Puppy proofing your home.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to think about puppy proofing my home. Most of my dogs have been adult rescues—Chipper was my last puppy and that was over 12 years ago.

There’s so much to think about before bringing a puppy home. How to confine him while he’s being potty trained. How to get rid of hazards like exposed electrical wires. We just moved into a new house and we decided to put off buying rugs because of the inevitable accidents. And we’ve planned abundant toy boxes throughout the house to give a teething puppy better things to chew on than our furniture.

Of course, a golden retriever needs to run, so we created an outdoor courtyard with tall, strong fences he can’t jump over or dig under. And there’s even a pet door so he can learn to let himself inside and out.

Finally, since we have two other dogs and a cat, we’ll need a solid plan how to introduce them all to the new puppy. And we’ll need to be vigilant for a long, long time about making sure everyone feels safe and secure.

It’s exhausting and we haven’t even brought the little fellow home yet!

Share this post