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5 Spooky Smart Safety Tips For Your Halloween Hound

983 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  melbrod 
#1 ·



Keep your dog safe, happy and calm during the spooky festivities this Halloween.

Halloween will soon be here, and while we know that it’s all in good fun, our furry friends may not. To us, trick-or-treaters are expected and we are prepared with candy and jack-o’-lanterns. Our pooches aren’t expecting the doorbell to ring repeatedly for hours. Dogs only accept what we have exposed them to at a young age, so it’s natural for them to be afraid when the routine changes. Here are a few tips to keep your dog safe and happy during Halloween:

Long Walk: Before the kids in costume start patrolling the neighborhood, take your dog for a long walk. Get that extra energy out of their system before the mayhem begins. If your dog is tired, he will be less likely to react to the strangers approaching.

Ring the Bell!: A few days before Halloween, start ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door. Up until this point, they most likely associate the doorbell ringing with people coming into the house. This usually leads to the dog getting excited and worked up. If you break that association by constantly ringing when nobody is entering, they won’t be shocked on October 31. Essentially, you’re taking the Pavlov out of it (well, substituting barking for drooling)!

Costume Etiquette: If you are planning on dressing up your dog for the festivities, please prepare them. You can’t throw your pup into a fancy getup without warning and expect them to behave normally. Dogs who aren’t accustomed to costumes sometimes get anxious and nervous. Put the costume on briefly a few times a day to get hem used to it. Make a big fuss and use treats. And then, of course, post multiple pictures of your dog dressed as a taco on Facebook.

Boundary Safety: While preparing for your trick-or-treaters, prepare for your dog. Even if your dog is social and friendly, Halloween can be overwhelming. Kids in crazy costumes will make even the most well-balanced dog nervous (hey, kids in costume make ME nervous). If you have a dog door, lock it. Keep the dog in the house during witching hour. If they tend to be nervous, keep them in a different room or crate and try to designate a safe spot for them.
Read more about the 5 Spooky Smart Safety Tips For Your Halloween Hound at PetGuide.com.
 
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#2 ·
Good tips for once. In our house I go one step further. I turn off my lights and block off my stairs at the bottom.

A few reasons for this:

-My boys are always allowed to bark at the front door. They/we are not going to amend this behavior for one night out of the year

-To the uninitiated, my boys are "skeery"..... Even on a lead parents with young kids are often nervous. And I don't blame them. But I am not going to lock them up for hours just to hand out candy.

-I am usually alone on Halloween. My wife often works long hours and is out of town an average of 150 days a year.

-There are 40 steps up a steep grade to my front door. The lighting isn't great. In the past I would add additional lights to make it safer. Most kids in recent years look at my steps, even well lit and inviting and pass it by. Too much work! Back in the day we would get dozens of kids. Last time I set up, I gave out candy to maybe a half dozen Trick or Treaters. Ugh... Times have sure changed.

Don't get me wrong. Halloween has always been a favorite of mine. When my son was young, My wife and I would take my son and half a dozen friends out for hour. We would do it in shifts so one of us could man the door.

These days, its just too much like work.

John
Portland OR
 
#3 ·
I don't participate in the Halloween door to door stuff any more either.

Several years ago Halloween trick or treaters stopped being little kids accompanied by parents and became teens--and they came by carload to our neighborhood and were unfortunately rude and pushy at the doors and make multiple stops at the same houses rotating through a two or three block area for several hours. (I guess they didn't think we'd recognize a 6'4" Darth Vader accompanied by four other "bad guy" types.

I started turning off the porch light after the second year of that.

And one of the family who did have a small kid still (a first grader) started having a Halloween "block party" They got the other families in a four block area who also had small children, together--they made up a flyer that said that one of the families (one directly across the street from me) would be taking all kids under 10 in a group around the four blocks--starting at 7:00pm. Each kid joining the group had to bring at least one parent with them.

They would make the rounds until 8:00pm and then would all come to the "Smith's" house for a costume judging, apple bobbing etc. If you didn't want to participate just turn your porch light off.

Worked like a dream. They moved two years ago and I'm sure I wasn't the only person who was sorry to see them go but the little kid trick or treating and party for little kids after is now being held by a different couple whose kids last year were 3 and 5.

I participated only to the extent of dropping off a bag of apples and several bags of candy the day before at the house that was having the after 8:00 party.

My dogs and I retire to the back of the house and lounge around watching television--the cats who are always fascinated by stuff happening on the street sit in the front window and watch. Sure works or us.
 
#5 ·
Neighborhoods change so much over the years--the first year we were here, we had something like 70 kids come by. Now they’re all grown and gone and we’re lucky to get one or two. My kids were among the youngest in the neighborhood and they so much enjoyed the last few years they went out trick or treating--most folks in the neighborhood saw so few kids come to the door that they would practically tip a whole bowl of candy into my kids bags. Talk about loot. :)

Of course, Halloween still gives me an excuse to buy at least one bag of candy and eat it ALL myself :)
 
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