HOW TO PREPARE FOR A FOSTER DOG | Avoiding separation anxiety, crate training, & more

hey everyone I am here to talk to you guys about the ins and outs of having a new foster dog and how you can be best prepared when taking care of that dog the first thing you should do is be prepared before bringing your foster dog home you want to have all the supplies you need before that foster dog comes into your house so this is what I like to get before bringing my foster dogs home what you need is a crate because this is what you're going to use to house train them a bed leash collar harness whatever you're going to be using to walk the dog you want food of course you're always going to have dry kibble but I also like to grab this one can of wet food too because you never know if that foster dog is going to want to eat the second that they come into your house they might be a little nervous their appetite might not be there now those are the necessities that you need before bringing your dog home now next before you bring your dog into the house you want to have their crate set up like this right here you want it set up before they even step into your home so you want the crate a bed I always put a chewing object in the crate you want this set up in here because it'll be nice and comfy for them and they can learn that this is their home this is their area the second that they come into your house now the second step for some of you and most of you is introducing that foster dog to your dogs that you already have in your home so this can be a little tricky but you want to do it as controlled as possible and remember it's not always going to be love at first sight for your dogs and the foster dog for many different reasons so you want to give them a little bit of time to warm up to each other you also want to give your dogs and the foster dogs space by themselves so I'm going to link a YouTube video on proper greetings right here and you guys can click on that for a lengthier version and more details on how to properly introduce two new dogs to each other and just remember to keep it very controlled and you don't want too much excitement going on in these greetings because that can escalate to something more extreme and you know your dog's personality you are going to be able to decide which foster dogs are going to be best suitable for your dogs if it needs to female if it needs to be a male so definitely keep those things in mind to the third thing that you should do the second your foster dog comes into your home is give them structure you want to have such a structured schedule for your foster dog it'll make your life ten times easier and it'll teach your foster dog how to behave in the house so our first step was already studying the crate up before your dog comes into the home now another thing that you need to do is have regular scheduled mealtimes so this is usually two meals a day a breakfast and a dinner so you want to have those meals around the same time every day if you have regular mealtimes you're gonna have regular bowel movements so this will help you so much on top of those strict mealtimes what you need to do is have strict potty breaks so treat that foster dog as if it's a two month old puppy and you are potty training them you want to take them out as frequently as possible to avoid having accidents in the house so if you feed your dog breakfast at 8:00 a.m. take them out before 8:30 because that is about the timeframe where that dog is going to have a bowel movement because they just had breakfast so about that 1/2 hour range obviously depending if you have a super small puppy I would probably take them out about 15 minutes after that first meal time but strict potty breaks go out as frequently as possible because you want to avoid accidents in the house these frequent potty breaks are going to help with the potty training help with house training and another thing that you need to do when bringing a foster home is feed your dogs and your foster dogs separately you don't know your foster dogs past most of time you don't know how your dogs are going to react to this new dog coming into their home it is better safe than sorry so feed your dogs separately I always feed my foster dogs in their crate it helps with crate training it helps with them being relaxed in here first meal when they walk into my house that first dinner time is going to be in their crate I set it off right off the bat and everything just goes smoother that way so feed your foster dog in the crate while your dogs are eating separately in a different room so keep these things very very separate because you never know how they're going to interact for giving your dogs structure this second they come into your home we have strict mealtimes frequent potty breaks to avoid accidents inside the house and we have feeding them separately so all of these are going to go hand-in-hand the strict mealtimes will then go with their bowel movements and feeding them separately just to avoid any issues another thing that you need to keep in mind with giving your dog your foster dog structure is give them time to adjust not every dog is going to just bounce right back the second there come into a new home sometimes they need a couple hours sometimes in a couple of days sometimes they even need a couple weeks so give them that time and all of these things will really help build their confidence make them more comfortable so make sure that you're prepared before bringing that foster dog dog into your home the fourth thing that you should be doing with your foster dog is crate training we've already gone over a couple things that I like to do right