Living with a model railroad and a dog or cat isn’t always easy. The animals don’t know the difference between your toys and theirs, and can wreak havoc on scenery, models, or your workbench. Animals love to chew on natural materials and unfortunately, many scenery products are made of those.
But peaceful coexistence is possible if you take the right measures. Here are some tips to help maintain harmony between you and your pets in your train room.
Lose the loose stuff
An old joke says that if the Earth really was flat, the cats would have knocked everything off the edge already. Make sure you’re not giving your cats easy access to loose objects like scale automobiles, figures, fire hydrants, etc., on or below the layout. Glue them down to the layout or store them in containers underneath. For dogs, stash away anything that’s “chewable” like stripwood, cork roadbed, and unused Super Trees.
Add their own toys
It may seem counterintuitive, but adding some of your cats’ or dogs’ familiar toys to your train room may actually distract them and keep them from playing with your stuff.
Seek and hide
If you’re a cat, there’s no place like a comfy hiding place under the layout. While they may love napping there, too many hiding places may fuel their curiosity and eventually you’ll find them snoozing in your farm fields or tunnels. Store items in boxes under the layout and stack them tightly together. Close off tunnel portals when you’re not running trains. Make “behind the backdrop” areas inaccessible.
Spray the scents
It goes without saying that you should clean up any of the Three P’s (pee, poop, and puke) that the animals leave on your train room floor. But take that extra step and avoid return visits by treating the area with a scent remover like Bodhi Not Here! Spray, OdoBan, or Nature’s Miracle No More Marking. If your train room has removable carpet tiles, pull up the soiled ones and toss them in the washing machine. Carpet tiles are inexpensive, look good, and are easy on your feet, too!
Don’t chew the choo choo
If your animals have taken to gnawing on layout items like trees or lichen, spray those items with bad tasting deterrents like NaturVet Bitter YUCK! or Bodhi Bitter Apple No Chew Spray.
Keep it closed or covered
As a last resort, you can gently cover your layout and workbench with inexpensive plastic drop cloths available at hardware stores. Animals shy away from walking on flexible materials that aren’t solid or which can shift beneath their feet. The final solution may be to keep the door to your layout room closed, or improvise a door. I had no door to the train room in our last house but I was able to put a hinged 4-foot-square piece of ¼” plywood in the stairway landing that kept the room critter-free.
There’s no substitute for positive reinforcement when it comes to training animals, but when it comes to model railroads a few extra steps may be necessary to keep you – and your pets – happily coexisting.
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