Scary Times

Halloween is supposed to be scary fun.  I get the scary part but not the fun part.  For many pets, including me, Halloween is scary and stressful and can even be dangerous.

The parts of Halloween that make it fun for humans, especially for little humans, are the least fun for pets.  Here are some reasons why.

1.  Treats.

Little humans like to go from house to house and beg for treats.  I get the begging for treats part.  I am a very good begger of treats but I don’t like when anybody else beg at my house!  They are MY treats and on top of that, it is my job to protect our house.  It is really hard to protect our house when someone comes to the door every two minutes.

If your pet is like me (and DixieLee, who also is in charge of protecting our house) you might want to put them in their crate in a room where they don’t have to deal with all the opening and closing of the door.

Also, it will make sure that they can’t get scared and run outside when the door is opened.

Remember that the treats that little humans like can make pets sick.  We all know that chocolate is dangerous for dogs and the Xylitol, the artificial sweetener, can be poison too.

2. Costumes.

Dressing up in scary or funny costumes is fun for humans but not all pets like to dressed up in costumes.  DixieLee and I don’t.  I will wear a pretty kerchief now and then but she doesn’t even like to dress up in a kerchief.  If you are going to dress a pet in a costume, please make sure they like it and that the costume does not limit movement, sight, the ability to breath, bark or meow, drink and eat.  Make sure there is nothing that can be chewed off and choke or can get twisted and injury the pet.

I already said I don’t like when peoples come to our house to beg and it is even worse when they are wearing scary costumes.  They might be peoples I know but it hard to tell when they have masks on.

3. Decorations.

Mom is not a fan of Halloween either but she loves Autumn so we do some decorating.  Sometimes we have pumpkins or corn stalks, or Indian corn or some other “Autumn” kind of decorations.  They look pretty!

Pumpkin is a good food for dogs but not after it has been out and gets mold.  Lots of peoples put burning candles in their carved pumpkins or burn candles around the house.  Burning candles are very dangerous around pets.  One good sweep of an excited tail can mean a big fire and no place to live.  Yikes!

Halloween can be fun for humans and non-stressful for pets when remember a few simple things. 

Happy Halloween,

Zeva

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