Service Dog Certification Suggestions for your Holidays
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.
So let us take a couple of minutes to go over some hints for the tree. Choose a place to put the tree where there is not serious traffic, but everybody can still see and enjoy it. When put in an space that has a lot of traffic the tree could be bumped into by your dog and get knocked over. This may seem evident but in order to prevent people or family pets from stumbling on the cord, trees are best served in a corner and near a wall socket.
Next is a tip you’ll love even if you are not a animal owner, or have a live tree. Set a very big plastic trash bag up where you will be placing the tree, put your tree on top of it, and cover it with the tree skirt.. This will not only give some dimension to the ground around your tree, it will also lead to simple clean up. After the holidays you can easily carry the tree to the trash by taking away the decorations and skirt and pulling the bag up over the tree. You stay away from the problem of pets eating or stepping on the needles because the bag has captured all the loose needles that fell.
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.
Make an effort to replace your ornament hooks with a loop of string. These hooks can cause significant damage if a puppy discovers one that has fallen off the tree and decides to gnaw on it. Keep the glass ornaments higher, and set wood or plastic towards the bottom of the tree. Any type of food (i.e. popcorn garland, candy ornaments) has to be avoided, or your dog may consider Santa brought them an early present! Some might forget all about their service dog certification training or think they died and gone to heaven!
Don’t put presents under the tree until right before the holiday. Household pets love to explore and will not care that they are not to be opened ahead of the holiday. The paper could be detrimental if chewed or swallowed, not to mention your gift will be damaged! Additionally be mindful with ribbons, these can get wedged in a pet dogs throat if they determine to gnaw on it.
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!