A new family pet comes into your home bringing love and happiness, but unfortunately, it often brings along a little home destruction as well. Flooring, furniture, upholstery and woodwork can bear the brunt of a cat or dog’s claws and teeth. Window treatments are especially vulnerable to the wrath of our furry friends: a wild puppy looking for anything to chew up, an astute retriever pawing at the squirrel out the window, or a cat scrambling for a spot on in the sunlit sill can wreak havoc on delicate window coverings.

Whether you have drapes, blinds, shutters or shades, consider these tips to help protect your window treatments from Buster the dog’s teething habits or Tigger the cat’s claw-full exercises.

Avoid Low-Hanging Fabrics
It’s no secret that cats love to climb things, and their climbing technique typically involves extending their claws and sinking them into any surface in their path. To a cat, there are few things more enticing in the home than those big heavy drapes hanging over your windows. One way to deter your kitty from climbing your drapes is to replace low-hanging fabrics with valances, which add texture and style while staying high out of reach. Valances cover the top portion of the window, so for extra privacy and shade, you can combine them with shutters or blinds.

Choose Durable Shutters and Blinds
Climbing cats and curious dogs often find their best entertainment at the windowsill—whether it’s to bask in the sunlight or keep watch against passersby or wild critters. While they’re there, obstructive blinds can become a casualty: cats can tear up the outer edges and tangle up accessible cords (which is also a safety hazard), while dogs can make a teething toy out of wooden blinds. The best way to protect your property is to install durable, cordless window treatments.

Plantation shutters are a stylish and durable window treatment that can withstand a decent amount of pet attention. Typically attaching to the window frame, shutters provide minimal access to the window so pets have a hard time pawing their way through them. Unless you have a particularly aggressive chewer, shutters’ thick construction can withstand more action from pets than most blinds.

However, certain blinds are more ideal than others in pet-friendly homes: vertical blinds on windows or patio doors that reach low to the ground allow dogs and cats to gain window access, without tangling, bending or snapping the slats, and they are a little more difficult for your dog to chew. Cordless blinds eliminate those enticing strings for pets to bat around, saving the life of your blinds and increasing the safety for your pets.

Implement Pet Deterrents
Of course, discouraging your pet from playing with your window treatments to begin with is helpful as well. Some pet trainers advise on specific methods to keep pets away from the window treatments: leave blinds halfway open so pets don’t have an obstructed view, or try attaching tin foil to the bottom of curtains to deter frisky claws.

While discouraging your pets with these training tools may help, they might not always work on a bored or anxious pet left unattended for hours. That’s why choosing the proper pet-proof curtains, drapes, blinds or shutters for your home may save you hassle, time and money.

Katie Laird is the Director of Social Marketing for Blinds.com and a frequent public speaker on Social Media Marketing, Social Customer Care and profitable company culture. An active blogger and early social technology adopter, you can find her online as ‘happykatie’ sharing home décor, yoga, parenting and vegetarian cooking tips. Click here to learn more about the plantation shutters and other pet-friendly window treatments like those described by Katie.