Pooches and Porches: Keeping Your Dog Safe in the Garden
In Australia alone, 2 in every 5 households own a dog, keeping them at the number one for favourite household pet. But how much do we really know about keeping our dogs safe in such an unforgiving climate? We might be aware of how to keep our dogs safe outside of the house with more and more products coming out each month to protect paws from hot pavements and water bottles designed specifically for dogs, but it is easy to assume they are safe in our homes and not take the necessary precautions.
What exactly is harmful?
We all know about certain things that we really should never give to our dogs, such as chocolate, but the list of things dangerous to our pets is much more extensive than we might first assume. It goes even beyond food to things that they might ingest without our knowledge. Formaldehyde, for example, is incredibly toxic to dogs and is found in most new household furnishings, so it is best to stop them from chewing on the new lawn furniture set for reasons other than aesthetics.
Here’s a list of things our dogs shouldn’t eat:
● Household cleaners
● Chocolate
● Household garbage
● Antifreeze
● Formaldehyde
● Almonds and academia nuts
● Bread (except in tiny amounts)
● Cashews (again in small amounts)
● Cheese (as above)
● Cinnamon
● Garlic and onions
● Ice cream
● Slugs
What can I do?
Thankfully, there are a few easy solutions as to what we can do to help keep our pups protected. In order to combat heat stroke, for example, you could keep a hose in your garden. You can either lightly hose down your dog in order to cool them down gradually or dampen a towel to wrap around your dog. Keeping the hose protected, whether you use a simple cover or a more elaborate metal box, can also help to stop your dog being tempted to chew on the hose, which could include some chemicals harmful to them. Also keeping chemicals such as weed killers elevated on shelves in your shed (or wherever you store them) can prevent dogs and children mistaking them for toys and accidentally ingesting some of the solutions.
Are our homes dog safe?
On the whole, yes, our homes and gardens are safe for our family pets as we are there to supervise. However, it is always worth taking extra precautions to ensure that no harm comes to our best friends. If you ever have doubts about whether or not certain products are harmful to your pets, it is worth checking with your vet to be sure that it won’t cause any accidents in the future.