in. Crate training is beneficial for dogs because it gives them their own space to retreat to when they are overstimulated or need to take a break from family time. It is a good idea to monitor these spaces and keep them separate without encouraging territorial behaviors.
Keep your pets’ food and water separate from one another, too. This will further cement a new pet as a permanent part of your household if he or she can eat and drink without feeling threatened by other animals wanting to share meals. You can slowly move eating areas closer, unless your pets are food aggressive, to show that everyone can get along, but this should be done incrementally and only after your pets have shown that they are exceptionally comfortable with each other.
4. Don’t Scold Anyone
Positive reinforcement is truly the best way to train animals, and this applies when introducing pets, as well. If you scold or punish your resident pet for being a little too aggressive or unwelcoming, this not only teaches your new pet that he or she can get away with potentially problematic behaviors, it also may instill a further sense of resentment in your previous pet and will do little, if anything, to remedy the situation. Conversely, if you punish your new pet for being too excited or for encroaching on your older pet’s space too quickly, this may encourage your older pet to display dominating behaviors, creating an unnecessary sense of fear for your newest addition.
5. Treat Everyone Fairly & Equally
Ensure that all pets receive equal amounts of attention and care. Spreading affection and love equally shows all pets that they are welcome and encourages a positive, happy environment. Focusing on one pet more than the others can foster possessive or protective behaviors that could eventually turn aggressive. Especially when giving treats, be sure to give them at the same time, but separately, and only once everyone is comfortable sharing space together.
These are general guidelines that can be helpful when introducing a new pet into your home. Your unique situation may have a few more hiccups or barriers to overcome. Animal trainers can be a wonderful resource for helping you welcome new animals into your family, so seek them out and ask questions as needed to ensure your pets live happy lives together.
About the Author
Broderick Cornett works for Simply Stamps a custom rubber stamp company headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Over the years, he has cared for cumulative five cats, four dogs, some fish, and dozens of guinea pigs and they (mostly) got along well!