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Your dogs’ feeding bowls should be among the list of things needed to be baby-proofed in your house. As strange as it sounds, your baby is exposed to certain dangers of the dog bowls. You have to keep them away from the bowls every time. The truth is you can’t monitor your baby’s movements every time. In this article, we will be sharing eight reliable tricks to help you safeguard your baby against the harm of your dogs’ food and water bowls.
Dangers of Your Dog’s Feeding Bowls– Why You Need to Baby-proof Them
Before we jump straight at the baby-proofing tricks, you have to understand why you need baby-proof in the first place. Dogs feeding bowls normally stay on the floor where they could reach them. Even babies spend most of their time on the ground, and reaching for these bowls is something they’ll do easily.
Whether the bowl contains little or large chunks of dog food, it’s quite harmful. Even if empty, your toddler is still at risk. Babies have the urge to try out things, especially in their mouths. Smaller pieces of dog foods (mostly leftovers) could cause stomach upsets for babies when eaten. Bigger ones could be more dangerous as it puts your child at serious risk of choking.
The empty bowls can contain germs, mostly bacteria, that are transmitted from your dog’s saliva as they eat. Once it gets from hand to mouth, a baby can have serious health issues.
Drowning is the most dreadful incident that arises with water bowls. Yes! Two inches of water left in a dog bowl can drown babies playing in them. There are lots of cases of baby drowning in dog bowls. All these dangers and more arises from littered dog bowls, and that’s why you need to baby-proof them. Throughout this article are tricks you could apply to assure your baby’s safety around your home.
Train Your Child to Keep Off
Training is something you shouldn’t be new to you. You can train your baby to stay out of the dogs’ bowls in your house. Always carry off the floor as they steadily head for the bowls and direct them to some other playful area. They have to develop that feeling that you don’t like them to play with the dogs’ bowls. This might require you to do it several times before babies will fully understand. However, the issue continues; you can try out other tricks below.
Buy Safer Dog Bowls
Undoubtedly, you can’t find dog bowls specifically built for your baby’s safety. However, a separate bowl can have certain features that make them safer to use. You can get water bowls that are built with a narrow opening to prevent spilling or risk of drowning.
Use Elevated Dog Feeders
You can use this trick only for big dogs that can stretch and reach their feeding bowls. Your toddler won’t stand a chance. This will be helpful for a long time. However, this will cease to be beneficial when your little one grows older and can stretch for the feeding bowls themselves. When this happens, a new trick should then be employed.
Some special food bowls scans tags worn on your dog’s collar and then allow them to feed. Automatically, the lid will shut immediately your dog finishes, and your little one won’t be able to access it.
Block Your Baby’s Access to the Bowl Area
If they can’t reach for the bowls in the first place, they would be protected from them. Map out a special area, possibly a room, for your dogs’ feeding purposes. It should have a door that’ll always be shut once your dog is done feeding. This way, your baby can remain safe.
The only disadvantage to this is that you need to always open and close the door yourself. An alternative to this is to use barriers or baby gates for large and small dogs, respectively.
Feed Your Dog Yourself Every Day
Every time you have to feed your dog, do it yourself. Take away the bowls once you’re done feeding them. It would be tough remembering to feed your dogs if you’re a busy parent every time, but alarms can help you. Whenever the alarm sounds, you know it’s time to feed your furry friends. If your dog eats vegan foods, here is a detailed guide on that.
Set Specific Dog Feeding Time
Whatever change you have to create is all for your baby’s safety. Try to give your dogs their meal when your little one is drawn away. You can do this at the time babies are enjoying their meal on their high chair. This time is just right. In all you do, babies shouldn’t notice you feeding your dogs; else they pick an interest.
Divert Your Baby’s Attention
Maintaining a baby’s focus on one thing is quite something easy to do. This is a trick tug can apply to this situation. Whenever you see your little ones curious and interested in playing with your dogs feeding bowls, divert their attention to something else they love. Toys would do the trick! Make them play with their favorite toys instead. In the end, their interest in the feeding bowls would be long gone.
Attend to Dog Feeding Bowls After Use
After feeding your dogs, just like you do the dishes, try to tidy up your dogs’ bowls. Always wash them and keep them at safe corners where your baby can’t reach for them. Moreover, washing keeps the bowls safer from germs, especially when you forget the bowls littered on the ground after washing them. Once it is clean but unguarded from babies the, risk of germs or bacteria infection is reduced.
Conclusion
Babies are not safe with dogs’ feeding bowls all around the house. Your child’s safety is your responsibility, and they have to be safe from the risks associated with dog bowls. However, we hoped with this article; you can now protect your little one from the hazards of dog bowls.