5 Ways You Can Puppy Proof Your House

June 7, 2019

Congratulations on your new puppy! When bringing your new four-legged friend home, you may notice your puppy is super energetic and curious about their surroundings. This is completely normal but it’s important to make sure that your house is completely safe. Otherwise, your puppy’s exploration can turn into an unwanted accident—and that’s not any fun!

We recommend following these 5 tips to puppy proof your entire house. That way, your puppy can enjoy sniffing, licking, and playing in their new home!

1. Close the doors

The most important rule of puppy proofing a house is closing the doors. This includes bathrooms and any room you would rather your puppy not wander into. Because puppies are young and still learning, they may end up relieving themselves in any of these rooms or sneaking into the bathroom toilet and trash.

In some cases, they may even climb up on a bed or furniture and soil themselves. To avoid all of this, it’s best to close all doors, at least until your puppy has been potty trained!

2. Puppy proof your trash can

Unfortunately, a puppy’s curiosity can lead them into some sticky situations. And by sticky situations, we mean those delicious leftovers left in your trash can. Most puppies would love an opportunity to search through your trash can just for a taste of leftover food, wrappers, and other garbage.

This can lead to trash thrown around on the floor and/or a very sick puppy (especially if the food is toxic). We recommend keeping trash cans away from the reach of your puppy.

3. Put away all medications

All of your medications should be kept out of your puppy’s sight and reach. It’s common to leave your pills and other medicines on the counter or table and then put them away later in the day. It’s highly important to stop the habit so that your puppy doesn’t accidentally ingest them.

This also applies if your pills and medicine is kept in a container. Puppies are known for being chewers, and may chew through the plastic to get to the pills. By placing your medications in a high place or in a drawer/cabinet, you ensure your puppy’s safety around the house.

4. Make sure your backyard is safe

While your backyard can be an excellent source for entertainment and fun for your puppy, it can also come with its own hazards. To puppy proof your backyard, we recommend purchasing a fence that your puppy can’t jump over or dig a hole under.

If you’ve recently applied insecticide on grass, it’s best to make sure your puppy doesn’t go outside anytime soon. Insecticide poisoning is a serious issue, and ingestion or inhalation of toxins can make your puppy very sick.

5. Buy a couch cover, just in case

When you bring a puppy into your home, you must decide on one thing: letting your puppy onto the furniture or not. Some puppy parents are more than happy to leave their furry companion onto the couch (dogs make excellent couch buddies!). For others, however, it’s not exactly ideal since furniture tends to be a hub for dog hairs.

If you want to let your puppy onto the furniture or want to protect your couch from stray puppy hairs, a couch cover will do the trick! Most couch covers even help protect against your puppy’s scratching on the couch.

Puppy proofing your house may seem like a lot of work, but trust us, it’s so worth it in the long run. Remember that you don’t have to do everything all at once—just take it one step at a time to make sure your puppy is safe.

Once you puppy proof your entire house, you can try playing games with your beautiful puppy. Check out our 10 Fun Games to Play With Your Puppy for an exciting playtime session with your fur-baby!