So you just bought home your brand-new puppy.
You know training it will take time and patience, and that overtime it will learn to obey your commands and not eat food off your table.
But until it learns these things, you will have a lot of cleaning up to do.
Here are some tips on how to keep your pup's messes from getting out of hand.
PUPPIES CHEW ON EVERYTHING Be it a piece of bacon or your designer-made shoes, it's all fair game to a puppy.
The fact of the matter is it simply doesn't know better, and will be happy to tear apart everything in its reach.
So before you go out and get your new pet, make sure everything you hold dear and don't want slobbered on is put away in safe, hard-to-reach places.
This goes for food, too.
Keep human goodies away from table edges if you don't want it chowing down on your dinner.
But don't think the puppy shouldn't get to have any fun.
Replace treasured items with disposable chew toys and give your pup an entertaining (and non-destructive) way to expend energy.
Having chew toys around will also give you the opportunity to share in on puppy's playtime.
SET BOUNDARIES Puppies will go anywhere and everywhere they can as long as there is nothing blocking their way.
Sure, you can eventually teach them to stay out of certain rooms and places, but before then you have to set physical boundaries to prevent them from peeing on your brand new rug.
Make sure to set up portable fences blocking them off from places you don't want them going.
If they're not allowed on couches, reprimand them whenever they try to jump on one.
After these boundaries have been set you can teach them their limitations and eventually remove the fences.
Until that time comes, though, a portable fence is a safe bet.
BE PREPARED FOR LEAVING YOUR PUPPY ALONE You can't be around every waking moment of the day to keep an eye out for your dog.
Eventually you will have to leave it home alone, and when it's home alone, it is a lot easier to get into messes without you telling it to stop.
It's a good idea to get some sort of cage or crate to keep the puppy in while you are gone to keep it from chewing the house apart.
Leave food, water, a toy or two, and be prepared to clean up any messes it leaves when you get back.
It's also a good idea to give the puppy's cage a solid surface to make cleaning up messes easy.
Once your puppy matures, you don't have to keep it caged anymore - but at the beginning, for the sake of your home and sanity, keep it out of destruction's way while you are out.
Puppies are resilient.
You will not be able to prevent one from never making a mess.
But by making your house as puppy-proof as possible you can cut down the amount of cleaning up you will have to do during that first year or so.
You know training it will take time and patience, and that overtime it will learn to obey your commands and not eat food off your table.
But until it learns these things, you will have a lot of cleaning up to do.
Here are some tips on how to keep your pup's messes from getting out of hand.
PUPPIES CHEW ON EVERYTHING Be it a piece of bacon or your designer-made shoes, it's all fair game to a puppy.
The fact of the matter is it simply doesn't know better, and will be happy to tear apart everything in its reach.
So before you go out and get your new pet, make sure everything you hold dear and don't want slobbered on is put away in safe, hard-to-reach places.
This goes for food, too.
Keep human goodies away from table edges if you don't want it chowing down on your dinner.
But don't think the puppy shouldn't get to have any fun.
Replace treasured items with disposable chew toys and give your pup an entertaining (and non-destructive) way to expend energy.
Having chew toys around will also give you the opportunity to share in on puppy's playtime.
SET BOUNDARIES Puppies will go anywhere and everywhere they can as long as there is nothing blocking their way.
Sure, you can eventually teach them to stay out of certain rooms and places, but before then you have to set physical boundaries to prevent them from peeing on your brand new rug.
Make sure to set up portable fences blocking them off from places you don't want them going.
If they're not allowed on couches, reprimand them whenever they try to jump on one.
After these boundaries have been set you can teach them their limitations and eventually remove the fences.
Until that time comes, though, a portable fence is a safe bet.
BE PREPARED FOR LEAVING YOUR PUPPY ALONE You can't be around every waking moment of the day to keep an eye out for your dog.
Eventually you will have to leave it home alone, and when it's home alone, it is a lot easier to get into messes without you telling it to stop.
It's a good idea to get some sort of cage or crate to keep the puppy in while you are gone to keep it from chewing the house apart.
Leave food, water, a toy or two, and be prepared to clean up any messes it leaves when you get back.
It's also a good idea to give the puppy's cage a solid surface to make cleaning up messes easy.
Once your puppy matures, you don't have to keep it caged anymore - but at the beginning, for the sake of your home and sanity, keep it out of destruction's way while you are out.
Puppies are resilient.
You will not be able to prevent one from never making a mess.
But by making your house as puppy-proof as possible you can cut down the amount of cleaning up you will have to do during that first year or so.
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