ADVICE NEEDED

[Gumbo and Ashley]

Hello Doodle moms/dads!  Any advice for how to get your doodle to NOT mess with the Christmas tree? I hadn't even thought that far ahead but Ava pointed it out the other day, "Mom, how are we gonna train Gumbo to not touch the tree or the ornaments?"...... I thought hmm....good question for DK!! 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Well I don't have an answer but we stopped getting a tree when puppy no 1 came along Lol. May I suggest you create a barrier around it? Perhaps you could use an X pen and decorate it as well? Just a thought because I really don't think you could expect our smart doodle pups not to try a branch or decoration or two without disastrous possible consequences. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

The first year that Lucy and Sophie were puppies they would have been about 9 months at Christmas.  I had the same worries.  We had long since started using a table top 5' tree anyway, so I just put it in the corner with the ex-pen around it.  They didn't really seem to be interested in it much.  I don't think I would want it out in the middle of a space where if they had been playing and running or something they may have knocked it over, but they didn't seem interested in taking things off of it.  Now since we have AnnaBelle we haven't put up a tree so I'm not sure how she would react but I don't think she would care much about it.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

One year we just used lights. Another year, we put all the bulbs at the top.  Funny, but my dog seems to know the difference and really doesnt bother the tree after that first initial hour. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I used to have cats and we wired the tree to the wall and learned NOT to put things under the tree after one of ours peed on EVERY present. Some people have put the tree in an area not commonly used by the dogs. Some people have put the tree in a corner area that they can set an ex-pen blockade.  We tried putting up a table tree Ned's first puppy year - didn't work out any better than if we had a floor tree.  Many dogs don't bother a tree after that first curious part and that is how ours are, so we set the tree up in the room about 24 hours before we do anything to it.   We make sure to put non-breakable ornaments near the bottom so if a tail or quick brush-by sweeps one off, it doesn't break. 

[Gumbo and Ashley]

OOOhhh good idea Nancy, Ned, and Clancy!  Set it up first with nothing on it. Once they get used to it like no biggie, add your ornaments lights etc... Great idea thanks so much!

[Stella]

I put an x-pen around the tree when I go out.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Charlie totally ignores the Christmas trees.  In 2012, when Beau was only 4 mos. old he loved to lay under the tree and never took anything off it.  Then in 2013, at 1 yr 4 mos., he turned into an ornament thief.  I had a baby superyard xt stored in the garage which I bought at Toys R Us years ago.  I decided to put it in around the tree - it is about 5 or 6 ft in diameter and connects into a hexagon.  Worked like a charm!  I disconnected it this particular day to take this photo and crop it.  Not very attractive, but the bottom 3 feet of ornaments stayed on the tree! LOL.  I am hoping this year, he will have outgrown this naughty behavior and the baby pen can stay in the box in the garage. When Beau was a puppy, I used this in our kitchen area, so that he would be safe while I was cooking. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Beau and Charlie are so darling.  You just can't imagine them being little ornament thieves.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Linda, this is just the cutest picture!  They both are beautiful!

[Three Doodle Life]

Those two look like perfect Christmas angels! Surely they have never gotten into any mischief! ;-)

[Lynda Kamrath]

Probably not the best answer, but our friend made an ornament from a mouse trap and decorated it all up.  He put it right on the front of the tree at nose level and when Groucho Too sniffed it, it snapped at him.  He never bothered the tree or the ornaments again.  Groucho Too is gone but we kept the ornament.  Harpo never bothered the tree, so we will see about Zeppo.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have never had a bit of problem with my dogs and the trees, except for a wagging tail too close to one of them.  They don't bother with the ornaments at all. Good luck!