Dog Whisperer’s tips for Fido’s first day home

5. When encountering obstacles or distractions on the walk, never become reactive to the dog’s behavior. Remember, you are setting the tone for everything you do together. If a dog gets excited when he sees a commotion or another dog across the street, this is not a signal for you to get excited, too! Keep your focus and, most important, your calm-assertive energy, and continue walking. A slight side-pull correction on the leash will communicate, “Don’t get distracted, keep on walking!” Your dog will pick up that “This is okay, it has nothing to do with us, we’re just moving forward.” If your dog is especially hard to convince, calmly give eye contact, ask your dog to stop and sit beside you, and wait until he is calm and submissive before you proceed. If necessary, turn your dog’s back to the commotion that is causing the distraction. By doing this (and again, waiting until he is calm-submissive before continuing on), you are communicating the message that “We ignore dogs that are causing trouble across the street.”

6. When you and your dog have had a successful fifteen- or twenty-minute walk, then allow your dog the freedom to wander a bit on the end of the leash, to smell the ground or pee and poop. This is a reward! After about five minutes, return to your structured walk.

7. When arriving at your destination or returning home, repeat the procedure outlined in step 3. Step over the threshold first, then invite your dog in after you. Remember, in your dog’s mind, whoever goes through the door first owns that space! Make sure he is calm and submissive as you remove the leash.

Ideally, as many family members as possible have joined you on the first adoption excursion, but not so many as to create unneeded chaos. If you fear that once you get to that shelter or that breeder, some family members will still be focusing on their emotional response to the dogs, then you may need to leave some of your pack at home. If you are worried about bringing your excited young children or bored teenagers along to the shelter when you make this first, vital impression on your new dog, then your instincts are probably correct. It’s okay — as long as you follow the correct procedures I’ll lay out later, when introducing the dog to every member of his new pack.

In the meantime, bring your new dog into the car using the same calm-assertive energy and “pack leader first” technique you employed on the walk. If you are using a kennel, do not force the dog inside. Instead, invite the dog into the kennel by using food or something else he is attracted to. Wait with the kennel door open until the dog is resting in calm-submissive mode — closing the door while a dog is still anxious will make him feel trapped. Then put the kennel in the back of the car, turning it to face you, so he can smell and see you on this first auto trip. This helps to increase the feeling that he is not alone and that you two are together on this great adventure. Make sure he is settled in a safe place and is calm-submissive before you start the engine. You may have to wait patiently, but this is an important time. Once you start an activity with an anxious dog, you run the risk of his forever associating that activity with anxiety. Remember, the more perfectly you accomplish each of these rituals the first time around, the less likely you’ll have to “fix” an issue later on.

When you arrive home, once again remind yourself that calm-assertive energy must be the order of the day. This goes for everyone else in the family who’ve been impatiently waiting to greet the new arrival! You need to explain to even your smallest children that your new dog is a living being needful of respect, and that in order to acclimate him to his new home, they will need to refrain from showering him with all the affection and excitement they surely must be feeling, at least in the very beginning. Everyone in your home, from the youngest child to the oldest grandparent, needs to be educated in and committed to the no-touch, no-talk, no-eye-contact rule. I’d advise you to take a page from my dog behavior tips and tire out your most excitable kids before the dog arrives.

I always advise owners to take their dog for a second walk before entering the house or yard itself. This will be to try to re-create the process of “migration” from one place to another. If possible, park a few blocks away and walk around your dog’s new neighborhood for as long as possible — an hour or more if you can. Remember, even though you may be “rescuing” your dog from a cramped kennel or cage and taking him into the spacious, tastefully decorated home you worked so hard to earn, in your dog’s mind, you are simply moving him from one kennel to another. Walls aren’t natural to dogs, no matter how beautiful those walls might be.

Excerpted from “A Member of the Family.” Copyright (c) 2008 by Cesar Millan. Reprinted with permission from Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

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