off the bat is making it comfortable making them know that this is their home this is their den so making it comfortable for them make sure that they are having their mealtimes in here so then they know that this is a happy place it makes that positive association for them also I always like to have different shoes in the crate with them whether that be antler is one of my favorites you can get Bully Sticks if you ever give them some kind of treat make sure that it's in the crate hey what are you doing they're coming to say hi are you coming this way alright you want to have those extra chewing objects in the crate because it'll help ease their mind give them something to occupy themselves so crate training first thing is make that positive association with the crate with it being comfortable chews treats in the crate mealtimes in the crate every single night from the night they get into the house your dog is going to sleep in the crate having your dog sleep the entire and in the crate teaches them to relax and that this is a place where they can relax so every night sleeping in the crate that creates that structure that we talked about is based around the crate the crate is not a bad place the crate is a good place so do not feel guilty about putting your foster dog into the crate so the first thing with crate training is make the positive Association and all the ways nobody just went over second thing is teach your dog a go to the crate command I am going to link another crate training video right here that is more in-depth gives you more details on how to teach your dog to go to your crate command and will help them desensitize of the crate with a good weight command in the crate too so that will be here in this more in depth video for crate training now I know a lot of fosters have problems with separation anxiety everything that we've already talked about is naturally going to help avoid separation anxiety in the first place but I'm going to give you guys a couple more tips on how to do that or how to prevent it the second that you bring that foster dog into the home so the crate being set up already is an awesome step because the second that they come into your home they know that this is their area this is their space it's comfortable they can relax you're already doing the meal times in the crate all meal times should be in the crate if you're going to give your foster dog a bully stick some kind of bone something that's a tree or a chew that's going to take them a little bit longer make sure that you're giving it to them in the crate now another thing that I like to do is put your dog in the crate even when you're home for short periods of time so this can be you can put the dog in the crate for two minutes or you can put the dog in the crate for two hours while you're home because then your dog realizes that going into the crate doesn't mean that you're leaving every single time you're also going to have your dog sleep in the crate sleeping in the crate teaches them to relax we've already gone over that but these are all things that will really help avoid that separation anxiety in the first place another thing is don't make hellos and goodbyes a big deal if you're constantly oh my gosh I'm so sorry I'm leaving or the second you come home you runs the it's the energies all the way up here don't do that because then they are getting more worked up in those situations which leads to that separation anxiety the last thing that I'm going to talk to you guys about is socialization for your foster dog now a lot of people think that socialization means that your dog needs to be interacting with another dog or your dog needs to be interacting with another human but this can simply just be learning new environments exploring different areas hearing different sounds seeing that dog across the street these are all ways to proper least socialize your foster dog or your dogs of your own but when you bring that new foster dog into your house think of this you want to create a positive association with everything that is going on so if you live by the airport and you hear those airplanes flying by all the time that can really spook some dogs because they don't know what in the world is going on so oh that airplane goes by you get a treat it builds that positive association in their mind and desensitizes them of those loud noisy sounds that might scare them when you go for walks for the first couple times and you see another dog on the leash you should carry treats with you so you can just reward your foster dog for seeing that dog and this really will help create a positive association with being on a leash with seeing other animals with other people so it can be as simply as just giving your dog a treat as they're experiencing these new things and being in new environments also with socialization obviously learning basic commands really builds a dog's confidence so if you want to work on some basic obedience that kind of thing with your foster dog I'll link some videos here for you guys and you can work on those too but these are the most important steps when having a new foster dog and I hope this video really helps you guys let me know if you ever have any questions and good luck and thank you so much for being a foster you are saving a dog's life

Channel: Taylor Domer

Views: 40,481

Keywords: dog training, puppy training, obedience training, rescue, foster dog, fostering, what to expect when fostering, bring a new foster dog home, the animal pad, new dog prep, new dog, new foster dog, how to house train, separation anxiety

Id: 7C4oGAz19aA

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 21 2020