Melanie Monteiro - Safe Dog Handbook: A Complete Guide to Protecting Your Pooch, Indoors and Out

Melanie Monteiro

For Taiga, dog of a lifetime

We know their favorite spots to scratch. We know what treats they like best. We even know which funny noises will make them cock their heads. We know so much about the dogs we love. But do we know how to keep them safe?

I used to think I knew all I needed to know about dog safety. Just lock up the rat poison, put away the chocolate, slap on a collar and ID tag, and call it a day. That was about it... until a yellow Lab puppy named Taiga came along and changed everything.

Taiga looked sweet, but there was no mistaking her wild and curious spirit. Just picking her up required the expertise of a greased-pig wrangler.

Outside her crate, I had to watch Taigas every move and even then she managed to eat a plastic razor, chip her tooth on a rock, and nip at a bee, leaving her with a head as big as a watermelon, and me in a total panic.

Then one day at five months old, she slipped out the door into the backyard. Minutes later, she was prancing around gleefully with an azalea branch in her mouth, whipping it around like a baton twirler. Watching this adorable display, I suddenly had a faint recollection of hearing... somewhere... that azaleas were bad for dogs.

Snatching the branch away, I called the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center hotline. I was told that eating azalea leaves could killyes, killmy puppy! A wave of nausea washed over me as I tried to answer their rapid-fire questions: How much has she eaten? What are her symptoms? How far away is the nearest vet? Do you have any activated charcoal in the house?

Eighteen hours and a small fortune in vet bills later, it was determined that thankfully, she had not swallowed any part of the azalea. She was going to be just fine. I, however, was not fine. How is it that a person can waltz into any nursery or garden center and, without any warning labels, buy something so toxic?

I was furious, embarrassed, and mortified. What other home hazards was I unaware of? I hit the books, gathering information and interviewing emergency-room vets. I learned that thousands of dogs are hurt or killed in their own homes each year by seemingly innocent everyday items from grapes to golf ballsdogs like Josephine, the sweet Lab puppy who died after chewing a sago palm in her backyard, and Dagney, the tiny mixed-breed who suffered kidney failure after eating a box of raisins.

Its not that this information isnt availableits just not always easy to find. There might be a dog-proofing chapter in a general book on dog care, or the occasional magazine article. Sometimes veterinary clinics post holiday-time warnings. If you look, you can find information on the Internet. But nearly always, the material is incomplete, poorly organized, or never around when you need it.

So here it is: The first always-around-when-you-need-it, complete safety book for dogs. Here, youll learn step-by-step how to create a hazard-safe home and garden. Youll learn how to take precautions when youre out and about in the world, how to prepare for an emergency, and what to do if things go wrong. Youll even learn a few tips on how to keep your home and garden looking their best in the midst of furniture chewers, door scratchers, carpet tinklers, and dirt diggers.

But before you dive in, I want to reassure you that for every dog that suffers an unfortunate accident, there are countless more who live long, happy lives without ever seeing the inside of an emergency room. I hope this book helps your dog to be one of them.

Melanie Monteiro