Care Guides

He had chewed through the lamp cable by the time I noticed, and the only reason he was alive was that the breaker had tripped. The end of the cord was wet with saliva and the socket was blackened, and the dog was sitting there oblivious, tail wagging, having apparently decided the power lead was a particularly satisfying chew toy. I unplugged everything in the room with my foot and called the vet, and he was fine, but the distance between fine and dead had been about two millimetres of insulation.

Puppies and adolescent dogs explore with their mouths the way human babies do with their hands, and a dangling cable, a dangling lead, a dangling anything is an invitation. The danger is not only electrocution, though that is the worst. Chewed cords start fires, and a dog who gets a shock once may go on to fear the room or, worse, learn nothing and try again. Pet-proofing is the boring word for the work that keeps these moments from happening at all.

Start at floor level and see the house as a toddler would. Loose cables go behind furniture or into conduit you can screw to the skirting; the tidy cable covers sold for offices work perfectly and cost little. Unplug anything not in use, because a lead with no device on the end is still a lead with a live socket in the middle if it is plugged in. Chargers, fairy lights, the laptop lead trailing off the sofa, all of it, up and away.

Then the swallowed hazards. Grape stems, onion skins, the roast left on a low counter, the bin that a clever dog can open, the child's toy with button batteries, the sock dropped on the floor, the medication packet on a bedside table. Dogs do not distinguish food from not-food by intent; they distinguish by smell and opportunity. A bin with a foot pedal and a weight on the lid, a closed bathroom door, a high shelf for medicines, these are the unglamorous structures of a safe home.

The less obvious ones

Windows without secure screens are a fall risk for cats and a lean-out risk for dogs, especially on upper floors, and a screen that pops out under a paw is not a screen. Balconies need proper barriers, not the gaps a small pet can slip through. Cleaning products under the sink should move to a locked cupboard; a dog who licks a mopped floor where bleach was used can be seriously harmed. Even some "natural" cleaners are toxic to pets, so read the label and rinse the floor after.

Plants are a quiet trap. Lilies, which I will never keep where a cat lives, plus ivy, philodendron, pothos, and a long list of common houseplants, are toxic in varying degrees, some life-threatening. The ASPCA maintains the list; I keep it bookmarked and check anything new before it enters the house. A chewed leaf at two in the morning is a terrible time to be searching the internet.

Crates and baby gates buy you the moments you cannot supervise. A dog who cannot be watched is safer in a crate with safe toys than loose in a house full of temptations, and a cat-friendly room with no hazards is better than a forbidden one. Rotate, don't just restrict; a bored confined pet finds trouble too.

The garden deserves the same suspicion as the house. Slug pellets and rat bait are lethal to dogs and cats and should never be used where a pet roams; there are pet-safe alternatives, but the safest approach is none at all and physical control of the pests instead. Compost heaps ferment and can contain moulds toxic to dogs who dig in them. Ponds and pools need fencing or covers until a pet is reliably kept away, and even a small water butt with a lid is safer than an open one. Sharp garden tools left on the ground are an obvious but common hazard, as are strings of outdoor lights at nose height.

Foods are the everyday trap people underestimate. Chocolate, grapes and raisins, onions and garlic, xylitol in sugar-free treats and some peanut butters, cooked bones that splinter, and alcohol are all dangers, and the dose that harms is often smaller than owners think. A list on the fridge, and a rule that the dog does not get "just a bit" of unknown human food, removes most of the risk. Make the check a habit: once a month, walk each room and the garden as if a puppy had just arrived, and fix what you find. Hazards accumulate quietly, a cable reappears, a plant is gifted, a gate is left unlatched, and the monthly sweep is what catches them before they catch the dog.

The lamp cord taught me to look down. I now walk each room once a month and ask what a puppy or a curious cat would eat, climb, or pull, and I fix it before anyone gets the chance. It takes ten minutes and it is the cheapest insurance I have ever bought.