Sunday is Halloween. Here's Kelly in her lovely red wig (dressing up like her sister, who is a redhead.) You may be preparing costumes for the kids, stocking up on the good candy to hand out, or just planning on just hiding in a dark room and avoiding the whole thing. Either way, the candy, the knocks on the door, and all that excitement is sure to take a toll on the dog.From Christy Howard for boston.com, here are some Safety Tips for Pets on Halloween.
1. If your dog is staying home to "help" you hand out treats, keep your dog in another room during trick-or-treating hours. If I let ours greet every kid for three hours, they would be so tired they probably wouldn't get up the next morning.
2. Give your dogs a new treat or toy to occupy their time; you don't want the dog to feel like they are being punished.
3. If you are dressing up your dog in a costume, they should be able to walk without any interference to their gait. This also means you need to be able to put a leash on the dog. You have to watch that the costume doesn't interfere with the collar or leash area.
4. Make sure the dog's vision is not impaired while wearing the costume.
5. If you are taking your dog out trick or treating, make sure you watch your dog so they don't ingest any dropped candy or that people don't feed your dog candy. Aside from the fact that chocolate is toxic to dogs, the wrappers of even candy without chocolate can be harmful if ingested by your dog.
And here's a tip of my own:
Before trick or treaters arrive, we take the screen out of our screen door. That way we can just hand out the candy through the open part, and the bottom half of the door is solid so Kelly won't accidentally slip out an open door.
What are your Halloween tricks and treats for your pets?
