For many homeowners, dogs are essentially a part of the family. Many people go out of their way to assure that living spaces are more dog-friendly, from the living room to the backyard deck. Tailoring your home to an animal can be quite different from designing for people, though. If window shading is your next home improvement project, how do you ensure that you’ll have dog-proof shading solutions that stand the test of time?
Why Do Dogs Wreck Window Treatments?
Even well-behaved dogs get worked up from time to time. When this happens, they can sometimes take their anxiety out on your furniture or belongings. Most commonly, dogs get wound up when seeing people or animals out through a window. Additionally, they can get stressed when away from their owners for too long. When this happens, their innate need to chew comes to the surface, prompting them to do things like pulling on cords and breaking slats.
Planning around your dog’s capacity to chew things is the key to implementing dog-proof shading. If your dog tends to make a beeline for cords, look into cordless designs. You should also look into complete window coverage, rather than slatted blinds. This will lessen the probability of your dog seeing someone or something outside the window that will aggravate it. Some blinds and shades also offer upgrades to tougher materials, designed to stand up to more wear and tear. While these materials might not be invincible, they’ll certainly hold up better than normal shading products.
So, if your dog insists on wreaking havoc on your blinds when you’re gone, it may be time to re-examine your shading strategy. Here are the big points to remember:
Rollers over cords: Not only does eliminating cords give your dog one less thing to chew, but you’ll also get the view obstruction you need to keep your dog from losing its mind with every passing squirrel.
Vertical, not horizontal: If you must use blinds, go with blinds that hang vertically. They part easily, giving your dog the opportunity to nudge in between without getting frustrated enough to start chewing. And again, no cord to speak of!
Aside from changing up your shading game, you can also try and change your dog’s anxious behaviors. Supply plenty of chew toys, and try to teach your dog that your departures and arrivals aren’t a big deal in order to lessen separation anxiety. In extreme cases, see if your local pet store has a sour or bitter spray that discourages dogs from chewing surfaces. And for a better look at dog-proof shading solutions, get in touch with Shading Texas! Contact us today, and we’ll get you started with a free estimate.
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