Bringing home a new puppy is a joy… but also a job. And one major part of this job will be keeping your house or apartment from being damaged by your adorable little destroyer. I’m here to help you make it through the tough parts of this time with this guide, so you can just concentrate on the cuteness.

Have a Designated Area for Your Puppy to Play In - Free from Expensive Furniture

Make sure you have a specific area in your house or apartment where your new puppy can play, but not escape or enter other areas. Use play pens or baby gates to help “cordon off” areas where you don’t want your little guy or gal to go exploring. Keep expensive furniture, cords or anything else you don’t want chewed on out of this designated play area. This should be done before you bring your puppy home from Forever Love Puppies.

Have Toys for Your Pup to Play With, and Take Him or Her on Walks

Young puppies sleep a large part of the day, but when not sleeping, they will want to play and will have some energy to burn. Play fetch and tug-of-war with them, take them on walks, and provide them with toys to play with (and chew on) so that they pay attention to these, rather than edges of carpets or that new bookcase. Help them burn off that extra energy, so it’s not replaced by mischief!

Housetrain your Puppy Soon as Possible

One of the biggest causes of messes will be your puppy’s natural necessities (at first). Take your young puppy out often and regularly, and take them to the grass. Get them used to going in the same area. Dogs, by nature, seem to want to go on the grass. They are also creatures of habit, so bringing them outside regularly and to the same spot will help preserve your tiles or hardwood floors.

Crate training your puppy is one proven method of getting your puppy to hold their needs until you take them to their spot. In general, dogs do not want to be around their own mess, so this trains them to hold it until they go to their favorite outdoor spot.

Get some Grannick’s Bitter Apple Spray

As your pup gets bigger and you allow them more freedom, you may come to discover that while they are much better behaved now, they still resort to the occasional chewing of an internet cable or corner of a table.

Frustrating to say the least.

While you don’t want to pull out the playpen again, having come so far, there’s another solution. Grannick’s Bitter Apple Spray is a natural, scentless, colorless solution you can spray on objects around the house that you do not want your dog biting. Most dogs will taste the sour, repulsive flavor and automatically leave the object alone. While you may need to reapply a few times at first, before long they will know not to put their mouth on the object, whether it’s sprayed or not.

This Too Shall Pass - But Don’t Rush It!

While they can be a handful, new puppies are incredibly cute. Make sure to enjoy every day as each stage in a dog’s life is unique. When they’re older, you’ll look back at pics when they were a puppy and wish you could go back… but at the same time, you’ll be so happy your furry companion is now well-trained and able to walk around the house or apartment without causing any problems!