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ELECTRICAL WIRES
Making a puppy proof home starts with having a good look at where your electrical wires are. Puppies and even some mature dogs just love biting and chewing on the most disgusting unbelievable things just as much as they like to chew on stuff that could really hurt them. To keep them from getting into trouble, check if all electrical wires are off the floors and out of reach for your dog or puppy. Phone wires and computer cables can be a hazard as well. If there are any wires or cables that you can not put out of reach of your puppy or dog, there are some great repellents on the market that you can use to help you turn your house into a puppy proof home. Remember to check for how long the repellents work and to repeat spraying as often as needed. TOYS If you have children try and teach them to help you keep a puppy proof home by putting their toys in a safe place and not all over the floor when they are not playing with them. You can count on your puppy to get them, chew on them and tear the kids favorite toys apart. Stuff they chew and bite off can be swallowed by your dog. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
CDs The next thing to do to help you make a puppy proof home is to avoid racks with CDs to be left in a spot where the dog or puppy can get to. That will not help either to make your place a puppy proof home. CDs can be pulled out and the CD cases splinter real quickly under attack of doggie or puppy teeth. STAIRS Stairs are not safe for your puppy. First of all climbing up and down stairs could cause trouble in the hips at a later age. And the last thing you want to happen is your puppy taking a tumble all the way down the stairs. This can be easily avoided. Make a puppy proof house by mounting one of those gates in front of the stairs,the ones that keep little children from climbing up or down the stairs. If there are any rooms in the house that you do not want your puppy or dog to go into on his own, either make sure the doors will be shut at all times or put up a baby gate will help you to keep those areas puppy proof too. WASTE PAPER BASKETS AND TRASH CANS Another thing to do to get a puppy proof home is to make sure all your waste paper baskets and trashcans around the house are doggie or puppy proof. Things that you throw in there can smell so tempting and get your dog to check it out thoroughly by spreading it all over the floor and chew or eat on everything that smells so great. Rubber bands, tie wraps, aluminum foil, plastic bags and a lot of other packaging materials are the worst things as the dog can never digest those and these could even cause obstructions in your dogs intestates. POTTED PLANTS
FOOD, CANDY, DRINKS AND CIGARETTES
Things we love to eat and drink should be kept away from your dog or puppy to make a puppy proof home. Do not leave any food, candy, dirty dinner plates, glasses, alcoholic beverages or coffee cups on your coffee table. The stuff we eat and drink is probably very inviting to your dog and puppy as well as it smells good,and, if given the chance to try they will know it tastes good, exactly what your puppy or dog will believe when it watches you eat or drink something. In the animal world all little critters are taught by their parents what to eat and not to eat by copying their eating habits from them. The best thing to do to help and get a puppy proof home is to get all stuff you usually keep on your coffee table in a safe spot till your puppy will be at least 10 months old. Do not leave any ashtrays on the coffee table either. Dogs and puppies are very inquisitive, could start chewing on the butts and end up with nicotine poisoning. KITCHEN CABINETS, TOILET AND GARAGE In your puppy proof home you keep everything you do not want your puppy to eat, like your toilet paper, detergents, anti freeze, medication bottles and a whole lot more, behind closed doors. Ask every family member to close those doors of places you want to keep your doggie or pup away from to keep your house a puppy proof home. A PUPPY PROOF HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
When you have done everything you can think of to make a puppy proof home, once again check all nooks and crannies for things that you normally cant see but your puppy can get to real easy, especially while it is still just a little runt. Be the puppy, be the dog. Try and look at all your stuff through their eyes. Crawl through your house on all fours to get to the dog or puppy eye level and get rid of all those alluring inviting things to turn your house into a puppy proof home. Look for things that can be pulled over, like lamps or any things else. YOUR YARD IS A PART OF A PUPPY PROOF HOUSE AS WELL The next thing to check is your yard. Is this a safe place for your dog or puppy? Are there any plants in the garden that are poisonous? If so, see what you can do to keep your dog from getting at them. Do not use any pesticides or herbicides or fertilizers on the ground or bushes if possible. In case you need to use them, keep your dog or puppy away from these areas for at least 48 hours after using them or check with your vet before allowing your dog back into a recently treated yard. The best thing to do to keep your dog or puppy safe in the yard is putting up a fence around it and if that can not be done your dog should only be allowed outside under your supervision. Even if you already have a fence around your yard, you need to check for holes, even little ones, where especially a puppy or small dog can get through. And believe me they will.
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Books and magazines can not be all over the place in a puppy proof home as the puppy will love to rip off pieces and pages or chew on the covers. Put them up in a high and safe place. Keep your mail, your newspapers and all documents that you need to keep in a spot where puppy or dog can not get to them.
All printed matter contains ink and that is something you would not like your dog or puppy to eat. Pictures are not safe to keep somewhere where your puppy can get to them as they contain residues of chemicals that have been used to develop them. Put them in a safe place as well to keep your place a puppy proof home.
Another thing you will have to do to make your house a puppy proof home, if you have plants around the house, is to try and find out if they are all non poisonous. Some poisonous plants are lilies, philodendron, dieffenbachia, elephant ear, eucalyptus, spider plants, azalea, ivy, amaryllis, pyracantha, oleander, boxwood, Jerusalem cherry, and plant bulbs. Put them up in a high place where the dog can never get to them to help you make a puppy proof home. A dogs taste can not be compared to ours and the things that we look at as being disgusting could look or smell very inviting to your dog. Look around with the inquisitive, curious eyes of a dog or puppy to find all the things that could be hazardous to them.
Soon it will be Christmas time again, the time to set up a christmas tree and put decorations all over your house and in your yard as well. When decorating your home for Christmas keep the safety and wellbeing of your dog or puppy in mind too. In a puppy proof home Christmas decorations are kept out of reach of doggie or puppy. Glass ornaments break real easy when your puppy or dog can get to them and crushed glass can cause real nasty cuts. If you like to burn candles put them up in a spot where your puppy can not get to them. The flames dance and flicker and sure look like something inviting to play with to your puppy or dog.
Try and find a safe place for the electrical cords for the lights too or spray these too with a repellent to keep your house a puppy proof home over the holidays as well.
From day one our little Stinky loved to be outside in the yard, to lie and roll around in the dirt, or go after all those flying buzzing little critters. The first months, when she was only a little runt, we did not even have to put up a fence. We were always with her whenever she wanted to play outside and she never even came up with the idea to go and explore that big world outside our yard. When she got a bit older and wanted to spend more time in the yard, we bought a gate that we put up to keep her safe inside our yard. The entire yard is closed in by a nice hedge and, oh yes, we did see those little holes in the hedge, but it never crossed our minds that Stinky would be able to get through. But she did. And to puppy proof our home even more we started putting up wooden panels to keep her from getting out through the holes. We were not half as inventive as she was. And every time we thought; this is it, now we got it all covered, she will never be able to get out any more, she proved us so wrong. Our yard is fenced now, all the way around. The hedge is still there as well, just because we like it, but…no hedge…no gate…no fence can keep this little Stinker inside. Once she found out that she was a real good jumper, she leapt up against the gate and hopped over into that big world with all those things to check out and to go after. The last thing we could do to keep her inside the yard and still give her the pleasure of being out there is getting one of those pins with a long chain attached to her collar. The last couple of months she changed her daily routines and loves to spend more and more time with us inside our home. But we will never ever take the chance again of letting her walk around in our yard freely even though we always keep one eye on her when she is outside, she is way too smart and naughty, way too fast to keep her from jumping over the fence whenever she would decide to take off again into the world outside our yard.
