Puppy Proofing

[charlie2011]

Hello,

Trying to puppy proof my house , we are trying to keep him from going outside til he is fully vaxed (only 10weeks) but need to open the doors for fresh air, have tried a kids play pen but he fits easily through the bars, any ideas? Materials to baracade off certain areas?

[harley]

Hi!

I have an extendable baby gate that doesn't have bars, it is clear perspex. It is moveable and you just change the width according to the doorway.

I chose this one to stop baby's arms going through it so haven't tested it on a puppy!

[Red Fox]

Get a puppy pen and/or crate. The bars are different and the pup wont be able to fit through them.

Pens http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_tr...-All-Categories

Crates http://home.shop.ebay.com.au/Pet-Supplies-...d=p3286.c0.m282

There is no reason to keep your pup inside until he's fully vaccinated. Get him out and socialise him, now is the best time! (Just be sensible in how you do it).

eta - do you mean that you are not even allowing your pup outside in your own yard

Edited April 15, 2011 by SecretKei

[Sayreovi]

Hello,

Trying to puppy proof my house , we are trying to keep him from going outside til he is fully vaxed (only 10weeks) but need to open the doors for fresh air, have tried a kids play pen but he fits easily through the bars, any ideas? Materials to baracade off certain areas?

He can go out into your backyard.

With my current puppy I was taking her everywhere I went before she was fully vaccinated, just do not to allow them to play with strange dogs or allow him to walk on public ground. Unfortunately the crucial time for socialising is also the time when they are most at risk, it's all about socialising safely.

Maybe try the Bunnings compost bins to section of parts of the house? If you do a search they will come up and someone will have posted a picture.

[Erny]

Use common sense and good reasoning, but don't look to keep your young pup in a bubble. Did you know that your pup's learning time up until the age of 16 weeks (and 'learning' means getting to know about the things in our world) has such a huge impact that it actually changes the shape of your pup's brain? When I brought my boy home at 8wo I was flat out busy trying to get in all and as much socialisation/habituation to our worldly things as I possibly could, for the entire 8 weeks. You need to begin gently and easily and gradually and carefully building up the intensity (eg. light traffic from a distance through and up to heavy traffic more close up). So it's not necessarily just about introducing things once and that's it.

I tended to keep my boy in and away (but he did still have the yard to explore in) for 7-10 days after each puppy vacc. This was because after each vaccination his immune system would have been taxed by the vaccine and I wanted to not stress it unnecessarily. I even backed off training, sticking to really basic things that he found easy to perform. After that, it was out there and at'em again.

I did avoid areas of high density and unknown dog traffic though (eg public parks).

Don't forget that you walk in the outside world on the soles of your shoes; you car rolls in the outside world on the treads of its tires. We can use common sense and good reasoning, but it is counter productive and runs a high risk of psychological damage if we go to the extreme.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Erny

[Kelpie-i]

Agree with Erny

The puppy's brain grows at 80% capacity in the first 16 weeks. This means the more the puppy experiences, sees, does and learns during this time, the more cell connections are made in the brain...the bigger the brain mass and the more the puppy learns to learn. So don't keep your puppy in an incubator, aka 'inside', until all vaccinations as this will be doing your puppy no favours both psychologically and developmentally.

My kelpie was 'herding' sheep at 6 weeks...

Edited April 16, 2011 by Kelpie-i

[Pretty Miss Emma]

When I got Kenzie she had met over 100 adults and children, and 25 dogs in the first 4 weeks I had her. Just make sure you know that the dogs are vaccinated and healthy and be sensible about where you let pup on the ground. There's so much debate over the vaccination vs socialisation issue, but the majority of opinions I've seen/heard (including from many many vets) is that if you are sensible you can do really good socialisation before the pup is fully vaccinated.

But anyway on to the real reason I was replying... a barrier a pup can't get through. My parents used wooden trellis in their house (open plan and pup was allowed on tiled areas, wooden trellis was solid and she couldn't get through, also was short enough to take a big step over for the adult humans - obviously a smallish pup!). I used the metal wire compost bin panels that you can get at Bunnings ($25 I think for 4 panels) - I actually bought 2 packs and made myself a large crate for my pup and dog to be able to use. If you don't find any pics let me know and I'll get it out and take a photo for you!