Maintaining a garden and taking care of pets is an achievement for homeowners since having both takes responsibility. As a responsible pet owner, it’s your job to keep your pets safe while running around in your yard. Better yet, keep your house pet-friendly. Before you let your beloved furry friends explore around your outdoors, make sure that’s everything out there is entirely safe for them.
Creating a Pet-Safe Backyard
Remove poisonous plants. These can harm your pets and lead them to organ failure or even death if not treated immediately. Whenever you’re gardening, always be aware of the tools you use and put them away in storage to avoid accidents with your pets. Instead, it is best to keep them inside when you’re gardening, especially if you’re using fertilizers and pesticides. If these are poisonous to us humans, they’re toxic to animals as well.
Get a grass alternative. This should be more dog-friendly. Grass alternatives are perfect for pet owners who don’t have enough time to maintain natural grass in their yard for their pets to enjoy. There are other non-living grass alternatives you can use instead. Aside from that, here are some ways to create a pet-safe yard for your animal friends.
Install fences around your yard. Doing so can keep your pets safe, especially if they always tend to escape. It’s doesn’t matter what kind of fence you install. As long as it makes your dog follow the barrier and keeps them from running away, it’s enough. If you’d consider adding modernized and aesthetic fences, horizontal composite fencing panels are just right. They’re sustainable and affordable as well, so you can’t go wrong.
Water is essential. Be sure that it’s safe for your pets to drink water from the tap, or they can catch stomach problems and other sicknesses. If you can, add a water feature where your dog can be independent to get water on their own. You should also make sure to keep the water clean.
If you have a compost pile, make sure that it’s entirely out of reach from your pets. Even if you’re using organic compost, rotten food scraps can still make your pets sick.
Adding More Pet-friendly Features
Once you’ve made the outdoors of your home safe enough for your precious pets, it’s time to obtain some features they can surely enjoy.
Create shelter for them. If there’s still enough space for a doghouse, you can build one so that they’d have a place to stay in for cover, either from the sun’s heat or the rain. If not, you can add roofing, which provides not only your pets enough shade, but it’s also already a multi-purpose feature wherein you can have an outdoor party or create an outdoor living room for yourselves and your guests.
Create patrol paths for your pets. Doing so can guide them until where the barrier is. This can train them to keep inside the perimeter of your property and improve their behavior patterns. If you’re concerned for them about being too dirty when playing around, you can add a paw-washing station in their play area or near your door. This way, they won’t bring any mud or dirt inside the house.
If you can still afford it, add more fun features, such as obstacles and courses for the pets to play on. Not only is it fun for them, but it can help their behavior and performance development as well.
Create a small window. This can be in a fence or a gate for curious and friendly dogs to watch the outside. Although, if they’re prone to barking at everything from the outside, this might not be best for them. For introverted dogs who like it more to be in their own little world, create their own designated area or sitting spot where they can do their thing comfortably.
Have a sandbox installed in your yard. Your dogs can use this to do their digging. This prevents them from digging holes in your garden and makes it look like it’s improperly taken care of. For an affordable sandbox, scoop up a large hole and use a child mini swimming pool to set down into the hole. Fill it with as much sand as it can handle, and place some of your dog’s favorite toys and let them do their thing.
Pet lovers who are also homeowners dream of building an enjoyable place for their lovely pets. These features can be a start, and you can add more things creatively, depending on your and your dog’s personality. On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be so extravagant and luxurious if you’re willing to spend much. Cats and dogs are just simple beings, after all.