One minute they’re innocently playing with a toy. The next thing you know, they’ve nibbled away a large portion of drywall. Puppies have been known to eat hardwood floors, gnaw furniture to flinders, strew garbage throughout the house, chew the tops off child-safe pill bottles, mummify themselves in toilet paper, decorate eyeglasses with tooth marks, and eat dish towels, socks and rocks.
The curiosity and destructiveness of puppies can confound even the most experienced or careful dog owner, and are usually beyond the belief of new puppy owners, who tend to assume that the stories they hear are the exception rather than the rule. But puppies can and will chew, eat or otherwise destroy anything interesting that’s within their reach. And there isn’t much that’s not of interest to a puppy.
Fortunately, experts abound on the subject of puppy-proofing a home. They’re called breeders, and they’ve seen and heard it all, putting them in the perfect position to offer advice on making a home and yard safe for - and from - puppies.
Evaluate Your Home
Before you bring your new puppy home, take a walk through the entire house. Do you have special items that are fragile or irreplaceable because of sentimental value? Put them away, says Mary Beth Arthur, a Whippet breeder in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “Puppy proofing an area means having out of reach all items of great value, as well as household items that you want kept intact, such as shoes, home accessories, books or magazines.”
Do the same thing with items that pose a safety risk, such as electric cords. Unplug what you can, bundle cords and put them out of sight if possible, and try to keep them from dangling invitingly.
Use tough, plastic cable ties, available at electronics stores, to wrap up cords for clock radios, phones and televisions, so they’re not accessible, or coat the cords with a nasty-tasting substance. Golden Retriever breeder Nona Bauer of LaBelle, Missouri, likes Bitter Apple and Bitter Grape for this purpose, while Tabasco sauce works well for Susan Adams, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breeder in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. Whatever you choose , reapply it regularly, and understand that it’s going to make a mess.
What else might your puppy get into? Think medicine bottles, cleaning supplies, dental floss, yarn, sewing gear, rodent poison, toilet bowl cleaners, diaper pails, trash containers, cat litter boxes, dirty laundry, cigarettes, candy, coins and toys, especially those with dangly parts. Put such items up high or behind closed doors.
Dangling dish towels and dirty socks are favorite puppy toys, too. They’re not so much fun if they get eaten, though. Intestinal obstructions can require surgery to repair, and may even cause a dog’s death if not caught in time. “1 can’t tell you the number of Clumber Spaniels I’ve heard about that have died from eating a dishtowel,” Adams says.
Sometimes it’s necessary to temporarily rearrange your home to keep a puppy out of trouble, Arthur says. This could involve putting something in front of an outlet with a plugged-in cord, moving furniture to minimize risks, or raising items such as lamps and trash containers off the ground. Multilevel homes with railings and open stairways make for additional safety concerns that may require the use of baby gates or other barricades. And keep that toilet lid down, Bauer advises. “All pups are born with toilet water sonar.”
Consider putting child safety locks on bathroom and kitchen cabinets, and think twice about storing dangerous items underneath things. Your puppy will crawl under the sofa-bed or work bench, Bauer says. Her best advice? “Put it away, especially the trash. Puppy can’t hurt himself or your priceless treasures if he can’t get at them.”
Don’t Forget the Outdoors
Clean out the garage as well. Install high shelves or locked cabinets for antifreeze, weed killers, pesticides, herbicides, paint, turpentine, dried-up paint rollers and anything else that might conceivably cause your puppy harm. When in doubt, get it out.
“Some friends thought that the garage would be a safe place for their puppy, because he would be confined and the floor would clean easily if he had an accident,” says Barbara Beynon, an American Eskimo Dog breeder in Corpus Christi, Texas. “They came home one day to find that the puppy had caught his head in a pail holding-wire and had strangled himself.”
If the garage houses the cat’s litter box, consider getting a covered box or placing the box in a spot that’s accessible to kitty but not to puppy. One couple solved this problem by cutting a small hole in the bottom of a baby gate. Their cats could slide through, but the puppy didn’t fit. This works only with breeds that are large enough not to get their heads stuck in the hole, however. Don’t try it with a tiny toy breed such as a Yorkie, Papillion, Chihuahua or Toy Poodle.
