First Christmas

Okay, well, not actually their first Christmas, however it is their first Christmas as house dogs so I'm guessing it's the first time they've experienced Christmas decorations.

Chima and Salinas liked to be in the middle of the action once they figured out this tree stuff wasn't going to attack them

Chima is Miss Nosey - quite literally  because her nose tends to get into everything. We've nicknamed her "Snuffleupagus" since this is a trait that quickly becomes apparent when you meet Chima. So when we decorated the tree it was no different. She had to sniff the tree, the ornament boxes, the garland...

Miss Snuffleupagus, moving in to check out the ornaments

Salina takes longer to feel brave enough to really explore a new situation. It was very cute because she watched everything, but from the other side of the expen we have set up to separate our recreation room in half for dog containment. After about 10 minutes she felt brave enough to join Chima in the sniffing. In fact, she even decided to try to snag an ornament.

Salinas attempting to nab an ornament 

Eventually it didn't seem that exciting so they just sat and watched awhile and then went over to crash on the couch where it was more comfortable.

Chima kicked back and watched after she had a chance to sniff everything

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, it's the human's job to make sure that a dog is set up for success and doesn't have a chance to let their curiosity (and mouth) get them in trouble. At our house that means the glass ornaments are all on the top half of the tree. We also don't use any tinsel or foil type decorations and our tree is located in the half of the room that the dogs never have access to unless I am right there with them. We have 16' of ex-pen fashioned into a gate to divide the room. The half with the couch, TV, dog beds and doggy tox box is where the dogs are allowed and we make sure to keep it much more interesting than the side of the room with the tree, computer desk, fireplace and elliptical.

And remember, mistletoe and poinsettias are very toxic to dogs. Be careful too with any chocolaty treats you might have around and be sure to let guests know not to feed your dogs. My vet said the number of pancreatitis cases skyrocket over the holidays thanks to dogs getting into lots of the high fat foods that are the norm this time of year.