Kitchen and Bathroom
If you're crate training (and you should), the kitchen is a great room in which to situate the crate. If you're not crate training, then the kitchen is the best choice for keeping your puppy safely confined. Why the kitchen? For several reasons: it has a floor surface that's easily washed and usually pretty durable; it is a room where other members of the family congregate, so your pup won't feel he's being isolated (which is a very horrible thing for a puppy or any animal); there is a sink for easy access to running water; cleaning supplies are typically close at hand. All of these make taking care of and cleaning up after your puppy much easier.
Like the kitchen, a bathroom has access to cleaning items and running water and has a floor that's easy to clean. If your bathroom isn't centrally located, though, your pup will feel isolated in it. If it's just off the kitchen so that the pup can feel part of the household's activities, then it can be an option.
There are many jokes about dogs drinking out of the toilet bowl, but in fact this is a potentially deadly habit and should be strongly discouraged. While toilets are flushed and fresh water fills them, there is still a chance that bacteria or other harmful items can be present in the water. Also, the cleansers used for toilet bowls are toxic!
You'll need a baby gate to block off any room. The best kinds are the wooden ones that stay closed through pressure on both sides of the wall. When positioned properly, they are quite difficult to knock down and your pup can see through them. It will be much more comforting for him to be able to look and smell through the gate instead of feeling completely trapped behind a solid door or partial wall.
For the safety of your pup and the protection of your home, there will be times when you will need to confine your puppy to a particular room. You can do this by putting him in a crate, or by putting up a baby gate.
Once you've put up the baby gate (or gates), you need to look around and ask yourself the following question: If you were a dog, what would you chew on? Don't hesitate to answer in this way: Everything. And that's the problem. If there are exposed wires, cover them up or otherwise secure them, or they will be readily chewed, causing damage to not only your electronics, but possibly your puppy! Do you have antique chairs around the kitchen table? Don't trust them with your puppy; put them in the attic for now. Be sure that any cleansers and other potentially toxic substances are locked away.
To decrease damage to cabinets, chair legs, or other things that may seem like ideal chewing objects for your pup, spray them with a substance called Bitter Apple. If your pup gets it in his mouth, the taste is extremely bitter — an immediate deterrent that usually keeps the pup away.
Be absolutely sure you keep the garbage out of your pup's reach — put it away under the sink, in the pantry, or in the basement. Don't leave anything out. No large, tall container. No covered can. Your puppy will find it. Put the garbage somewhere that your pup absolutely can't access it, or come home every day and wonder what condition your house and your dog are going to be in, because if he can get into it, he will.
While deciding which things may be hazardous to your pup, consider towels, rags, and other cloth items. You may notice you have a lot of these kinds of things in the kitchen — dish towels, paper towels, tissue boxes, aprons, oven mitts, etc. To a puppy, all are great chew items. If you don't want them destroyed (and your pup harmed by ingesting them), put them securely out of reach.
As for the bathroom, anything that smells nice — soaps, perfumes, shampoos, shaving cream — must be kept out of reach. Remember that even though you may try to keep the bathroom door closed and the puppy out, you will most likely forget once in a while, so it is better to be safe than sorry. You need to be extra careful with sponges and body scrubs because their chewy texture make them very fun for puppies of all ages and they can harbor residual chemicals and bacteria. The toilet seat should be kept down — a small puppy might be able to crawl in and be unable to get out. Rubber duckies and other bath toys may look like doggy toys, but they won't withstand a puppy's chewing and can pose a choking hazard.
Toys, Glorious Toys
When you leave your pup alone while you go out, provide things that are appropriate for him to chew on. Teething puppies don't chew to be spiteful or purposely damage your possessions; they chew because they need to. Like teething babies, their chops ache while their teeth and jaws are growing. And being creatures who explore with their mouths, they can't help but get their teeth involved.
Examples of appropriate chew toys are durable rubber chews (often with cavities into which you can put cookies or peanut butter to make them extra yummy), a chew hoof, a sterilized bone, etc. Make sure there a few of these things to distract your puppy from the things you don't want him chewing on. Rotate the toys, too, because your pup can become bored with the same toy day in and day out.
There is nothing more exciting or interesting to a young puppy than a houseplant. It's natural. It's leafy. There's dirt! If you have any houseplants on the floor, get rid of them now! They are an accident waiting to happen. Some houseplants are also toxic for dogs. For a list of potentially poisonous items you should keep out of reach of your dog, see Chapter 18.
