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.

About the Author

Free report on Dog Friendly VacationsRose is an Irish Setter and Kate's an English Springer Spaniel. Rose and Kate also blog. Their two legged companion, Dee Power, is the author of several nonfiction books. Find out more about her at How To Get A Book Published

	SentrySafe H2300 Fire-Safe Waterproof Chest, 0.36 Cubic Feet , Silver Gray List Price: $66.66 Sale Price: $43.85 Used From: $47.99 Average Rating:
	H2300 The Waterproof Fire Chest H2300 provides protection from both fire and water. Fire protection includes UL classification and ETL verification for 30 minutes of fire protection of CDs, DVDs, USB drives and memory sticks up to 1550 F...

	SentrySafe DS3410 Black Fire-Safe 1.2-Cubic Foot Combination Safe List Price: $248.46 Sale Price: $149.99 Average Rating:
	With innovative security features and practical organizational details, the SentrySafe DS3410 Fire-Safe Combination Safe offers protection for your valuables from fire or theft. This affordable no-nonsense safe will protect your priceless items, save you money, and help you avoid the hassle of replacing your credit cards and important documents...

	SentrySafe QA0110 Fire-Safe Waterproof CD/DVD Storage File List Price: $89.99 Sale Price: $29.90 Average Rating:
	SENQA0110 Organize and protect critical data from fire and water. Stores up to 100 CDs and DVDs in 50 double-sided sleeves. ETL verified protection against loss from fire up to 1/2 hour at 1550 F and water in full 24-hour submersion...

	SentrySafe QE4531 Fire-Safe Water-Resistant Safe with USB-Powered Connectivity, 1.2 Cubic Feet, Black List Price: $750.00 Sale Price: $325.00 Average Rating:
	SENQE4531 Multi-purpose fire- and water-resistant safe that provides USB-powered connectivity to laptop or desktop computer via an external USB port. Allows users to back up critical data using their own 2...

	Quakehold! 4162 15-Inch Furniture Strap Kit, Antique Brown List Price: $12.99 Sale Price: $7.89 Average Rating:
	This is the strongest, most versatile strap available and is easy to install. Peel and press one end to the furniture, screw the other end into the wall stud through grommet hole. Each kit contains two 18 nylon straps, enough for one large item of furniture...

	Quakehold! 4065 TV Strap List Price: $14.99 Sale Price: $12.95 Average Rating:
	You may have forgotten how heavy that TV is, and it would be a bad thing to be reminded of this during an earthquake. To prevent injury or-at the very least-a broken TV, Quakehold!'s TV strap lets you secure your TV to a stable surface or wall...

	Safety 1st/dorel 10404 Safety Outlet Cover - White 2pk Sale Price: $3.19
	2 Pack, White, Safety Outlet Cover To Child Proof Outlet. Keeps Children From Unplugging Electrical Cords & Inserting Objects Into Outlets, Fits Over All Standard Outlets, Carded.

	"H" Series Fire Proof Gun Safe (22 Gun Capacity) Lock: Electronic Lock List Price: $1,250.00 Sale Price: $959.00
	GS5930H-addonbrasslagard Lock: Electronic Lock For enthusiasts who want more from their gun safe, Diamond Back has created the ''H'' series, a line of safes that resembles the reasonably priced ''L'' series...

	Quakehold! 4161 18-Inch Furniture Strap Kit, Oak List Price: $12.99 Sale Price: $6.00 Average Rating:
	This is the strongest, most versatile strap available and is easy to install. Peel and press one end to the furniture, screw the other end into the wall stud through grommet hole. Each kit contains two 18 nylon straps, enough for one large item of furniture...

How To Baby Proof Your Home