GREENIES® Your New Friend

Bringing a new pet in to the family is an immeasurably rewarding experience. Like any new pet parent, you will want to create a loving home for them to feel comfortable in. Here are some key guidelines to help your new 4-legged friend feel like they’re part of the family.

Help your new pet feel right at home
Like humans, pets are looking for respect, love and security. To build a strong relationship with your new cat or dog, make sure that you spend time together before bringing it home from the shelter. Once you do bring your new pet home, give it time to explore its new environment. Try not to interrupt it as it's sniffing its way around. This will help your new pet get familiar with its new home.

Keep me company
Leaving a newly adopted pet alone for lengthy periods of time can often lead to separation anxiety. The age of the pet as well as its ownership history can also magnify the issue. Severe separation anxiety can sometimes lead to the destruction of property, panic and self-injury. To avoid any problems with separation, use these tips as soon as you bring your cat or dog home to help it develop confidence and feel comfortable when it's alone:

At first, leave the house frequently for a few minutes at a time, closing the door and making sure the animal can't see you – increase the duration of the separation over time.
Do not lavish the animal with a lot of affection before leaving or when returning to the house. Instead, you should behave casually. Once you've been home for five or ten minutes, calmly give the animal some attention.
Provide your animal with toys and other safe forms of entertainment while you are gone so that it won't find comfort in chewing your new pair of shoes.

A daily dose of encouragement
Nothing motivates a pet like positive reinforcement. Whether it's through healthy treats or giving lots of love and attention, rewarding behaviors will motivate your pet to repeat the behaviors that work for your family. Often times, pet owners make the mistake of rewarding bad behaviors with attention and don't often reward good behaviors with love or a treat. A good rule of thumb is to decrease attention focused on unwanted behaviors and increase attention on positive behaviors.