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Puppy Proofing Your Home

Your new Cairn Terrier puppy will be naturally curious about her new home and will want to explore every corner of it. Since puppies cannot yet distinguish between acceptable play things and things that might hurt them, you will need to teach her beginning the moment she enters your home that first day.

To determine what your puppy might see and from her perspective, get down on your hands and knees at your pup's nose level and take a look around. What might seem like an average household item to you, will be completely new to your pup. Look at your home from a new viewpoint and you will instantly see dangerous objects.

Remove anything which is not absolutely needed that she could hurt herself with or which you don't want chewed. This includes furniture, electrical cords, shoes, cleaning supplies, etc.

Puppy proofing your home is similar to baby proofing your home. Except your new Cairn Terrier puppy will be able to walk, run, climb, root around into tiny areas, and jump, so make sure what you put out of reach really is out of reach.

Until your Cairn Terrier puppy is used to her surroundings and graduates from housebreaking bootcamp, you will want to limit the area of your home in which she can roam freely. I used the Adjustable Size Pet Yard Kit fencing. It is mobile, can be increased or decreased in size and can be used outside or inside. It was one of the best dog supplies I purchased. I still find uses for it today even though my Cairns are now adult dogs.

Reference my related article, "The Pet Yard".

You will also want to be with your Cairn Terrier puppy at all times when she's not in her crate. So be prepared to mainly live in this same area of your home for at least a couple of weeks too.

Reference my related articles, "Crate Training a Cairn Terrier" and "Crates for Cairns".

Once your Cairn Terrier puppy has earned the right to explore more territory of your home, be sure to remove any of the following dangerous household items from her reach. This is merely a partial list of example items that are dangerous or of value to you. Use common sense for your puppy's safety.

medicines
matches
cigarettes
candy
chocolate
alcoholic beverages
shoes, socks, or other articles of clothing
valuables of any kind
fertilizers
insecticides
cleaning products
other poisonous products
plants and flowers