Pet Tricks for Keeping a Happy Home

Pets are great, but for these furry family members, it can be challenging on a daily basis. With doggie footprints on bedding covers, hair and fur everywhere, and kibble. The struggle to keep a pet and a clean home is real.

Pets are fun to have around and are good for helping children learn how to care for another being. But, they’re also a lot of work. To help pets become more of a member of your family, try these fun and creative pet tricks:

Potty train

You might be asking yourself how to start potty training your dog. There are different methods of potty training your dog. Some dogs are easy to train while others take more time and patience.

Put a jingle bell by the door. Ring it, and it teaches your dogs to ring the bell to go potty. If you ring it yourself each time you take them outside, they’ll learn to alert you of their need on their own.

Kitty smells

When it comes to pet care, many people don't put a lot of thought into their cat's litter box. They leave it the same way for weeks and months at a time, allowing their house to become overrun with cat litter smells. Many people also make their cats climb up and down stairs multiple times daily to use the litter box, which can be hard on your kitty's back and joints.

To cut down on cat litter smells, build a cat box for your cat. Make the box that so the kitty has to climb upstairs, then downstairs to go. The box traps smell, and your cat will have privacy too.

Laser light

You know you cannot train cats to behave, so quit trying. Instead, distract them. You’ve probably noticed that they are constantly moving in circles. This is because cats are hunting, and they need to be close to the ground in order to do so.

Laser shows are a great way to entertain your cat. Get out the laser light to distract your cat from doing something you don’t want them to do. They always seem to be curious about what's going on and they love the action. However, there are some things you need to consider before setting up a laser show for your cat.

Protect drapes

Cats love to play under and on drapes. They scratch at these drapes to open them up so that they can enter into a room or get some attention from their owners. Cats might also pull these curtains down because they want privacy from their owners when they want to sleep without being disturbed by them.

Instead of worrying, put weighted tension rods on the bottom. These will not harm your cat, but they will frighten it enough to make it stop wanting to play with them.

Feeding messes

For cat and dog food, attach a pour spout. This will help you avoid making a mess as you pour the food into pets' bowls. Pouring from a pour spout is more hygienic than dumping from a bag or canister. The pour spout can be used by pouring out small portions of food at a time. This helps prevent waste as well as save space in storage containers.

Shower caps

Pets ears can be a real pain to clean. When you bathe your pet, keep soap and water out of their ears by putting on a shower cap. Pets ears are really sensitive and it's important that you don't use harsh chemicals when cleaning them.

Scratch post

There are a few ways you can use to teach your cat not to scratch the carpet. Scratch posts should not be made of carpet. It should have a distinct feel from the carpet. You can make your cat smell bad by spraying it with water or vinegar, putting something on top of the filthy carpet, or covering it with an old towel.

Box play area

Does your cat like to jump on your desk while you’re working, knocking things over, and messing up your progress? Get a large enough shoe box, put toys in it, and set it on your desk. Now your cat will sit in there, while you work.

Scratch furniture trick

Want to train your cat not to scratch the furniture? Put sticky two-sided tape everywhere you want them to avoid. Cats won’t like the sticky feeling and will avoid it. After a while, you can forgo the tape.

Kill bad dog breath

To combat this, you can use a fresh and clean lint brush covered with doggie toothpaste. Let your dog lick it off to get rid of doggie breath. You can also slip some parsley into their food. Your dog will love the taste of the toothpaste, and you'll get to see their tongue in all its glory!

Penny shake

Fill a half-empty coke can halfway with pennies. Then tape everything up with duct tape. Shake the can and say NO when your pet does something you don't want them to do. The loud noise will draw their attention, and they will want to avoid it in the future.