Holiday Hound Safety
Is Your Home Safe?

Have you considered the dangers of your holiday decorating create for your holiday hound? I can hardly believe that the holidays are upon us and with the holidays fast approaching comes family, friends, food, decorations and of everybody's favorite - presents! What has me thinking about the upcoming festivities is the chore of putting up my Christmas tree and the unavoidable fact that we have a brand new adopted pup in the house!

My children have unfortunately all but grown and my "third child" Rodeo - an extremely spoiled rotten Border Collie, is going to be four years old on Christmas Day - a true holiday hound. So it has been many of years since I have had to worry about safety proofing the house.

Then a couple of months ago, I let the cutest face ever get the best of me and the next thing you know we were adopting Maddie from a rescue shelter and bringing her home. Maddie is a Border Collie Mix and is about 1 year old and is the most beautiful little girl ever. She of course has issues from her former owner but we love her all the same and we are working on them one day at a time - some days are good, some days are not so good! LOL!

As I said, we are working on her training and she is responding very well and she learns quickly. It is a matter of time and patience. She is a beautiful young dog with great potential who stole my heart from the first time I met her.

So after my Christmas tree vision, I began to think of the many other potential catastrophes that may be lurking throughout the house as I started setting out decorations this year and I decided I should share them with you.

Here is a list of items you should consider moving, hiding, protecting or maybe even just omitting when you decorate for the holidays this year for the safety of your holiday hound:

• Packages around the Christmas Tree make for a choking hazard with the wrapping, bows and the potential of what might be inside of the package.
• Plants such as the Poinsettia are often given as gifts and it's very common to find Mistletoe, Holly and berries in the home too. All of these cause stomach upset and mistletoe can actually cause heart collapse.
• Remember the little items like batteries for toys, tape rolls and string that you hang things up with. How about the items you buy to scent the house with like candles, plug-ins and scented beads. Keep them out of your holiday hounds reach.
• There are other decorative small items such as tinsel, ornaments, hooks, candy, light bulbs from the tree, electrical cords and ornamental strings of beads and pearls. These are all choking, cutting and electrical hazards. They can also cause a bowel obstruction which can require surgery.
• If you like to bring your dog along for the festivities, remember that new people and loud noises can really make your dog anxious and grumpy. So find them a quiet spot that they can get away from the noise.

It's also important to stick to your dog's normal routine as far as feeding them at them same time. Serve them their food as you would normally do at home and make sure they have water available at all times.

It's also important to remember to take them out for potty breaks. Sometimes when we're with family it's easy to forget our furry friends, so set an alarm if you need to so that you remember and you don't force your pup to have an accident. The last item is something that I preach no matter what the circumstances. Make certain that your holiday hound has a good quality collar that has CURRENT identification information no matter what time of the year it is. My suggestion is to consider purchasing an embroidered collar with their name and a phone number on it. You can then add tags and you can feel confident they will be returned home safely.

Holidays are really all about family, friends, food and fun but too often we forget to be careful and follow a few simple safety rules. It's important to include our holiday hounds

The holidays are all about family, friends, fun and food - but occasionally it's easy to forget about holiday hound safety for your dog. We all want our dogs to be part of our family holiday, just follow a few safety guidelines and enjoy the holiday season with your family and your holiday hound.

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