Read About Puppy Proofing Your House

Once you´ve committed to giving a puppy a new home, there are some steps you should take to ensure the puppy´s safety and happiness. Most of steps are plain common sense. By getting down near the floor to be at a puppy´s level, you should be able to see what objects might tempt you if you were young and ignorant of the large world.

1. Do you have any chemicals that a young dog could access and get into? Examples of these chemicals might include cleansers, paints, soaps, cosmetics, bug sprays, and automotive fluids. Do not leave irresistible items within your dog´s reach, such as dog food. You need to be careful not to allow open feeding by your puppy. Since self-control is not typical with a puppy, they should have scheduled feeding times to avoid overeating, tummy aches, or bloating.

2. You need to supply your puppy with plenty of acceptable chewing things, such as Nylabones, dog-only toys, digestible rawhide sticks. Another step in puppy proofing your home is teaching the youngster what is acceptable to chew on and what is not. Your dog will find things to chew on. It´s just a fact of life. When the puppy starts to chew on something unacceptable, like the couch, a rug, or a person, say "No!" firmly, and replace the chewed-upon item with an acceptable chewy.

3. In the same thought, you should make sure that objects that the dog is allowed to chew on do not resemble those unacceptable items. "Don´t chew on Mommy´s shoes" is a tough lesson if you are given a different pair of shoes to chew on. Your puppy will wonder why it is okay for one pair of shoes but not the other.

Puppy proofing is akin to baby proofing your home, with the caveat that puppies are already walking. They are relatively small and can get into everything, given the opportunity.