Set Rules For Your Child When You Bring Home A Puppy

By Jan Cilliers

When my father and my mother brought a new puppy home when I was about four years old, there was a lot excitement in the house. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. It was a white Foxie with brown spots and I named him Spottie. We became inseparable. It was more than 50 years ago. Spottie went to the dog heaven ages ago, but I will never forget my first puppy!

Getting a puppy really is one of my fondest memories of my childhood. If you are planning to give your kid lots of joy and excitement by presenting him or her with a new puppy for the very first time, your child will always remember this gift. By giving a present like this, the memory will be with her or him forever.

Before bringing the new puppy home, it is absolutely necessary to teach your little girl or boy what to expect when the puppy arrives home.

Excitement! This is what he or she will experience when introduced to the new puppy. There is not one little boy or girl who does not go absolutely crazy in one way or another when they see a little puppy somewhere. And when this is going to be his or her puppy, you can know that this excitement will be magnified many times over and over.

Now what will your job be when getting your kid ready for the homecoming of the new puppy? In the first place you must insure that that he or she should remain as calm as possible. Prepare your kid for the huge excitement he or she will feel when the new puppy arrives at the house.

Tell them that the little puppy will be extremely scared and nervous because he is no longer with his mamma. He will need some space where he will not be overly frightened.

You much also teach your kid to refrain from shouting and yelling near the new puppy. All grabbing or rough handling of the puppy is strictly forbidden and when there are more than one child in the house, the strict and official rule is that none of the children may ever fight with each other in front of the new puppy.

How do you go about this? The only way is to get all the family together in the family room before you bring the new puppy home and go over all the above rules. Let everyone repeat it until you are confident that your kids know the rules by heart and can be trusted with the new puppy.

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Jan Cilliers is co-owner and manager of http://www.dogsdynamic.co.za, the only bilingual web site on dogs in South Africa