Friday, October 28, 2016

Dog Halloween Safety Tips and Fun

Pierre Westie is Olaf and Bentley Basset Hound is the devil for Halloween
  Halloween has gone to the dogs. Literally. Each year there are more costume contests, more dog-friendly events and an assortment of spooky dog treats that have the Bayou Boys drooling. While we love to let them dress up for the camera, we don’t take them out on Halloween. Our neighborhood streets are crammed with ghosts, ghouls, and superheroes in all shapes and sizes. Bentley and Pierre would lose their minds if they saw them. We haven’t participated in trick or treating for the past few years for personal reasons, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you that we have had hundreds of visitors to our door in the past. Several years ago there was a Domino’s Pizza truck selling pizza slices on the corner! That was when we knew that we had more than our fair share of trick or treaters.
   Our Golden Retriever used to love Halloween. Tucker would dress up and sit out front with us to hand out candy. The kids loved him and he loved the attention. That was then and this is now. Bentley and Pierre don’t like all of the excitement and are not sure of all the strangers on their street. We turn our lights on low and our television on high to drown out the foot traffic. They aren’t allowed in the office so they can’t look out the window and bark. It is a perfect night to enjoy a good movie and get some extra snuggles.
   I know many of you look forward to sharing a fun evening of trick or treating with your best friends. Here are some things to keep in mind.
The Bayou Boys dressed as beekeepers for Halloween
Safe Halloween Tips
Make sure your dog is comfortable in their costume. Never force them to dress-up if they don’t enjoy it.
Keep all candy, chocolates, gum, and raisins out of reach of your dogs and cats.
Safeguard the door so there are no great escapes when trick or treaters knock.
Make sure your pets are safe and sound inside your home. Remember not all monsters wear masks.
Do not allow candles anywhere near your pets.
Watch for electrical cords and decorations that pets could become entangled in causing injury.
Happy Jack O Lantern
The Morning After
   The problem with living a popular neighborhood at Halloween is that most of the people who visit are brought into the area. They don’t care if they drop wrappers, bottles, and other trash as they go from house to house. That makes walking the boys on November 1st like walking through a landmine. There is chocolate melting, empty wrappers, and pieces of those orange & black candies (because nobody eats that stuff!) on the street and in the yards. Bentley’s nose hits the ground and he is in search for the forbidden goodies. Pierre wants to sniff and pee on every single thing he finds. We have to watch each step they take until everyone picks up in front of their houses. #NotCool
Cartoon trick or treaters
   I realize I am preaching to the choir, but if you have little humans to take trick or treating, please remind them not to litter. It is not only bad for the environment but it can be very dangerous to our four-footed friends.
   In the spirit of the holiday, please enjoy our story The Night Before Halloween and this fun JibJab video featuring the characters from my book series, The Returns.

As we do every Friday, we are co-hosting the Pet Parade with these friends; Rascal and RoccoBasil the Bionic CatLove is being owned by a Husky.  Link up your favorite blog of the week and gain social media followers and shares!
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21 comments :

  1. I hope this howl-o-ween will be a good one, like it was the years before... the mama said she is afraid that this idiot-clowns maybe will mess up the event and instead of watching funny old horror movies, we will see the horror in the news... we cross our paws that this bs-people will not ruin the bestest event of the year...

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  2. Great safety tips - love the costumes and the carved pumpkin!!!!

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  3. What wonderful tips!! We used to live in a popular trick r treat area in Austin and can sympathize about the "day after" issues!
    Smileys!
    Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
    PeeEss - Make sure to stop by our "Tricks not Treats for Shelters" event now through Sunday!

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  4. Those are good tips, we are lucky we live on a super busy street so no trick or treaters. Mommy says back in her day (like when the dinosaurs roamed) people trick or treated in their neighborhood and just visited the houses of people they knew. Things sure have changed. Mom says walking in your neighborhood after Halloween must be like walking down here after a Mardi Gra parade. Fenris once scored an entire slice of pizza, but the Mom made him drop it.

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  5. Hopefully with Halloween being on a school night, the rowdiness won't be happening around here. We will be at class anyway, thankfully. Mom is sick of kids coming by for hours ringing the bell.

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  6. BOL have a fun filled and safe Halloween
    Lily & Edward

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  7. Halloween has never really been one of my favorite holidays, so we don't do much around here. I put some cute bandanas on the dogs but haven't done costumes.
    We live in a rural area so most kids go to parties instead of trick or treating. I don't understand driving kids to other neighborhoods - how is that fair to the people that live there and get all those extra kids? When I was a kid (I hate when I start a sentence like that since it makes me sound old - LOL) we trick or treated in our own neighborhood where we could walk to, and that was it. Gosh, candy isn't really all that cheap these days so that could be so rough on some people!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  8. Because we live a bit out of town and we have a long driveway - we only get the grandkids and nieces kids. kinda nice
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, hazel & mabel

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  9. Good point about the morning after. In some ways, it's just as dangerous as Halloween night.

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  10. Great tips ! We don't celebrate Halloween here, but we hope you have a nice and quiet Halloween ! Purrs

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  11. Great tips. And we love Bentley and Pierre's costumes.

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  12. FABULOUS Trick and Treat Tips... there are Dangers.. and we NEED to be kept Safe. Peeps sometimes Furget to do that. THANKS

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  13. Great tips for Halloween! :D Pierre's face so adorable with the Olaf costume! And the video is hilarious! :D HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO YOU GUYS! <3

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  14. Great tip about walking your dog on November 1st!

    I'm sure that's an obstacle a lot of people haven't foreseen.

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  15. Interesting! Since we don't go out, we never thought about the littering aspect to Halloween. Good point!

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  16. We don't really get anyone in this area. Churches and downtown usually do something to attract the kids so they are in a group setting.

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  17. Great costumes! And good tips, especially about the "morning after." We live on a dead end street, inside a dead end street, so fortunately,or unfortunately, we only have about 3 trick or treaters, and that's a high count! But checking the morning after is so important! Have a safe and Happy Howloween!

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  18. These are great Halloween safety tips and post Halloween safety tips! People don't usually think about the aftermath of it all. Love these photos! Icy was Olaf last year, it's such a cute costume.
    Love & Biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

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  19. Such great tips. My gang wore their costumes for a minute photo shoot then off again.

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  20. We're still picking up bits and bobs from treaters who drove into our hood. Makes you wonder if they were raised by wolves. No wait, wolves are raised in a highly structured society designed for the betterment of the entire pack! 😎*sigh*

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