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Fences:

The most important preparation to make is to make sure you have a strong boundary to your garden to make sure your puppy can’t escape and end up getting lost or, worse, cause an accident on the road. A puppy who has never been able to escape is unlikely to try when he is older but puppies who have tried and succeeded are more likely to keep on trying and turn into career Houdinis. Dogs will attempt to go over, under or through any sort of barrier, so you must make sure that the fence is high enough (4 ft is usually enough but 6 ft is safer!), secure at the bottom so he can’t push under it and also has no holes or weak spots. A hedge is never sufficient to keep a determined dog in.

Gates:

While making sure your fences are puppy proof, don't forget to check the gates as well. There's not much point in having strong fences if the gates are permanently left open! Neither is there any point in having a 6 ft fence if you only have a 2 ft gate! Check that all gates have secure fastenings so that they won't blow open on the first puff of wind and that there is not enough of a gap under the gate for an adventurous puppy to squeeze under. A "beware of the dog" sign is not a good idea, but an "I live here - please shut the gate" sign might be.

 

Plants:

Numerous plants are poisonous to dogs. Buhunds will attempt to eat most of them – usually without ill effect, but when your puppy is very young try to discourage him from sampling everything in the garden, particularly bulbs which they seem to adore.



Slug Pellets:

These are the biggest danger to dogs. Please ban them from your garden. What are a few chewed leaves compared to a dead puppy? It is only a few years since a much-loved young puppy died a horrible death from eating slug pellets.

Greenhouses

These seem to hold a fascination to puppies. Try to keep the door shut – puppies seem to be able to get in with no problem and then to only be able to get out by running straight through a pane of glass!

Compost heaps

Yummy! I once had a litter of puppies that made themselves very ill by drinking the “runoff” from a compost heap. Products used to accelerate decomposition can also make dogs very ill, so try to make your heap inaccessible to your puppy.

Ponds:

If you have a pond. it is inevitable that your puppy will fall in it. Probably more than once. Just like young children, puppies should not be left unattended near ponds. Usually, they can manage to get themselves out but, if your pond has steep or overhanging sides, he might not.