i know it is a little early but it is creeping up on us now the nights are drawing in and all the adverts on tele. Any my pup by christams will be 9 months has any one got any tips for keeping the tree up right and not having to redress it every morning :-D.
Much as i love mum pup i do not want her eating or recking my tree, is was thinking about getting a fibre optic tree and putting up high, however hse is a GSD (big) and can almost touch my shoulders sooooo not sure what else i can do. I can not shut the door to the living room as i uummm took it off some time ago :-).
Any tips would be grateful

Cordelia

Hi Cordelia,
We have had a similar problem at Christmas - one of our dogs sleeps in the kitchen, which is fine, because he can't get past the safety gate when it's closed (no door there either), but our other dog always sleeps in the dining room near the back door, with access to the lounge. She is usually very well behaved and doesn't move from her bed, but last Christmas she took a big box of chocolates from under the tree, ripped off the wrapping paper, and ate them all up! (whilst we were asleep of course!). So since then, what I do is get a long lead which I tie to the inside of the back door handle, and she is on the end of it at night time. Has still got plenty of room to move about, but in a restricted area, and she can't reach into the lounge! Don't use a choke type of collar though, that's the only thing.
Hilda

He may surprise you ;) We were expecting the worat last year ..in fact I think I posted on CD about my worries :D Hudson was 1 year old just before Christmas and I had visions of him cocking his leg and electrocuting us all :D

He was soo good , he never touched a thing ..he sniffed at the baubles and that was that :)

mmmm i hope i don't have any probs lol.

Cordelia

the only problem we had was amber ate all the chocolate decorations off the tree, foil and all, so we dont buy them now,

Have to say since I have had dogs I have not had a Christmas tree. Chocolate and glass balls both sometimes proving fatal to dogs.

Well as there is no need to put either on a Christmas tree I can't see that they should be a problem ;) I don't have chocolate on the tree and our baubles are not made of glass

Oh! Mel, surely not plastic baubles!

No Jackie I think she has plastic chocolate :D

Karen

WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT!

Plastic chocolate indeed!

:)

I'm having plastic baubles this year. Not through choice - Willis found the box and "unpacked" all the xmas decorations. He only smashed....all of them!! :rolleyes: So, I am having a rustic tree this year, with pine cones and lickly plastic angels :D :D

last xmas i was concerned about my staff and our tree.
my mums dog used to chew just the bottom foil of the tree decorations so the chocolate fell out but the wrapper was still left hanging :) :) :)
But Taz was great, we let him sniff the tree but chastized him if he became a little to boistrous around it.

good luck xx

lol have you been reading my posting about chrissy trees lmao awwww,kinda annoying when its getting pulled down and a zillion bubbals to put back on. i sugest tincil is easyier to replace:D and mabe get a tree with a bucket rather then stand up one if you know what i mean :( lol and weigh it down with alot of heavy stones, hopefuly dog wont be able to knock it over.
ps i think tincil looks tacky. i supose you could get that nice tincil with shapes coming off it or even threads of beads:D, just shop round for whats suitable

I`ve been replacing the glass balls with wooden ones. There`s some lovely ones now, angels, star shapes & stuff like that and thin metal bells ones as well.
Im hoping to be in our new house by Xmas, be made up if we are :)

Christine, Spain.

I must admit last year we gave up on the idea of a christmas tree, as we were looking after one of my mums irish setter pups (6 months old and at the really loony stage!) and had 2 kittens too! We had visions of the kittens clinging to the top of the tree (would have made a change to an angel) with an irish setter stuck half way up! This year the cats have grown up (kind off!) and i dont think lewy will be that interested in it as we're planning on putting it on a table, so it'll be too high for him to clamber into!

Erin

i will not put chocolate on the tree prolly cause myself or the kids will eat them :-D. Would'nt have class balls either due to young kids and two mad dogs.
Will prolly see how it goes before i go ahead with buying a fibre optic tree, at least i wouldn't have to dress it every morning :).
Will have to start watching ideal wortld to see what trees they have on there aswell as decs, and spend spend spend after all thats what hubby goes to wrok for :-D roflol

I have always had real Christmas Trees and of course needles do drop. Oscar will be a year old at Christmas. Are the needles harmful to dogs do you know.

Hudson ignored the pine needles totally last year...I vacuumed every morning anyway , as I was a bit worried as to whether they could get stuck in between his pads...but he never bothered

chocolate on my tree last year i have no idea where it went;) came in one day and found the papers scattered on the floor along with some half eaten candy canes:D

My parents great dane used help herself to a chocolate decoration each time she passed the tree! One year she sniffed out a box of port and stilton that was wrapped under the tree and scoffed the lot! She did leave the port though. Think I'll be doing the same as you ChloeH and going rustic this year. What with 4 children and Oscar I dont think my poor tree will last long! :-D

This is a BRILLIANT thread and will convince SB that this year we should go trailer trash and have our tree and decs outside, and convince the Tribe that non chocolate advent calendars are good. Now hands up, who fills a stocking for their dogs and what do you put in ?

for the pine tree question, i water mine every day and it doesnt lose half as many needles as if you dont,

i got the better ware catalogue through the door yesterday and it had a pair of reindeer antlers in for the dog, also a halo and fairy wings!! do people really buy them? can you get your dog to wear them?
amber wears pants whilst in season, but hates them and filthy looks me on every possible occasion, dont think she would keep fairy wings on :D

although im sure she would be the prettiest one id seen

doggie stocking essentials

new nylabone
nice ball
tripe sticks ( she smells these out a mile away)
squeaky bear ( cant get squeker out, and washable)
rubber ring
collar
new kong
choccie drops
schmakoes

also getting new beds but dont think ill fit them in their stockings :)

Morse would love pulling antlers off and then destroying them, but his halo and fairy wings would be looted by the Minibeast.

Hiya
We have always had a real tree with baubles, tinsel and choccie decorations on it. And never had any problem with our two when they were pups, we just make sure the baubles and choccies are out of their reach. Our problem lies with the cat who climbs up and pulls it over!
Gina

I have thought about this abit lately as my Cavs will be 7 and 9 mths at Christmas. I know that I will certainly be getting a fibre optic tree and putting ontop of the unit in my living room !!!! My youngest would certainly have a tree over within minutes if it was on the floor

Mabe this will be a good time to do a spot of training? i did and she never went near it after.although! she did get hold of my susage meat out of my shoping bag when i was unpacking my shopping:D cheeky thing.

I too have a GSD pup who will be 12 months old at Christmas, and I have been wondering what's going to happen too! Whatever it is it should be fun. I'm sure she'll have the best time ever with the wrapping paper on Christmas day. Our dogs always wear jingle bells on their collars on Christmas day, together with some tasteful tinsel!! Let's see what China makes of that!!

The tree luckily, will be in our lounge, which she doesn't have access to when we're not around!

All post Christmas stories awaited with interest!

Kat

Going to buy an arti-farti-ficial tree for the first time this year. Either that or put the real one in the conservatory. Last year I took Juno lab to the vets a few days before Christmas as she was Itchy and Scratchy and covered in bumps. The vet asked me if she had been near any unusual plants recently.... :rolleyes: I only noticed her sniffing it after we first put it up, she wasn't playing with it or anything. Can only think she must've eaten some needles off the floor.

Juno is one of those dogs, she came out in spots on her belly after being spayed recently. The spots were ONLY where she was shaved, no where else.

~ Sharon :)