We recently adopted a puppy. Until he can handle his bladder better, we’ve found it helpful to limit how much the puppy can roam the house. There are a lot of useful doggie baby gate solutions on the market to help limit pets’ access to areas of the house and sometimes it is a good idea to buy one. We opted to purchase one doggie baby gate and install it on my office door, so I can keep my puppy in my office and limit his range of activities while I am focused on work. But, do we need two more baby gates for potty training in other areas of the house?
Since potty training is a temporary thing, we did not wish to buy two more baby gates, only to have them end up on the donation pile in a few months. Instead, we built temporary doggie baby gates out of items we already had around the house.
For this reuse project we found large cardboard boxes from pet supply deliveries to be helpful. We used to have flat wooden panels the previous owner left in the house that would have also been a good solution; however we sent those off to my parents’ house where my crafty woodworker dad will turn them into something fabulous. To keep the cardboard standing up and easy for us to move in and out of the areas, we put the cardboard between the wall on either side of the doorway and pinned the other side with cat litter boxes.
A perfect solution? No. Our puppy found the weak point within minutes and we had to adjust the cat litter box position, as well as tell puppy, “no.” He has since respected the boundaries and is progressing very well in his potty training.
The biggest issue with the reuse of cardboard to make a temporary doggie baby gate is that it prevents our older pets and the puppy from being able to see each other and acclimate to each other easier.
Even with these draw backs, soon we’ll be able to toss the cardboard boxes on the recycle pile, saving us from buying items we only temporarily needed.
What crafty solutions have you come up with to avoid buying something that was a temporary solution or perhaps even a permanent solution?