Bringing your puppy home is exciting, but puppy-proofing for their arrival can also feel overwhelming. From phone charging cords that become tempting chew toys to house plants being dug up, several steps are needed to have a safe and secure home. The first step is to make sure you have all the essential puppy supplies, which we have covered in another blog. The second step is to puppy-proof your home, and below, you’ll find a helpful guide to get started.
New puppies should constantly be monitored.
Puppies love to explore, and when left unattended, they can chew on your shoes, go potty inside, or get into things they shouldn’t. You will want to clean up any small and loose items your puppy can chew and swallow. These items include pillows, rugs, shoes, pens, and books.
We recommend that your puppy wear a collar and leash at all times when you are home. You can tether your puppy to sturdy furniture near you so you can maintain constant supervision, and it reduces the areas of the house that always need to be puppy-proofed. When tethered, their leash should not reach your feet, so your puppy doesn’t become reliant on laying at your feet at nap time.
Crate train your puppy for when you can’t monitor them
When you aren’t home or unable to supervise them, we recommend putting your puppy in a dog crate. Crates are useful because they discourage accidents and keep them from chewing on household items. If your puppy barks when left in the crate or is away from you, we recommend reading our blog on “Separation Anxiety and Normal Puppy Barking” and “Crate Training and Preventing Separation Anxiety.” These blogs offer valuable advice to help keep your puppy calm and comfortable when you’re not around.
Give your puppy enrichment ideas and appropriate chew toys
Puppies can easily get bored, which often leads to mischief. To keep them out of trouble, we recommend providing physical and mental enrichment activities to keep them focused and happy. Physical enrichment activities can include throwing a ball and setting up a puppy playdate. Mental enrichment ideas include stuffed kongs, puzzles, and toys. We have prepared a list of “Indoor Enrichment Ideas” and “Five Puppy Enrichment Games” to help you with enrichment ideas for your puppy.
It’s essential that your puppy has access to at least 8-12 hard-textured chew toys such as Benebones, Kongs, Nylabones, and unfilled bones. Plushies are best avoided for puppies until they’ve passed the chewing stage in their development. Puppies tend to chew up plushies and rope toys, which can encourage them to chew on furniture, rugs, and other household items.
We’re here to help
If you are feeling overwhelmed with puppy-proofing your home and other challenges in raising a puppy, you can schedule a free consultation with our Co-Founder, Sean Savage CDBC, CPDT-KA. He can provide you with expert training recommendations. Our Dallas Obedience and Manners Puppy Training Programs are personalized to achieve your training goals in your home and wherever you will take your puppy in the greater Dallas area.
For more training tips, we have many informative blogs in our Dallas Puppy Training
