Once you get a dog kennel, it is important that you spend some time getting your dog used to their new home. This will help prevent a dog owner’s worst nightmare – a dog not wanting to sleep in their kennel. We here at Pets.ie have come up with some useful tips to help you with this process.
Tip 1: Keep The Dog Kennel Close To Your House
Our first tip is to keep the dog kennel close to the house, at least for the first week or two. You don’t want your pet to feel like you have abandoned them. If you do this the dog will immediately hate their dog house and wish to be back in their beloved owners arms (ruining your sofa). So, you don’t just banish them to them bottom of the garden. Make sure they are around smells, sights and sounds to make your dog feel more at ease. Spend time with your dog in their new home and make sure they feel comfortable and are settling in okay.
Tip 2: Choose a Good Day For Introducing Your Dog To Their Kennel
Our second tip is to ensure that the first days your dog spends in their kennel are relatively good. Make sure that your dog isn’t left in their new home in the middle of a winter snow or on a really cold day, especially if your dog is used to being inside. Instead, let them sleep in their new home when the weather is good until they get used to it. Start by leaving them in their kennel during the daytime and build up to them spending nights outside.
Tip 3: Be Patient!
The next piece of advice we have is to have patience and don’t give up straight away! We can all relate to hating change. Some dogs just need a little bit more persuasion than others, and with their owners help, they will soon love their own brand-new home. Sit by the kennel and play with your dog’s favourite toy, throw it into the kennel and wait for your dog to retrieve it.
Make sure that the dog is fed in the kennel. This makes them associate their new home with dog food, and hence happy and positive things. If the dog realises that they must go to their house to eat they will eventually begin to like it.
Make the dog’s new kennel super cosy! Add any pillows and cushions that the dog is used to sleeping with. Make sure that the dogs favourite blanket goes into the kennel to entice them in there.
We all love our dogs, and of course we would love nothing more than for them to be able to stay inside all the time. But after numerous family heirlooms, couches and pieces of furniture have been destroyed by chewing, fur and ‘accidents’, there comes a time when every dog has to go outside for a break.
Settling your dog into its new kennel may take time and be an exhausting process, but at the end of it all, everybody is happy (including the dog who has gained countless new toys and blankets).
The dog kennels that we sell here at Pets.ie are designed with your dog in mind to make every part of having a dog as easy and as stress free as possible.