Good Puppies Get Freedom!

I have discovered that our house has a second floor! It's amazing and it has been there all along. Jenn and Eric have been renovating the house since I've been here and the upstairs has been off limits to puppies. This is where their office is and there were lots of electrical cords and wires that had to be configured so they are safe from puppy mouths. She put all the plants behind a barrier so they are safe for now too. I like to dig in the pots! What fun! I'm very happy to be able to have more freedom. Jenn says that I've been such a good puppy that I get the reward of more access to the house. She says as long as I'm a good pup, I can get more privileges and more freedom.

You can help your puppy to learn about respecting all rooms of the house by making sure that all rooms that your puppy has access to are "puppy proofed". In other words, things in their place and anything enticing to put in a puppy mouth is up, up and away. As your puppy matures, you can give them more and more freedom when they demonstrate that they have earned it. In other words, not going potty in the house, just chewing my own toys and not getting into things that don't belong to puppies. Make it easy for us and put your stuff off our level.

It can also be helpful to feed your puppy meals in each new room, so they learn that all rooms of the house are "clean" and not for doing #1 or #2. Puppies will not usually use the bathroom where they eat or sleep so doing mealtimes in other parts of the house can be educational.