How to keep a dog off your furniture when you're not home

Having a dog at home is like having a baby in the crawling stage; both of them want to touch and put in their mouths everything they see and both can reach things at unsuspected highs if they really want to. Even when both of them can also learn to behave properly, it is convenient to take certain precautions if you want to keep your dog and your house in a good state. Here are some tricks on how to keep a dog off your furniture when you're not home.

Some Dog Supplies to buy

Dogs need to chew and bite. Their teeth are designed to tear anything to pieces, from bones to vegetal substances and if you don't provide something hard to bite, the dog will be forced to look for something on its own. If you don't want your dog to destroy your personal stuff, you can offer infinity of chewable objects, divided into three groups: dog rain coats

Cooked Dog Bones. Natural bones are more attractive for their flavor and because the dog feels they are real food, but use only bones that are along the shinbone. The chicken bones get splintered and could provoke very serious injuries.

Rubber Dog toys and nylon chewers. They are maybe the safest and most durable option. You can make the hollowed toys even more attractive by filling them with small pieces of food. They entertain the dog a lot by obligating it to make an effort to take them out and eat.

PUPPY'S LITTLE TEETH

It is very probable that our home looks like a little paradise, full of great things to chew, to the dog. But, be careful! It really is a mined camp, full of death traps. If you are not fond of the idea of running to the veterinary and waiting in line to be served, it will be better for you to minimize the risks.

Puppies feel a special attraction for out socks, underwear or hair clips and for pens, they turn any of these things into pieces with their little teeth, if they find them. If you catch your dog biting a valuable or dangerous object, it is important not to loose your temper. If it is something dangerous as a stone or a pair of scissors for example, quickly offer the puppy something very tempting to eat, so the dog will immediately change its objective. Most important of all, do not show yourself scared; dogs are like little children and tend to continue doing something if they cause any kind of disturbance.

Don't forget that puppies prefer to chew stolen things because they can call people's attention with them. If the stolen object is not dangerous and is simply forbidden for them, then the best thing you can do is to leave the room and totally ignore the puppy. Distract it making noises with its bowl of food or ringing the doorbell. As soon as the puppy lets the object go, pick it up and put it out of the dog's reach. Don't pay much attention to this or you will just be teaching the dog what it has to do if it ever feels bored again.

BORN RETRIEVER

There are breeds, like the Retrievers (Golden, Labrador or straight haired), with strong retrieving instincts because they were bred specially for this purpose, look for objects and bring them to their masters. If you have a Retriever you may have noticed its tendency to greet by giving you some object.

If you don't feel like watching your dog walking around the house with your underwear or a napkin as a banner every time you return home, make sure that the dog always has at hand enough toys it can quickly go pick to offer them to you as a welcoming gift. Scolding or punishing a hunting dog as the Retrievers or the Spaniels for doing something they have simply been born for will just provoke serious conduct problems. Nowadays, many dogs with natural retrieving instincts get treatments for "aggressive-possessive conduct" and the problem could have been normally avoided if the dog would have learnt which objects they are aloud to use and which ones aren't.

DIGGING, YES BUT...

How to stop a dog from digging? Everybody wants to know. Some dogs feel the uncontrollable desire to dig and sometimes it is practically impossible to get rid of this instinct. It is not a bad idea to reserve a little corner of the garden for them to dig there, respecting the rest of the area. To achieve this, invite your dog to use its paws by digging there toy, cookies, bones… for it.  Your lead by example will invite it to dig. Another possibility is not leaving the dog in the garden without supervision.

OUTDOOR Dog KENNELS

Dogs are social animals so; they need company as much as water, food or shelter. Many conduct problems are provoked by the lack of stimulus or company and a dog that lives outdoors gets more bored than a dog that lives in family. Nowadays, the houses are very close to each other and a dog that spends most of the day barking can turn the neighbors, the environmentalists or the animal protector society against its owners.

Even when there were times in which living outdoors was considered natural for a dog, this idea is currently old fashioned and unacceptable. If someone wants a dog in his life, he must assume the obligation to share his space and time with it.

A SAFE ENVIRONMENT of dogs Lock the outside doors and close the windows to make sure the dog won't go out of the house on its own. Put any very small object or anything that can break or be dangerous out of the dog's reach. Keep any valuable object in a safe place until the puppy is through with the teething or the adult dog has already learnt the rules that are apply in its new house. Make sure that all electrical appliances are unplugged (not only turned off) and the cords picked up. Keep the cleaning products, paintings, etc. conveniently stored. Find out if any of the plants you have in your garden are poisonous. The veterinary can hand you a list of the most common toxic plants. Make sure that the grill is in good state and can be properly locked and that the fences have no holes in them.