Dogs are gorgeous creatures. Like true best friends they offer you their heart and bring happiness into your life even when it seems that the entire world is against you. However, dogs are also very curious creatures and if you do not take some precautionary measures, they can cause a lot of damage around the home and hurt themselves in the process. Let us see then what you can do to dog-proof your home and prevent something that was supposed to be a beautiful friendship from becoming a constant source of frustration.
Living Room
We will start with the room where your dogs will most likely spend a lot of time if you do not own a yard – living room. First and foremost, you should protect the floor with rugs wherever possible. Small scale patterns combined with dark colors will very efficiently cover the stains and traces of damage. Now that you took care of that, move all plants and dangling wires out of the dog’s reach. Also, it should not be a bad idea to check all the places that are out of your sight, but your puppy can crawl under for dangerous items like needles and strings. Same rules apply to the rest of the house (bedroom, hallways, etc.) too.
Bathroom and Kitchen
Although your dog has really nothing to do neither in kitchen nor in bathroom (unless you are washing it) it can easily wander off there nevertheless. That is why you should keep all the dangerous items like medications, cleaning supplies, laundry soaps, knives and scissors on high shelves and closed cabinets where the dog will not be able to reach them. Keep the trash cans securely covered (if they cannot be covered keep them in a latched cabinet) and the toilet lid down all the time, and you will make sure that nothing unexpected will take place in any of these rooms.
Backyard, Terrace and Balcony
It is highly recommended that dogs spend some time outside, so depending on your home, these are the places where your dog should be fed and the water bowl for the dog should be found. Just make sure that the fence is free of any kind of holes your dog might squeeze or jump through and the rest of the space is devoid of dangerous tools and poisonous plants. Making the dog some kind of shelter that should protect it against the elements goes without a saying.
Garage
Although they are originally made for cars, every single one of us uses its garage for storing heavy and sharp tools that have no place elsewhere in the house. Make sure that your dog cannot access those tools by putting them in lockers or raising them on shelves. Other things that can be usually found in garage are chemicals like antifreeze that can cause poisoning if ingested. Lock them away with heavy tools and clean the floor so your dog cannot accidently lick their eventual traces.
If you follow these tips, your dog will not be able to cause some serious damage and what is even more important – It will not be in danger of accidentally hurting itself. If a little bit of dog-proofing is what it takes to keep your best friend safe, we say it is worth a try.