Next comes the yard. Walk around the fence line. Are there areas that need to be repaired or holes that a puppy could wiggle through or under? Does the gate latch properly? Could your puppy jump onto a playhouse or garbage can and use it as a launching pad to go over the fence? Make sure the yard is completely safe for your puppy before letting him loose in it.
More than 80 varieties of plants are toxic if eaten, Bauer says. Many dogs are connoisseurs of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes and avocado, and they enjoy digging up bulbs, which are usually toxic. To protect a garden, surround it with chicken wire or some other type of fencing. If that’s not feasible, consider buying or building a dog run. Your pup will have a safe place to play outdoors, and the rest of your yard will be protected from digging paws or nibbling teeth.
Check your houseplants, too. Even if they’re not poisonous, put them out of reach. Puppies love chewing on leaves and digging in dirt. Make a list of the plants you have indoors and out, and ask a veterinarian if they’re safe. Or check your list against those included in such bibles of dog care as the Dog Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook (by Jim Giffin and Liisa Carlson) or The KISS Guide to Raising a Puppy (by Liz Palika). You can also check out the ASPCA’s Poison Control center on the web at www.aspca.org
Don’t ignore bodies of water such as swimming pools, hot tubs and fishponds. Pups aren’t born knowing how to swim. “I have had friends lose pup pies because they assumed that if a puppy fell into the swimming pool, he could find his way out like the adult dogs do,” Beynon says. “They came home to a dead puppy floating in the family pool.”
Think Like a Dog
Once you think you’ve puppy proofed your home and yard, get down on your hands and knees to check it out from a puppy’s-eye view. Anything below 18 inches is fair game to a puppy, says Pug breeder Marcy Heathman of Hearne, Texas. “It’s amazing when you’re down at that level to see how the knobby end of an antique chair leg really draws your attention,” she says. “No wonder puppies chew on them.”
When he comes home, observe your puppy to see what he’s attracted to. You may need to make alterations in how you plan to keep him safe, as well as what you need to keep safe from him.
Remember, too, that dogs are perfectly capable of thinking out and executing a plan to achieve a goal. Adams discovered this not only with her Cavaliers, but also with her Sussex Spaniels. Neither breed is known for its brain power, Adams says, but hers are plenty smart when it comes to getting what they want.
One Sussex, safely stashed behind a baby gate in the guest bathroom, escaped in five minutes. Adams put her back in. She was out in less than five minutes. “ Sussex don’t jump three-foot gates,” Adams says. “1 put her back in a third time and then stood where she couldn’t see me. She jumped from the floor to the toilet, the toilet to the vanity, then walked across the vanity and jumped over the gate.”
Keep Your Puppy Safe
The best way to avoid problems is to prevent them. Keep your puppy at your side instead of giving him the run of the house. Tether him with a leash so that you’re always aware of what he’s doing. If you can’t watch him, confine him to a crate, a puppy playpen or a safe room blocked off with a baby gate. Rooms that are usually good for this purpose include bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms.
If you choose to use a baby gate instead of a crate, be aware that some dogs are more inventive than others. The kitchen may seem like a safe place for them, until you come home to find that they’ve jumped from a chair to the table to the counter, knocked a package of scone mix to the ground, and then returned to the floor to destroy the box and eat the contents. Remember, too, that an uncrated dog may still nibble on cabinets or drywall. Keep a can of spackle handy for repairs.
A thoroughly puppy-proofed home isn’t much fun for a puppy, so make sure you have a variety of dog-safe items for him to play with. Plenty of toys, exercise and playtime are essential to keeping him out of trouble.
What’s the most important thing to know? Never underestimate the creative energy of a puppy. He will crawl into, under and over impossible places to do mischief. With proper supervision and prevention, however, you can ensure that he grows into a happy, healthy adult dog.
When Is My Puppy Grown Up?
How long does puppy-proofing take, anyway? When can your household go back to normal? That depends on the dog. Some dogs look for trouble all their lives, and can never be left unsupervised or unconfined. Others prove themselves trustworthy by six months of age.
To test your puppy’s maturity, start slowly. Leave him alone for 10 or 15 minutes and see how he does. If he behaves, gradually extend the amount of time he’s on his own to an hour or two. You’ll find out quickly whether he’s dependable or still needs the restraint of a crate or other safe area.
Kim Thornton is an award-winning free lance writer in Southern California. Her office is still missing some drywall, thanks to her Cavalier King Charles puppy.
