Friday, June 19, 2015

Home Safety with Dogs, Featuring Puppy Treads

Part of my job as a Home Health RN Case Manager is assessing safety in the home for my clients. To see if any interventions can be performed to prevent falls, injuries, or accidents.  Without realizing it, most dog owners do the same in regards to their dogs.

  • We keep knives and other sharp objects away from them. 
  • We keep hazardous chemicals/cleaning supplies away from them, and generally do our best to keep our dogs safe.
  • Blocking off dangerous areas by closing doors or using gates.
  • Keeping floors dry to prevent slips and falls.

Dogs can be injured from slipping and falling.  Especially large dogs, dogs with joint problems, or dogs with very little body fat, like greyhounds.  Only one room in my house is carpeted, the rest is (60 year old) hardwoods and a little tile.  I have seen my dogs slip countless times, usually when they are excited and try to turn a corner.  Add a little moisture, from either snow or rain being tracked in, and the problem is worse.

Puppy Treads are made by the HandiRamp company, which has been creating accessibility products for humans for nearly 60 years.  They are an adhesive product designed to keep dogs (and humans!) from slipping on hardwood floors or stairs, and tile floors.

I am trying them out.



This area is problematic for dogs.  To the left, out of frame, is my front door.  This "corner" has caused many slips, slides, falls, and crashes into the wall from my dogs.  I thought this would be the perfect area for the Puppy Treads, to give my dogs some grip/traction as the made the turn.

The application process was easy.  I made sure the floor was clean and dry, removed the backing from the treads, which measure 6" x 24", and applied them to the floor.  I then used a rolling pin to smooth out any air bubbles.  The Puppy Treads are pretty translucent, and not very noticeable.


I can feel a difference when walking on them, both barefoot and in shoes or socks.  We have had a ton of rain here recently, and I have had no doggy slips in this area since I installed them.

Per the website, they are easy to remove, and do not leave behind a sticky residue.

I am pleased with them.  They are affordable, couldn't be easier to apply, and work much better than a rug in my situation for this particular location.

How do you keep your dogs safe at home?

This post was sponsored by PuppyTreads.  PuppyTreads is not responsible for the content of this post.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds interesting! Most of my house is tile (which I hate! So unforgiving), but my dogs don't really have problems with slipping.

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  2. Interesting!!! I have hardwood floors in my living room, and the dogs are always slipping around, so these would be great!
    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

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  3. The tile floors we do have are textured - so they get some traction that way. The majority of the house has wall-to-wall carpeting. Sure, it's harder to clean than wood, it can stain, etc., BUT the girls and those who came before them don't slip! That's actually the main reason I chose it. :)
    KZK

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  4. We only have one area in the house that's tiled (besides the bathroom) and it's the kitchen. I can't tell you how many times Laika's come running through and slipped on it; I was hoping she might "get it" one day and slow down but not yet. Might have to look into something like this.

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Thanks for the howls!!