In the short few months we’ve had our little Zeus, I can’t count the number of things I have pulled out of my puppy’s mouth that shouldn’t be there. Screws, nails, rocks, shoes, water bottles, things he’s dragged out of the trash, gum off the sidewalk, our comforter…he is a danger magnet. Such is life with a puppy (let alone a lab). While we keep a close eye on our little guy, there are still times we don’t see everything he’s doing. We’ve learned to listen for that smacking noise that tells us he’s chewing on something, and then we rush over to wherever his little hiding place is to see what he has. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to swallow things as much as just like the feel of chewing on them.
We’ve had to do some puppy proofing, nonetheless. For example, we had to buy shelves to keep the dog and cat food out of reach. We have about a million of those square cloth drawers for bookshelves (we could singlehandedly fund that market) to keep toys and treats in when we need to keep them away from the pups during the day. We have “dog towels” for his kennel, and there is always a toy or two in our room for him to chew on as an alternative to our shoes. Or socks, which he likes to steal. We put barriers in front of cabinets he might open, and keep any kind of drugs or chemicals high above where any of our pets can reach. We try to keep the house as clean as possible, and even though he is a happy little kennel-trained pup, we are gradually transitioning Zeus to the kitchen behind a baby gate, (another puppy proofing ESSENTIAL) in hopes that he will eventually be able to safely stay out in the house with our older dog.
It’s not always easy, but our house is probably the cleanest, most clutter-free it’s ever been! It’s just an added benefit to the work of puppy-proofing. And don’t forget, some of these things keep your house pet-proof in general if you’ve got more mischievous pets than ours!
