Puppy Proofing your house

[sammgirl]

Hey guys,

I did a search and then looked in the puppy forum but didn't find anything really recent on puppy proofing.

I'm just curious... How did you (as a puppy owner) puppy proof your home?

I get that probably you'd have to get those baby guards for cabinets. I know baby gates to close off certain rooms.

Probably socket plugs for babies...even though puppies don't have opposable thumbs, that doesn't seem to stop them from what I've heard.

What about wires on the floor? Do you tape them down with duct tape or is there some better way?

I know you keep all plants well above floor level.

Thanks for any input!!!!

[Dogs6]

here's something just to add keep all expensive borrowed shoes away from puppies even if they have never chewed your shoes or even cheap borrowed shoes as soon as you borrow expensive shoes they start chewing lol. It happened to us when my mum borrowed shoes for a party

[PoodleMommy]

I didnt really go through all that effort... I picked up things I didnt want chewed basically. When I was gone they were crated, when I was home they were watched carefully to re-direct when they chewed something I didnt want them to chew... this way they learned what was theirs and what was not. But I didnt buy any baby proofing materials.

[woofah]

Originally Posted by PoodleMommy

I didnt really go through all that effort... I picked up things I didnt want chewed basically. When I was gone they were crated, when I was home they were watched carefully to re-direct when they chewed something I didnt want them to chew... this way they learned what was theirs and what was not. But I didnt buy any baby proofing materials.

And really, this is all you need to do. Puppies are mischief so you need to keep an eye on them when you are home. When you are away you need to keep them in a safe place, whether that is a crate (remember that a dog thinks a crate is a cave, not a jail), or an area set aside where damage is limited.

Puppies dig, puppies play with clothes, puppies try to escape, puppies chew - recognize that they are just being a dog and act accordingly.

[Gguevara]

I'm away from 8 am to 3pm but I'm home for about 30 mins at 11am. When I get my pup I planned to keep him in his crate for the first half of the morning and pen him up in the kitchen (only part of the house without carpet) for the other half so he gets to stretch his legs. Besides that I'll most likely be with him all the time.

[petbedsunlimited]

I kept an eye on my puppy, and since I was mostly home everyday, no big damge was done. If we went out, puppy stayed in the kitchen with his litter box. I got him toys to chew on as well, so he won't chew on the furniture or anything. not that I don't keep shoes and pillows out of his way. lol

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by PoodleMommy

I didnt really go through all that effort... I picked up things I didnt want chewed basically. When I was gone they were crated, when I was home they were watched carefully to re-direct when they chewed something I didnt want them to chew... this way they learned what was theirs and what was not. But I didnt buy any baby proofing materials.

This is basically what I did too. But as it turned out, later in Jose`'s life, when he was already an adult, he learned to open the cabinet door under the sink where the garbage can is and he'd get into the garbage if I wasn't home. So, I added one of those child proof lock things on that one cabinet.

[xpaeanx]

ooooOOOOOooooo..... does this mean you ARE getting a cardi puppy!

Originally Posted by PoodleMommy

I didnt really go through all that effort... I picked up things I didnt want chewed basically. When I was gone they were crated, when I was home they were watched carefully to re-direct when they chewed something I didnt want them to chew... this way they learned what was theirs and what was not. But I didnt buy any baby proofing materials.

Same thing here.

one thing I do want to add though, make sure the crate has at least 2 ft of nothing destroyable around it (couch, wires, shoes, rug, etc...). as you said, thumbs does not deter them from getting into trouble... well, neither does the crate if it's within distance that they can reach it and drag it in!

Also, think about *splatter* distance(another reason to keep things about 2ft away on ALL sides)... they will sometimes get things out of their crates onto your stuff... at one point during house breaking Muffin realized he could poop and pee OUTSIDE the crate by going through the wires.... that was NOT a fun day!

[PINK]

Originally Posted by Dogs6

here's something just to add keep all expensive borrowed shoes away from puppies even if they have never chewed your shoes or even cheap borrowed shoes as soon as you borrow expensive shoes they start chewing lol. It happened to us when my mum borrowed shoes for a party

That's funny. All my dogs never failed to undergo the phase of chewing slippers. It's always been the slippers! haha

[TheGoldenRetriever]

Old thread ... but not around so much anymore. (We all know how life gets in the way sometimes ...lol)

Anyway, what I do is probably weird ... but it's always worked for me. I do watch a puppy like a hawk of course, but you know how they always have a talent for finding the ONE thing that you didn't see?

So what I do is while the puppy is off napping in a crate, I literally lay on the floor of any room that the puppy will have access to when awake. I then lift my head and have a really good look around ... because that is exactly the puppy's point of view.

From that angle it's amazing what you see that needs attention before puppy finds it ... and that would have been easy to miss from a standing position or even sitting on the floor. Also, two of the earliest commands I teach are "Leave it" and Drop it" ... can't tell you how many puppy-mouth-sweeps either of those have saved.