Holiday Decor and Dogs

Do you decorate your house around your dog? For example, if you do NOT decorate the lower branches of your Christmas tree, in case one of your dogs chews an ornament? Since my dogs, I now have small Christmas trees that I put up on a table. That way, my dogs can't reach the lower branches of the Christmas tree. It is for their benefit (as well as the ornaments' benefit) as I don't want my dogs chewing something that is not safe for them.

It is quite hard to make your indoor Christmas tree unreachable for the dog. If the dog really wants to take a bite at something on the Christmas tree, he can always jump.

A better solution is to spray your Christmas tree with Grannick's Bitter Apple Spray. It is harmless, but it will keep the dog away from whatever you spray it on. Chew Stop is another product of the same use.

I have two dachshunds, so they are very short and can't reach nor jump high enough to reach my Christmas tree, set back on my side table. Don't know what I would do if I had larger dogs. But I will look into the bitter spray product. It sounds like a safe solution. Perhaps, then, I could put more Christmas decor up in my house. Thanks.

(12-12-2012 03:31 AM)Molly Wrote:  Do you decorate your house around your dog? For example, if you do NOT decorate the lower branches of your Christmas tree, in case one of your dogs chews an ornament? Since my dogs, I now have small Christmas trees that I put up on a table. That way, my dogs can't reach the lower branches of the Christmas tree. It is for their benefit (as well as the ornaments' benefit) as I don't want my dogs chewing something that is not safe for them.

Well said Molly as I can't agree more. Along with ornaments, the tinsel & garland, as well as ribbon & bows, can be very harmful to dogs & cats. We can't be too careful when it comes to our beloved furry families!

Thanks for a well timed Post !

We were very nervous about putting up a Christmas tree this year. We got our border collie in May. He still acts a bit like a puppy since he's only 20 months old. I was actually afraid he might pee on the tree since he pees on every single tree, bush, fire hydrant, post, light pole that he can find when we are out talking our walks. But, thankfully, he has not peed on the tree!

We have had cats for 14 years. Because of that we have our tree as pet proofed as we can. We don't use garland or tinsel. Instead we use long strands of very sturdy pearls. I have several foil bows to give it the sparkle of tinsel or garland. But, I put them higher up on the tree because I am almost positive he would try to eat those. We have decorated all of the tree including the bottom branches. We have watched him closely to make sure he doesn't try to take them off and eat them. We thought for sure he would because he has a habit of running off with the girls toys and chewing on them. He has only taken off one ornament and we caught him right away. He hasn't done it since.

I do have a few Christmas stuffed toys that I like to set on the ground in back of the tree against the wall. For some reason he keeps trying to grab the little snowman one and take off with it. I decided today that I would just put that one up where he can't get it. I was waiting for him to try to get another one since he couldn't get that one. But, he's left the others alone so far.

My dog chews up the garland and the tinsel.. not so much the ornaments. I only figured this out when I noticed glitter in the poo.. Now, I have stopped decorating the lower branches with garland. I used to strew tinsel on the floor beneath the tree, now I have to stop that practice too.
Last year I just used some snowy soft material with tinsel hidden under it. Even that didn't work out very well as she dug it up and still ate it.. This year I may just use the material with some gold sprayed garden statues which I have just dried in the sun.. Since this is a huge tree it does look bare at the bottom.. I need to come up with something that does not attract my dog's attention but still looks good.

We do decorate our house, and even have a Christmas Tree in the corner of the room. However, its a tradition in my home at this time of year, to be observant when the dogs are in the house. We have to make sure they don't go near the Christmas Tree or other decorations that maybe within their reach.

Some people end up having problems with the Christmas presents under the tree as some dogs just love tearing them apart. No, we haven't had such issues before. Maybe it's because we only have a small tree and it's propped high.

Aside from the usual ornaments, owners with dogs who love eating anything should be careful with the garland. Eating this can cause bowel obstruction.

As far as I am concerned, it doesn't matter if the tree is bare on the lower branches. That could still look festive and attractive. The safety of our dogs and cats and small children need to be our priority. My Christmas tree is table top size and is set back on the table, out of reach of my small and short legged dogs - dachshunds. I would rather visit a home that has a Christmas tree with only the top half decorated, than hear the tragic stories of pets and small children digesting and choking on the Christmas tree decorations.

Yes, I definitely had to decorate my house around my dog. One year, while were asleep, she destroyed the Christmas tree--how awful. I'm sure she had the time of her life as she tore down the tree, breaking almost all of the ornaments but she had to be punished. This Christmas we bought a small Christmas tree that could sit on top of the end table. We definitely prepared ourselves.

We did some decorating with the dogs in mind. On the very bottom branches of the tree we did not put the breakable ornaments. Our Christmas tree branches are only about 6 inches off of the floor, so that's low enough for them to bump the tree and knock ornaments off. I sure didn't want them possibly getting reprimanded for walking by the tree the we put up.

We were nervous about them "marking" the tree. In years past we caught them doing this. This year we didn't catch either of them and no marks around the tree! We didn't even have to block off the Christmas tree area. I'm not sure why, but my dogs are getting much better about not wetting in the house.