What objects can be dangerous for my dog at home?

You need to check your home for any unsafe/potentially unsafe item.

In your kitchen/ bathroom, use childproof latches to keep curious muzzles from prying open cabinets. Keep medicine, cleaners, chemicals, and laundry supplies on high shelves. Keep foods out of reach (even if the food isn’t harmful, the wrapper could be. And some foods, like chocolate, can be toxic).

Keep trash cans covered or inside a latched cabinet.

Keep toilet lids closed to prevent drowning or drinking harmful cleaning chemicals.

In the living room, keep dangling wires from lamps, VCRs, stereos, TVs, and phones out of chewing reach. Put your kids’ toys away. Move plants out of reach (some houseplants are poisonous to animals). Keep coins and pens, sewing items like needles and thread out of reach. Make sure all heating/air vents have a cover .In the garage, keep all chemicals in high shelves or behind secure doors. Clean up all antifreeze from the floor and driveway: one lick of most antifreeze can be lethal to any animal. Keep all sharp objects and tools out of reach.

In the bedroom, keep laundry and shoes behind closed doors (drawstrings and buttons can cause problems if swallowed). Keep any medications, lotions, or cosmetics off accessible surfaces (like the bedside table).

Prevention is better

Preventing destructive and dangerous chewing is easier than trying to correct the puppy every second. Look around your home. What objects could be put up out of the way of a curious puppy? Apply some spray to furniture legs, woodwork and other immovable items. Are there rooms your puppy should be restricted from entering until he’s better trained and more reliable?

Install a baby gate or keep the doors to those rooms closed.

Check if electrical cords are lying around. Puppies love to chew, and a cord can burn, shock, and even kill. Use outlet covers in all open outlets. Plastic bags can suffocate your puppy.

Beware. Toilets and buckets of water are tempting to puppies, but can be both a drowning hazard and a chemical hazard if you use cleaners in your toilet tank.

Basement doors, windows, doors to balconies and so on should be kept closed and locked.

Puppies can dislocate bones, break bones and die from falls. Do not assume that a railing will keep your puppy safe.

Take a walk around your yard looking for potential hazards. When playing in your yard, make

sure your puppy does not try to swallow rocks. Even small sticks are unsafe. Adult dogs can chew on one and get poked through the mouth. This will not only give you a fat veterinarian bill, but weeks of pain for him. If your yard is fenced, check the boundaries and gates for openings that could be potential escape routes. Puppies can get through smaller places than an adult dog. If your yard’s not fenced, make a resolution right now that your puppy will never be allowed to run off lead without close supervision. He won’t ever know enough to look both ways before crossing the street to chase a squirrel. Keep him safe by keeping him on leash.

Be careful when closing doors. Sometimes, your puppy could get in the way. Ashtrays with cigarette butts can be dangerous. Puppies seem to get into some unimaginable areas. As with toddlers, keep all cleaners and other household poisons up high in a locked cabinet to avoid an accident of this nature.

Medicine should be kept in a locked medicine cabinet. Never leave a bottle on a coffee table, or a bedside table. A puppy can chew through a bottle in seconds and ingest the medicine inside very quickly.

Cords on window blinds can tangle and choke. Never leash a puppy in the house when you leave. They could become excited and tangle up in it, or jump over something and hang themselves.

Ribbons can be cute on a puppy, but again, can be a choking or hanging hazard. They can tighten up unexpectedly, and even if you are right there, can often be hard to remove once this has happened.

Some toys sold specifically for puppies pose their own hazards. Avoid toys with squeakers that can be chewed out. Only use these under your close supervision.

Take care when disposing of discarded oils and antifreeze, and never allow a puppy to roam to a neighbors yard for this reason alone. Spilled or leaking antifreeze kills family pets every year. Newer pet safe products are available and should be used if possible.