You’ve got a new puppy. You bought all the supplies, the crate, treats, a leash and some delicious food. But now what? You don’t want your puppy to pee on everything or destroy your home. How do you set your pup up for success and not allow them to get into your favorite shoes?
To help you, we’ve created a complete nine step guide to puppy proofing.
1. Declutter your space
If it’s on the floor, assume at some point it will end up in your puppy’s mouth. This means it is time to summon your inner Marie Kondo. Even if an item sparks joy, it may need to spark joy from a higher, more secure location.
Move any shoes you have sitting by the door, handbags, baskets of throw blankets, papers, decorative nick-nacks – basically anything that is on the floor or a low shelf. You may wish to purchase some plastic storage totes to place these belongings in until the puppy is old enough to coexist with your things.
Do a second sweep after you’ve cleaned up. While that yoga mat in the corner might be no big deal now, you probably don’t want it filled with puppy scratches or nibbles – or worse, an emergency vet visit because the puppy ate a chunk.
If you have space, you may want to consider confining your puppy to only a few rooms of the house at first, with supervised visits to other…
