Preparing your home for an adopted dog
Before the dog arrives: the room, the hazards, the first night, and the introductions that should wait.
One room, not the whole house
Start with a single quiet room or a corner with a bed, water and a place to hide. A dog that has the run of a new house on day one spends the night patrolling and the week exhausted.
Let the dog choose the corner. Put the bed there rather than where it looks best.
The hazard walk
Get on the floor and look at the room from a dog's height. Then remove: electrical cables within reach, open bins, cleaning products, medicines, mosquito coils, rat poison, small swallowable objects, and any plant you have not checked.
Balconies and stairs need a barrier. Windows need a mesh if they open wide. A street dog has never seen a fifth-floor balcony and will not know the edge matters.
The first night
Expect whining, pacing and accidents. Do not punish any of it. Put the bed near where you sleep if the dog is distressed, and keep the lights low.
Feed a small meal early in the evening, take the dog out last thing, and accept that night one is usually the worst.
Introductions, in the right order
Other dogs first, and on neutral ground, on lead, walking parallel rather than face to face. Then the house. Then, days later, the visitors.
Children need a rule before the dog arrives: no approaching while eating or sleeping. Teach it once and repeat it.
The kit that actually gets used
A bed, two bowls, a collar with an ID tag and your number, a fixed lead, puppy pads or old towels for the first week, a crate or pen if the dog is destructive, and a vet appointment booked before the dog arrives.
Buy the food the foster or rescue was using. Changing food and home in the same week is how you get diarrhoea.
General guidance for street dogs in India, written for volunteers and residents. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace a veterinarian who can examine the animal.
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