Getting a dog can be a wonderful thing, but you also need to think about how this will affect your home. If you’re asking yourself, “will a dog ruin my house?”, then you’ve landed in the right place!
You can prevent a dog from ruining your house by placing an emphasis on training early on and adapting the home to better suit the dog. This includes removing things that they can easily reach to get in trouble, as well as creating a dog-safe space.
Want to know more information about how to prepare your home for a dog, and why a dog will not ruin your house? Then keep reading to find out what you should know, and how to combat any issues.
What You Should Know About Getting a Dog
Adopting a dog is a great thing, and with many of them available in shelters, you can save a life in the process of bringing them into your family. Dogs can also be fantastic for kids as they teach them responsibility through the process of caring for the dog.
With all of that goodness, there’s no debating the fact that dogs can be a lot of work! This isn’t to say that they’re not worth it, just that it shouldn’t be underestimated.
Dogs require training, grooming, exercise, and attention to stay healthy.
From training to aging, you want to be prepared to handle what you will inevitably deal with when being a dog owner. So, let’s cover all the things that you should know about adopting a dog.
Puppies Are More Work
When you are adopting a dog for the first time, you need to know that they will not behave right away. Many dogs need to be taught certain things to ensure their safety, and to keep your home and all the items in it safe.
Puppies like to chew on many things, which can often mean that you will end up with a few pairs of ruined shoes if you aren’t careful. So, know that puppies should be crate trained.
This means that you need to purchase a dog crate and teach your dog to stay inside of it each night. This will calm them down in a new environment, make them feel safe and at home, and it also keeps them contained so they don’t get into anything they shouldn’t during the night.
Puppies also need to be trained to go to the bathroom outside, which means that you should have a doggy door for them to use when needed, and training pads in the house when they are still learning. Once they get used to going to the bathroom outside, you won’t have to worry.
Mind The Food
Dog food is a great thing to feed your new dog, but there are times during training when they need treats. However, you want to make sure that you don’t keep dog treats, or any human snacks, in an area where they could sniff it out.
Don’t forget that dogs have a fantastic sense of smell!
If you leave a half-eaten candy bar in the small trash can in your room, they will sniff it out. Dogs will pretty much try to eat anything, so keeping food and trash at a height where they can’t get to it will help stop this.
You don’t have to go too crazy with this, but you do want areas that the dog can get into to be cleared of food that they could easily get into. This is especially true for large dogs like Great Danes that can reach almost anything!
Prepare Your Home
Many dogs will have certain behaviors that they need to be trained out of, but that takes time. If you want to ensure that your house doesn’t get dirtied by your new pup, then preparing for their arrival is key.
Your dog will run around at first until they are trained not to run until they are outside. This means that expensive décor that is sitting on top of flimsy tables should be moved.
This will ensure that your dog doesn’t get too excited or energetic and knock something over. If you want to keep certain items on display, you could also opt for securing them down by either gluing them to the table, using command strips to keep it in place or weighing it down.
However you choose to do it, you just want to ensure that your valuable items are safe from getting broken. Then, once your puppy becomes used to the home, they will be trained to keep away from your more precious items.
Plan For Pet Hair
Depending on the breed of dog that you adopt, you will have to deal with a varying amount of pet hair. From small dogs that shed very little to a large dog with lots of hair, you will want to get something to take care of this regularly.
Your new dog’s hair will fall off when they are walking, laying down, and sitting on the floor. This is something that you can’t do too much about, besides keeping their hair shorter, but you can keep it from getting all over your home.
Having a vacuum that works well for pet hair and dander will allow you to keep the floors and furniture fur-free until your dog is trained not to go onto up on the couch or other chairs.
Once they are trained, you will really only have to worry about the floor. A great option for those who don’t want to vacuum themselves is to purchase an automated vacuum.
Several options on the market will run on a schedule, even while you are at work, to clear your floors of pet hair. These vacuums run on a timer and can be scheduled for whatever time works best for you, so you don’t have to worry about vacuuming your carpets and floors on your own.
How Long Does it Take a Dog to Get Fully Trained?
Getting your dog trained as soon as possible will help make the transition to a dog owner easier on you. Obedience training will help your dog learn to trust and obey your commands, and will also keep their temperament more moderate.
But this doesn’t happen overnight! You need to understand that training takes time, and you don’t want to punish your dog for things that they don’t know.
So, how long does it take for them to be trained?
The typical timeframe is about 4 to 6 months, but this can vary on a lot of factors. How consistently you train, how effective your training is, and their intelligence are just a few of the factors that can impact this timeframe.
However, there are some things that you can do to help speed up the process and make it easier for your dog to learn your house rules and get them used to being with you!
Use Their Name
A dog can get confused when they are learning their name if you don’t use it often enough, or if you use nicknames. This is because they have to learn what you call them.
So, the best way to ensure that they will obey your commands is to use their name often.
This will teach them what to respond to and will make it easier for them to distinguish between you talking to someone else and you giving them a direct command.
Be Consistent With Training
Dogs learn from seeing, and if you are telling them not to get on the couch while others are doing it, this can be confusing for them.
So, decide where your dog will be able to go into the house, what furniture they will be allowed to sit on, and what punishments and rewards will be.
If you don’t stay consistent, then your dog will not understand what you are telling them and what they’re doing wrong. So, help them out and keep things consistent, at least until you are confident that they know and understand your rules.
Don’t Forget to Reward Them!
Puppies learn better when they are given positive reinforcement. So, whenever you give a command and they obey, offer them a treat.
Doing this will allow them to associate listening to you with positivity, which will help them obey you better in the future.
This will get them into the habit of doing what you want them to. Then, after a while, slowly take away the treats until they will obey you without needing the promise of one.
Conclusion
Dogs can be a bit of a handful when you first get them, but it is only for a short amount of time. With early training and a few preparations around the house, you can make sure that your things are safe and that your dog learns how to behave.
With a little work and a lot of love, a dog can be a great addition to your family. If you have kids of your own, then your dog and children will grow up together and have a lovely relationship.
So, take care of a few things before you choose to bring a dog home, and you won’t need to worry about your house getting ruined.
