by Beth Szczepanski

Created on: July 21, 2008   Last Updated: August 02, 2008

Puppies are cute, lovable, playful, energetic little rays of sunshine that can brighten any home. With this sunshine, though, can come mystery puddles on carpets, eaten shoes, destroyed furniture and scattered garbage. A few preparatory steps can help to minimize these problems and maximize the fun of raising a puppy.

Around the House

Before bringing a puppy home, check around your house for potential problems. These include food, garbage containers, fragile items, and non-food items a puppy might chew or swallow stored in low areas. You might feel really silly, but one good way of checking for these things is to crawl around on all fours and look for what might appeal to you if you were a puppy. Put any potential problem items in puppy-proof containers or on higher shelves.

If you want to keep your puppy confined to one part of the house, invest in a gate to block access to the rest of the house. This can be really helpful during house training, since it is much easier to clean up after puppy on your kitchen tile floor than on your living room carpet. When buying a gate, keep in mind your puppy's growth potential and jumping or climbing ability.

Training

While preparing your house for a puppy's arrival can do much to prevent problems, only proper training will allow your puppy to truly become a well adjusted member of your family. Taking part in a puppy obedience class can help your new family member learn basic commands and get socialized with other dogs. If you can't afford a class, make sure you provide consistent training at home.

Crate training can be very helpful for keeping a puppy out of trouble. Once a puppy comes to see a crate as its home, it will not object to being kept there when nobody is available to supervise. This can also help with housetraining since dogs do not like to make messes in the place that they sleep.

Toys

Puppies will play and chew. To make it less likely that they chew furniture, shoes, newspapers and other inappropriate items, make sure you provide enough toys to keep your puppy occupied. Toys that require some skill to operate, such as balls that expel treats when rolled around, will keep your puppy's interest for a longer time than those that don't.

A teething puppy will chew, so provide something for it to chew on. Some chew toys can be kept in the freezer to provide some relief to the teething puppy's sore mouth. Some can also be soaked in broth to make them more appealing than shoes or furniture.

With proper preparation, you can introduce a puppy into your house without introducing complete chaos. Even with the best preparation, though, it is a puppy's nature to get into some trouble. To fully enjoy puppy ownership, you will need patience, consistency and a good sense of humor as well.

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