Puppies and Christmas tree

[tink20]

Our puppy is about 4-1/2 months old. I am worried about, the Christmas tree and presents, any tips from other dog owners? She has lots of toys, but she does like to get into things she shouldn't be getting into. We do put her in a little pen at night and when we go off, so she will only be out when we are home, but she usually gets into stuff when I am busy cleaning or cooking. Just want to keep her from eating something dangerous, this pup eats anything (including dead things the cat kills outside YUCK!) Any advice?

 

[hereyago]

Our pup is almost 2, still a gigantic pup. Anway, his first Xmas. We put the tree up early. He never marked his spot or anything. Now, the presents. this is what i did: i just took empty boxes and wrapped them so he would get used to them. We kept them for a week, he would sniff them and that would be it.

So I whipped out the real presents. everything was fine for a few days, then he took one of his, it was a blanket. he was a present thief.

This year will be interesting as we now have a cat. wish me luck

 

[tink20]

Good luck to you too, this is our first puppy and its like having a toddler, you can't turn your back on them LOL!

 

[Agri]

We're having work done on our house, so I can't let my puppy loose or she'll get into things. When she's not closed up in my room, she's on a leash. I have a Kong brand leash that has a plastic buckle on the loop, so I can tie her to things in the room or I just put the loop around my ankle or wrist. She's gotten so used to the leash, that she doesn't try to yank away anymore. I'd rather be inconvenienced instead of paying heft vet bills.

So my advice?

Keep the puppy closed up or with you on a leash when you can't give her your full attention.

 

[look1angel]

Our GSD was 2 1/2 months old last Christmas & I worried too. Everytime he went near the tree I'd watch, if he went to take something I'd yell GIT! I also found coins in a can being shaken tend to scare them away.
Our trainer told us a puppy, till fully trained, should never be left out of eyesight or they will get curious & you can't blame them.
After a few times Harley knew not to mess with it. We did catch him lying under the tree once on the skirt & took a picture.
Harley is 100lbs of puppy still but has gotten better since we got him a playmate back in Feb. Now I have 200lbs of German Shepherd
I'm more worried this year because he's so darn big & his tail has knocked over a few things & broken them, but I can't yell at him because he doesn't realize what he's done...plus he's so darn loveable

Good luck

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Do you have or could you get a little decorative fence as a deterrant? Whenever the pup goes near it, correct the behavior? Maybe it will stick?

 

[tink20]

Do you have or could you get a little decorative fence as a deterrant? Whenever the pup goes near it, correct the behavior? Maybe it will stick?

That could be a cute idea, she is a little dog so that might work. I think the can with coins might work too.

 

[minkydog]

I had one dog who liked to suck on the light bulbs. I have been known to put the tree in a play pen to keep pups and kids out of it. I put the presents under the tree until a couple days before Christmas. I don't put anything with food in it under the tree or on the tree. My Minky loooooves candy! He has 1) stripped all the candy canes off the tree and eaten them, 20 in all 2) torn into some homemade Chex Mix my mother put into a present 3) eaten 2-lbs of chocolate from a sealed gift box leaving nothing but a bit of cardboard. and 4) stolen all the hanging chocolate ornaments (think: foil-decorated poo!) One Christmas my son was so enamored of the tree he couldn't leave it alone. I ended up putting it outside on the back porch!

 

[AmongMadPeople]

Luckily the worst I've had to deal with is pottying behind the tree (only 2 months old though) and someone sneaking their presents and unwrapping them! So my first advice is do not put any dog presents under the tree because they will smell them and will increase their interest in the tree.

You have my next piece of advice covered, which is don't leave the puppy with the tree unattended. If your tree is in a corner, this will be easier, but before I trusted both our dogs with the tree I would rest our long gate in front of the tree so they simply couldn't get to it. If you're in the room with them, just see how they behave. If they do anything past sniffing (mouthing, getting under, climbing behind) I would just make a quick, short noise (ah!) to distract them. After a few times hopefully they'll understand the boundaries. You probably won't bee able to fully trust a puppy this year, but next year should be better!

 

[tmarquez]

The only problem we ever had was when my mom decided it'd be cute to decorate the tree with strings of real popcorn and candy canes. We had 2 dogs. I have no idea what she was thinking!

 

[onelilspark]

This will be our first Christmas with our puppy. It'll be interesting to see how he does. I'm anticipating needing to lift all the presents off the floor (he's about 8 months now, so he's remarkably better than even 2 months ago...we'll see how things go!)

I remember growing up we had dog treats under the tree for our dog. She had full use of the house when we were gone (this happened when she was around 7.) We came home one night to find that she left all the other presents untouched except her treats. The only evidence was some shredded paper...she even ate the packaging they came in! So yeah...anything for the dog is NOT going on the floor!