Keep Your Dog Safe: Tips For Dog Safety In Your Home

No matter whether you are bringing a playful puppy home, or a mature dog, you have to make sure there are no hazards in your house and yard that could hurt your new addition to the family.

Puppies and Grown Up Dogs

If this is your first experience with a puppy, or it has been a few years since you had a young dog, you need to recognize that a puppy comes with greater challenges than an older dog. For one thing, puppies love to chew; in fact, they have to chew things in order to develop their adult teeth. They aren't particular about what they chew, however your favorite shoes, books left on the floor, children's toys, furniture legs, articles of clothing almost anything they can sink their little teeth into is fair game. You need to be vigilant about what you leave lying around that they can access. This is not only so favorite possessions are not ruined, but because some things are not good for puppies to chew. Parts of toys that can break off when a puppy chews them can be a choking hazard or cause an abdominal obstruction if swallowed. So, the first step is to walk through your house and see what needs to be put away, or put up, out of the range of the pup.

This is not to say that older dogs can't cause similar problems. In their case, height is another consideration. A large dog or a dog with long legs can reach amazing heights when he stretches. You may find that anything left on tables, desks, or kitchen counters is in "play" for him. He may be anxious when you first bring him home, and this can bring on mischievous or even destructive behavior for a while until he gets acclimated and feels truly at home. Again, tour through the rooms of the house and see if there are things that should be put away, closets closed, etc.

Where Will Your Dog Stay?

You also need to make decisions about what areas of your home are off limits to your dog, and where you want him to stay while you are gone at work during the day, or leave the house for other reasons. Dogs left alone for long periods of time can get bored and this can cause them to search for something to interest them or focus their attention on. Unfortunately, this might include chewing on an electrical cord, or tearing up the upholstery on a chair or couch, or ripping up a pillow. Chewing electrical cords can cause not only tragic shock or even death for your pet, but also could start a fire in your home. Many dogs never pay any attention to electrical cords, so you may not have anything to worry about. But if your dog does start to chew on one, an option is to spray the cord with a bitter agent such as bitter orange, designed to discourage chewing.

Many pet owners select a room of the house to confine the dog while they are away and make sure that room is truly pet-proofed.

Keep your dog safe even when he's in your house.