Fight for Life

Puppy-Proof Your Home

Discusses how to make a home safe for a new puppy, since puppies explore the world with their mouths. Topics include:

• Moving household cleaning products, fertilizers, antifreeze, poisons, and detergents to a high shelf
• Keeping the toilet lid down so a puppy can’t fall in and drown
• Crawling around on hands and knees to see the house the way a puppy does, then moving electrical cords, hair barrettes, plastic bags, and other small swallowable objects
• Picking up newspapers, books, toys, shoes, and clothes, since puppies treat them like chew toys
• Checking houseplants for toxic varieties like aloe vera and poinsettia, and keeping dogs off recently-treated lawns
• Taking out the garbage, since chicken bones and metal cans can turn into a medical emergency
• Keeping a puppy on a leash in an unfenced yard
• If your puppy has any of these symptoms, it means it’s time to visit the vet:
  • Swollen stomach
  • Loss of energy
  • Excessive coughing, panting, or gasping
  • Fainting
  • Vomiting for more than 12 hours
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever or shivers
  • Red eyes
  • Smelly or dirty ears
  • Worms in stool
  • Excessive scratching
  • Limping
  • Bleeding
  • Lumps or bumps under the skin
  • An inability to go to the bathroom
  • Dragging their bottom on the ground