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Paige Masters, Gainesville Wedding Photographer in Gainesville Florida
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As we all know the holidays are upon us, so I want to talk a little bit about easy methods to have a pet-safe holiday. When you bring a brand-new tree into the residence, particularly a real tree, there is no telling how your dog may behave. Whether or not your dog has a service dog certification, they can be confused and start thinking the glass ornaments are balls and gnawing on them and get cut, or topple the tree down on them. Far worse, they actually eat the tinsel, garland or bows on the presents below the tree and have to be raced to the animal healthcare facility for intestinal obstruction! This time of the year can be quite dangerous for our pets.
Let’s start by talking about your tree. Of course, you want your tree in a spot that is visible so anybody can appreciate it, nonetheless you will be best served to keep it away from high traffic areas.. Positioning the tree near high traffic area will increase the probabilities it gets bumped and may fall over.. Try placing it by a wall or corner that has an wall socket so no one trips over the wires.
Next is a tip you’ll appreciate even if you are not a pet owner, or have a real tree. Set a very large vinyl waste bag up where you will be placing the tree, put your tree on top of it, and cover it with the tree skirt. This is going to really make cleaning a piece of cake, and has added value in incorporating dimension to your skirt. When the holiday is over, all you want to do is remove the decorations, pull the bag up over the tree and pull the tree out to the garbage. This will get all the pine needles as they fall from the tree and prevent your pet from eating or ingesting them.
If your puppy is anything at all like mine, they really like to mess around and below the tree, which could bring about cuts.. If the tree begins swaying it may bump the ornaments off and cut them. This can be easily fixed by putting two hooks on the walls behind the tree to secure it with some string.. And most importantly, be particularly conscious of the place you are positioning any electrical cords, disguise them well enough, or position them out of reach of your pet.. We all know puppies tend to gnaw on anything in site and biting the cord can result in electrocution.
Try and switch your ornament hooks with a loop of thread. If the ornament with a hook on it should slide off the tree, the hook can get captured in your puppy’s mouth. Place plastic or wood ornaments on the lower branches. If you put food ornaments, such as popcorn garland, on your tree, your pet will believe that they have been an incredibly good boy/girl and Santa is rewarding them big time! They might forget everything regarding their service dog certification training or think they died and gone to heaven!
Don’t place presents under the tree until just before the holiday. Your pet has no idea that these presents are intended to wait until the holiday, and may figure out they need to investigate and find out what is in these bags and containers. Not only could the gifts be destroyed, but the paper they chew could be unhealthy as well. Ribbons that you have on the presents can also get stuck in their throats.
Brush up the pine needles on a daily basis. If your dog starts to throw-up, it would likely be as a consequence of the consumption of the needles. Also change the water every day for the live trees.
Supervising your dogs while they’re in the room with the tree would be the best thing to do. Supervising the family pets all the time can be unattainable at times, and even dogs with a service dog certification can still get extremely excitable when the holiday tree, decorations, and loved ones are around. You may want to spray bitter apple on the lower limbs of the tree to discourage household pets that are relentless.
HAPPY HOLIDAY TO YOU AND YOUR ANIMALS!!
If you would like to learn more about pets, service dog certification or service dog laws check out our blog: Service Dog Certification Tips!