Keeping your dog safe and happy during the festive period is easy with the MirrorMePR Canine PR Team’s top 10 tips!
1. Chocolate is incredibly toxic to dogs, so don’t leave chocolate laying around on tables or under the Christmas tree. Wrapped or no wrapping, greedy dogs will chew through anything but a metal tin to get a tasty bite to eat!
2. If you have a house full this Christmas, remember to give your dog some time out and move his bed away from the noise and nosey children. Letting him snooze in peace in your bedroom for a few hours will allow him to relax properly.
3. Make sure your dog is respectful of visitors. Everyone gets excited when family and friends arrive but don’t let your dog to join in by jumping all over everyone on arrival. Shut your dog away, until everyone is in the house and settled down before allowing an already excitable dog in to greet everyone.
4. Don’t forget to stick to your dog’s feed times. Just because you are on holiday, your dog will still be expecting some kind of routine around his or her dinner times.
5. Fireworks are no longer just for November 5th, so be prepared for them throughout the Christmas period and ensure that if they do start letting them off near your home, that you turn up the radio or TV and pull the curtains and distract your dog with some fun and games.
6. Dressing your dog up in a Christmas jumper or Santa outfit might be cute but watch out for flammable fabrics at worse and a hot, bothered and uncomfortable dog at best. Keeping dressing up your dog to a fun minimum and never leave your dog unattended wearing something that is less than practical or has buttons, bells and other bits he could chew off and swallow.
7. If you are visiting someone’s house for Christmas, make sure you bring your dogs’ food, bowl and bed and give him a good walk before he arrives so he will be more relaxed rather than racing around!
8. If your dog isn’t very child friendly be extra careful at Christmas. With so many distractions, its easy to forget about the dog tucked away in his bed, so move your dog somewhere away from children’s reach and brief the children (if old enough) to leave the dog alone.
9. Its easy for dogs to slip out the front door un-noticed, so make sure your dog is wearing an identity tag on his or her collar and make visitors aware before arriving that you have a dog and ask them to expect to wait for a few minutes at the door whilst you shut your dog away safely.
10. We all love things that sparkle and light up but be careful that your dog doesn’t decide to chew or play with glass tree baubles or chew decorations with glitter and metallic paint on. These could be dangerous and toxic to your dog. Be extra careful with puppies who are still at the chewing stage with the tree lights as well.
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