Icy Steps and Christmas Trees

[SoSa]

So, this is our first winter and Christmas with Ace, and I need some advice:

1) It's colder than usual this fall here in the Seattle area. We've had freezing temps and icy conditions. Ace has to go out onto the deck and down the deck steps to get to the back yard. It's been slick. How do you de-ice? I cannot use the usual bag of stuff for de-icing because it's toxic.

2) Christmas tree/decorations. Should I even bother? How have you managed to have a decorated tree not destroyed by your doodle?

Thanks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are all kinds of non-toxic snow melt products on the market. Google "pet safe snow melt" and you will get thousands of results. (I got 139,000, lol) Here is just one, chosen at random: http://www.safepaw.com/

I can't help with your other question, because the one advantage of being Jewish at this beautiful time of year is that we don't put up or take down Christmas trees and decorations. :) 

[SoSa]

Thanks :-) :-)

[Jenny and Cooper]

Sorry I can't answer the ice question but I can tell you how it was with us with the Christmas tree. We just put ours up this past weekend. Cooper has attempted to chew on the mini light bulbs twice, was successful once. After a very firm no and he knew I was very upset, he has stopped trying. It was just the first day when it was up that he was very curious about it. So just watch him like a hawk on the first day. After that, it should be old news to him. I haven't put up the ornaments yet though. Lol that's going to be another challenge, but i'll be using all nonbreakable ornaments this year. :)

[SoSa]

Oh yes, nonbreakable ornaments!!! Thanks :-)

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

When Beau was a puppy, he just could not leave the ornaments alone. I bought a Superyard XT and put it around the tree.  I used it two years in a row.  I just did not want to take the chance of him getting an ornament when we were not home and ending up in emergency.  This year Beau is three - our tree is up and he is leaving it alone.  YEAH!

[SoSa]

Good idea, I may need to get the Superyard. :-) Thanks.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

It has come in handy over the years. I was training Beau all along about leaving it, but the ornaments he just could not resist.  He was ok while I was home, but if I had to leave the house, he would sneak back in there and get a snowman, or ??!  Thank goodness he is was one unusual puppy in that he did not swallow any foreign objects.  He found a thumb tack once and I saw him on my bed throwing something up in the air and playing with it.  Went in to see what he had found and was shocked to see it was a tack!  To this day if he does chew on something, he does not swallow it unless it is food!  Good luck. I really think this is a puppy thing and with training and time, Ace will get the message.  BTW - I love that name!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We have always had a decorated Christmas tree and it hasn't been a problem.  Murph stayed away from the beginning, but Guinness was very curious about the ornaments. I verbally corrected every time he would go near enough to the tree to grab an ornament and if he went back I removed him from the room. It didn't take him long to "get it".  I never leave them alone where they can get to the tree...if I'm not watching they're gated out of the room just to be safe.  Our daughter has a real tree (ours is artificial) and she has a constant battle with her dogs trying to drink the water.  As for the slippery steps and deck, we live in a condo and the "ice melting pellets" that our landscapers use are pet friendly.  As Karen says, check online or with your local hardware store.

[SoSa]

I had that concern with the water if we got a real tree. Thanks :-)

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

We were concerned our first Christmas with our first doodle, even though he was a year old by then. ( birthday is dec 18)

He was old enough to be curious but know it wasn't a toy or edible. We have always had real trees and neither of mine have bothered it or the water. The lights are on from sun up to sun down if we are home and I think that possibly keeps them away??? Just a guess.  Bella was 6 months old her first Christmas with us and again, old enough to know "Leave it" so it only took once or twice and she got it. Good luck. 

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

You can get safe de-icing products our local stores sell them.

I haven't even put the tree up yet or any decorations for that matter. I might just put up a small one up and off the floor this year, but my boys are basically out of the house, so I don't have little children in he house - just dogs. Lol

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

I use the Safe Paws de-icer that Karen linked to.  I got it at Costco last year, and PetSmart the years before that and it works well.

At a minimum, I would expect Ace to be curious about the Christmas tree/decorations, and I probably wouldn't leave him with access to it this year when you leave the house - better safe than sorry.  Eloise was drawn to a bottlebrush ornament (fittingly for her, a squirrel) her first Christmas.  Just when I briefly left the room, she extracted it from the tree several times - with surgical precision! - and managed to eat half his wooden feet off.  I finally got smart enough to stop putting it back on the tree where she could get to it, lol - and after that she left the ornaments alone.  She was crated when I was gone that first Christmas, because I just worried what she might do if left to her own devices.  Beasley did fine last year when she was supervised, but at 19 mos now, she's still crated when I leave the house - she likes to find trouble occasionally.  :)  I only have a few ornaments on the tree so far...the other morning she removed one of those glitter ball ornaments when I was upstairs, so I decided I'll wait to finish decorating tomorrow night, when I'll be home for several days after and can monitor closely.  Even though I consider Eloise trustworthy now, I'm still careful about what kinds ornaments I put around the bottom of the tree within her reach.  Good luck!