Nightmares of Christmas to come?

[dmartin]

This will be Cheetah's first Christmas with us. I am already having nightmares of the Christmas tree being toppled over....ornaments dragged off...and presents being ripped to smithereens (is that a word?). She's one year old..and just graduated out of her crate. She's had a couple of "accidents"..
with various plants in the house and has chewed on a windowseal and a door facing. (apparently these things are more interesting than her toys, kong, chew sticks, animal planet..etc)....so Christmas has me worried.
So what do you do ...drag the crate back out?

 

[aturn12]

Good Question

I was wondering the same thing myself. This will be Nate's first Holiday season as well. I was thinking of trying some of the Bitter Apple on my tree. Has anyone tried this?

 

[Princess3604]

yikes.. christmas.. i cant even think of how thats going to be like.. this will be Princess' first christmas with us as well.. i know last year was somewhat a nightmare from our cats stealing glass bulbs off the tree and playing with them and breaking them... i'm hoping Princess wont be all that interested in the tree..

 

[Allie'sMom]

I was wondering about Christmas too. This will be Allie's first Christmas, and while I am excited, its a bit scary too! I am hoping that everything will be okay. She is really good at the "leave it" command, and generally, once she knows she isnt supposed to mess with something, she wont. Our tree will probably be okay. Its those paper wrapped presents I am concerned about... she LOVES to eat any kind of paper product! Oh well.... we will see!

 

[kt_brandy]

we brought 3 pieces of lattace about 50 to 80 cms high and i painted them red and green then hubby put some hinges on them and attached to the door frame around the tree forming a playpen sort of thing - it saved all but 2 ornaments from brandy she was 10mths last christmas and we only lost those 2 because mummy was in bed and brandy worked out that if she stood on the lounge with her front feet on the armrest and stretched her neck out then she could just reach some of the pretty things on the tree. lucky for her and me that she couldn't reach any of my special ornaments - alot of them were my mum's and since she isn't with me anymore they have become so much more special to me i'd hate anything to happen to them. we are hoping that this same technic will work with tigger who will be 7mths old by xmas.

i have a photo in my gallery of the pen around my tree if anyone's interested. we found by just having it there she eventually got bored with it all.

karen, brandy and tigger

 

[Bellie Belle]

This is probably not going to comfort anyone, but here goes...

Belle's 1st Christmas (2002) was fine. She was 4 months old, and didn't notice the tree, presents, or decorations. But, we were home with her most, if not all, of the time.

Belle's 2nd Christmas (2003)...Lord have mercy. We had just moved in with my mother-in-law that August. By all accounts, she transitioned magnificently. My MIL has a poodle, and they bonded immediately. She was getting settled when we would leave for short periods (prior to the move she had many "alone time" destruction rampages). When we put the tree up, she didn't really pay any attention to it...we thought we'd be OK, based on the year before, until the night of my kids' Christmas Program at school. We came home to opened presents, destroyed presents, destroyed Hallmark Collector's ornaments, and a cowering boxer on the couch that KNEW she was in BIG trouble. She seemed to know which presents belonged to her favorite child, as some had corners chewed off, but all were intact. She seemed particularly interested in any toys with that sweet, plastic smell - Bratz Dolls, My Little Ponies, etc., all had to be re-purchased, and re-wrapped. We figure this happened because we put the tree in the front window - Belle's window for surveying the neighborhood comings and goings. She found stuff to destroy if left alone in the house (with holiday comings/goings, we were left with little choice), but once the tree was down, she stopped. We've since left her alone in the house with the poodle for more than 6 hours, and NOTHING is touched. She can look out her window, and she's happy.

This year, the tree is going in the corner, and nothing goes under it until I'm home from midnight mass.

 

[kactus]

here too

same here.
this is baileys 1st christmas, hes gonna be 1 in jan. he has a total obsession with balls and anything remotley esembling a ball so i imagine the tree will be a nightmare. i love christmasa and this is also our 1st year in our new house too and i have so been looking forward to making it look beautiful. im gonna try the fence thing. lets hope it works!

 

[schipman]

Tips for Christmas

Couple of things that may make your Christmas easier:

Remember that under no circumstances should you use tinsel on your tree. The dog can't resist the shimmering, dangling "treat" and it will do very unpleasant things to the digestional?? system - possibly even causing death.

Consider replacing any glass ornaments with plastic ones - many beautiful options available.

Display special "keepsake" type items somewhere other than the tree. I run a lighted garland along the ceiling and hang special ornaments up there as it would break my heart for one of them to be destroyed.

Dogs love ribbon so you may want to wrap an empty box and decorate it with curling ribbon. Then use it now to practice the "leave it" command. Then by the time Santa stops by the behavior will be old hat for your baby.

Merry Christmas to all!! (Couldn't resist saying it in October)

 

[MoxyRoxy]

GREAT Suggestions Schipman! Thank you!
I was worrying too, I know what Christmas is like with Boxers from growing up. They love Christmas!

 

[Cami]

We opted to forgo the tree last year. Amazingly with the rest of the house decorated you didn't even miss the tree. The presents had to stay in a closed bedroom and I missed being able to walk in the house and look at them but it was for the best.

We don't have skin children so it was an easy adjustment for us. Haven't given this years tree much thought though.....