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Home, Sweet New Home

Moving? Don’t forget about making adjustments to help your pet adjust to his or her new surroundings

By Sharon L. Peters
CTW Features

There’s almost no end to the trouble a dog can find and get into.

So if you’re bringing a new dog into your home (or moving with the dog you already have to a new location), you must triple-check the full environment: Identify every possible escape hatch and devise ways to keep your curious canine confined and safe from accidental injury, ingestions or other possibly perilous encounters.

Times of transition are rough on dogs, experts say, and the first few days or weeks in a new place can be especially high-risk.

It’s not just puppies or new-to-the-family animals that must be monitored. The most secure, placid dog, even those who seem to lack the investigative or escape gene, may, in unfamiliar surroundings, engage in new-place explorations that can lead to unexpected trouble.

It’s important to examine every inch of the outside area the dog will spend time in, as well as the interior areas the dog can access, experts say.

“Most people don’t consider all the hundreds of dangers,” says celebrity dog trainer Tamar Geller, author of the best-selling book “The Loved Dog: The Playful, Nonaggressive Way to Teach Your Dog Good Behavior.” Geller, who calls herself a “life coach for dogs and their people,” rejects training techniques using force and intimidation, promoting instead positive training methods.

She has worked with many clients to make their properties pet-safe and here are her recommendations for dealing with the yard:

• Know that a 4- or 5-foot fence won’t keep in most dogs -- even small ones. “They’ll shock you with their ability to get over a pretty high fence.” she says. Chain link is especially risky because highly motivated dogs can easily climb up the links. Six- or eight-foot fences are safer for most, but not all dogs.

• Determined or savvy dogs can open gate latches. Cautious owners often attach locks, use bungee cords to keep them shut or chain the gate in position in addition to using the latch.

• Check the fence line for small openings or fragile areas. Dogs have radar for such things. And stacking up a bunch of things in front of the hole or doing make-shift repairs won’t keep many dogs in.

• Digging under fences is great sport for many dogs. They’re especially inclined to do so if there are low spots along the fence line.

• There may be safety hazards to remove: loose boards, exposed nails, pesticides that can be accessed (or pesticides applied on yards and bushes after you move in).

And Geller, like many experts, believes it is unwise and unsafe to leave a dog unmonitored in the yard. Despite your best efforts some will escape. You might believe that a recently adopted dog would be grateful and hang close, but, in fact, that dog isn’t processing the facts in exactly that way. Moreover, outside the fence, there may be things of high interest, including squirrels, other dogs, cats taunting them or even people speaking kindly. Also, she says, dog-knapping isn’t unheard of. In some cases, a person sees a dog of value and will put it on the auction circuit, where, sometimes, they’re purchased for laboratory research purposes.

Finally, she says, you shouldn’t force a dog to spend most of its time alone in the yard. “That’s a recipe for disaster,” she says. Many dogs will take extreme measures to get away, in order to escape “the isolation of their lives.” Dogs that don’t or can’t escape often begin “chewing, digging and barking” to alleviate the boredom, she says. And because they’re poorly socialized, they often behave inappropriately -- jumping on people for example -- when someone finally comes out to play with them.

Pet proofing inside the house is equally important.

“I believe a dog that is new to the family should not have the full run of the house the first few weeks. He should be confined to an area while you figure him out and he figures this environment out,” Geller says.

Things to examine:

• Cleaning supplies should be stored, never left out. And you should clean floors with pet friendly products. “Dogs will walk across a damp floor and then lick their paws,” Geller says.

• Leave nothing on the counter tops that the dog shouldn’t consume or knock over. Dogs are very creative about getting to high places if there’s something appealing there.

• Get down on your hands and knees and see things from a dog’s point of view. If there are cords that might be enticing, things that can be knocked over or chewed, figure out ways to protect the animal from them. Geller is a big fan of duct tape. Run it -- sticky side out -- along anything the dog might chew on, including table legs or baseboards until he’s past that phase.

• Make sure there are no cat toys or other small items a dog can choke on. “And learn the Heimlich maneuver for animals just in case the dog swallows something he shouldn’t,” she says.

• Look for anything your dog can cut himself on, such as exposed nails.

And it’s vitally important to leave plenty of playthings to occupy and stimulate the dog while you’re gone, Geller says. She hates toys with button eyes or other pieces that the dog can choke on; she likes raw, frozen marrowbones from the health food store, or a Busy Buddy filled with food or treats, either of which will keep a dog occupied for at least an hour.

What’s your question? Sharon Peters would like to hear about what’s on your mind when it comes to caring for, training and loving your pet. Email Sharon@Pets2008.com.

Copyright © CTW Features

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