Dog-proof window treatments?

April 29, 2015 6:28 PM

My 80-lb. German Shepherd destroyed an expensive custom blind today. Help me avoid throwing more money away.

When I came home from work today, I discovered that my dog must have been really intent on barking at something outside the living room window, because many of the slats on the blinds were broken. This is a large window at the front of the house, so I really need to replace it ASAP so we have privacy in the evenings.

What should I do? Cheap curtains so if I have to replace again it won't cost a bunch? Or is there a type of window covering that can be completely raised during the day so it's out of the dog zone?

posted by rabbitrabbit to Shopping (10 answers total)

What about just regular honeycomb cellular shades? They raise all the way up.
posted by charmedimsure at 6:35 PM on April 29, 2015

Cheap. Target. Ikea. We have a bonkers shepherd and two cats and have come to understand the deep conclusive meaning of 'this is why we can't have nice things'.

To quote a household aphorism, you can be an animals person or a furniture person. You can't be both.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:39 PM on April 29, 2015 [10 favorites]

I suppose that crating the dog when you aren't home or confining him to a room where he can't do too much damage is not an option? If this is a regular issue, crate training might be much cheaper and easier than the blinds.
posted by sciatrix at 7:07 PM on April 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

Consider vertical blinds. Each slat is cheap to replace (they get bitten occasionally) and the dogs can stick their heads through without breaking them. Or strangling to death.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:26 PM on April 29, 2015 [5 favorites]

Lace curtains,the dog can see out, doesn't need to move anything. Over curtains for the evening. Shopko is great for curtain panels and rods. Don't box up the dog, then he can't protect your property. Big barking dog, is the best burglary deterrent.
posted by Oyéah at 9:07 PM on April 29, 2015

Roller shades work well for our animals; when the shade is down, they can paw it away from the window and then sit between the shade and the window. Also, a roller shade can be rolled up completely, even higher than horizontal blinds or a Roman shade.
posted by neushoorn at 4:13 AM on April 30, 2015

I agree with crate training. Keep in mind that you do have neighbors that do not want to listen to your dog bark and tear your place up all day long. Until dog is trained, you can buy inexpensive bed sheets to hang up. Just stick a hem at one end to run the curtain rod through.

You could sew bells on the end and train your dog to stop when he hears the bells.
posted by myselfasme at 4:33 AM on April 30, 2015

In a similar situation, I used contact paper / stick-on drawer liners to cover the window itself to retrain the dog not to bark at all pedestrians. I've since removed it, but it did give me privacy for ~$1/roll and there are some neat patterns.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:26 AM on April 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

We've done very similar to bookdragoness, but with frosted privacy glass film, so light still comes in the house. Waxed paper taped to the glass works almost as well. We put it on the bottom half of our windows (double-hung style) as our dogs can't see out the top half. It keeps pedestrians from seeing into our house as well, so we can have the curtains open all day long with light streaming in (we love light).
posted by apennington at 7:02 AM on April 30, 2015

Is this a small or especially low window? Because every set of horizontal blinds I've ever had raise all the way up, to within a couple of inches of the top of the window.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:13 AM on April 30, 2015