How to Puppy Proof your Home

Puppy proof your house before bringing your new pet home.

Puppies are naturally curious, but that curiosity can lead them into hazardous situations. It’s easy to overlook things in your home that may be harmful to your new puppy or that might get chewed up. Before bringing your puppy home, it is important to puppy proof it to make it safe for your new pet. Look around your home and remove potential dangers.

Instructions

1. Unplug or wrap up electrical cords that are exposed. Move lighting around so that the cord is running behind a piece of furniture and the puppy cannot get to it. Where there are a lot of cords, such as your television or computer, either block access to the cords or duct tape the cords out of reach. Also, you can put excess cords inside a ceramic planter and block access to the plug going into the wall.

2. Remove throw rugs that have fringe until your puppy gets older.

3. Put your shoes out of reach. If a shoe does get chewed, do not just give it to the puppy because the puppy cannot tell the difference between a shoe it can chew and one it cannot. It's better to make all shoes off limits.

4. Use an anti-chew spray on furniture legs, woodwork and other immovable items to keep the puppy from chewing on them.

5. Close doors or install a baby gate to keep the puppy out of rooms it doesn't need to be in. This can include your child's room, because puppies will chew and possibly swallow children's toys and crayons.

6. Install baby gates at the bottom and tops of stairs, if the puppy goes upstairs with you.

7. Check your backyard for any dangerous plants -- check with your vet for a list -- that the puppy may chew and any holes in your fence that the puppy could get through.

8. Keep your puppy away from a location where you have used fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides for 48 hours.

9. Keep your garbage can locked up or up off the floor, or purchase a heavy duty one. A puppy will be attracted to the smell and if it manages to knock it over it will chew or swallow what was in the garbage.

10. Keep hamsters or other small caged animals off of the floor until the puppy gets older.

11. Remove tablecloths and runners because a quick pull on one of these can bring everything from the table down on your puppy. Also, check any long cords from window shades that a puppy may be able to reach.

12. Use a baby latch on your bottom cabinets, particularly any that may have cleaning products, or just temporarily remove the products.

13. Block access to your swimming pool because not all puppies can swim.

Tips & Warnings

• Look at your house as though you were going to let a baby crawl around to help you identify anything that may be harmful for the puppy. If need be, get on all fours and crawl around to get a different view of what your puppy will see.

• Remember that these are temporarily changes in your household and before long you can put things back the way they were.

References

• PetEducation.com; Puppy Proofing Your Home; Katharine Hillestad