You have finally decided to embrace living a life next to a four-legged animal called dog. It took you probably a couple of months to prepare yourself with all the responsibilities and caring you need to give your dog. But how about the readiness of your home? Is your home safe by the time your puppy arrives? What adjusted have you done so far?
Months before the puppy arrives, there are a few checklists you need to go through to make sure that the adoption is smooth as possible. This is to make sure that both the owner and the dog will not have to go through trial and error stage. At times, this can be sometimes fatal if ignored. Make sure to invest on time and research to avoid risks.
Here are some pointers:
- The most important item to identify is the location where the dog will sleep, eat and do numbers 1 and 2. I consider this as the core need of the dog and non-negotiable. Just because you adopted a pet does not mean the dog will dominate your own personal space. From the earliest stages of the puppy, you need to make sure where his area is. You do not want your house smelling like poop all the time.
- While your puppy has not been potty-trained, remove all sorts of area rugs within his reach. This is an easy and tempting target for the for-legged animal to do his routines. You may also want to remove: ottoman, foot stool or any decorative items within their reach.
- Make sure the dog has space to walk and run. It is ideal that this should be done outdoor, but if space is an issue, you can walk him to the park daily.
- All breakable decorative items should be transferred to a higher location. Puppies, just like toddlers, are naturally curious. They have this behavior that everything they see on the floor is edible and delicious.
- If you have a terrace or balcony with metal railings, secure the openings between 2 metal bars with fine net to avoid unnecessary accidents.
- Plants with hard thorns should be moves to a higher place as well. If unattended, your pet might get pricked by merely trying to smell the thorny plants.
- You may want to attach spring door closer to all doors of the house. During the puppy period, they like following their leader wherever they go. By installing spring door closer, there would be lesser possibility that your pet can sneaked out after somebody opens the door.
- Seal all holes where they can hide (like rat holes). Since the dog is still tiny, they can easily squeeze themselves inside the rat holes.
- Buy socket locks so you can plug them to all possible areas. Puppies are born to lick anything they want.
It is easy, right? With the right preparation and planning, owning a dog does mean your house would smell and feel like dog poop!
