Hi, Sampson here. I’m filling in for mom today, with an important message for you and your pets in preparation for Halloween.
A lot of people get all caught up in the hype and excitement of Halloween and forget about their furry friends.
Personally I love Halloween, I love, love, love when people come to our house. The only problem is mom and dad won’t let us greet everyone at the door. They make us watch from behind a gate. They say it’s for our own safety, to make sure we don’t accidentally get outside in all the excitement.
The gate is really for Delilah, she can’t control herself.
I consider myself to be a pretty lucky dog, because mom rarely if ever dresses me up, don’t get me wrong, she’s tried a couple of times but I really hate it, so I just put my head down and refuse to pose.
She gets the hint pretty quick and that’s without using the clicker.
Mom says there are lots of people who dress their dogs for Halloween. If you’re one of them, please make sure the costume fits properly. A too tight costume will restrict movement and if the costume is too loose your pet can become tangled, which could have disastrous results.
Make sure your pets are secured when the door is opened for trick or treaters, some pets who aren’t as well-behaved as I am might take advantage of the open door policy.
Keep all candy out of your pet’s reach. I would NEVER think of eating something that mom or dad didn’t give me, but there’s a certain chocolate lab who doesn’t follow the rules.
Be sure to monitor your pets when they go outside, no-one likes to think about it, but there are some people in this world who do bad things to pets, especially on Halloween.
Some people like to take their dogs with their kids while they’re trick or treating. It’s a great idea if you have a well-behaved dog that can handle crowds and walks well on leash. If your dog doesn’t like crowds it’s probably best to leave them home in their crate with a nice stuffed Kong.
If you do take your dogs out walking with you it’s a good idea to have some kind of light reflecting vest. Dad picked these up for us at Cabela’s last year for less than $20 each.
Does this vest make my fur look fluffy?
Those are the Halloween rules at our house. What kind of Halloween rules do you have?
A fine set of rules to work by. Kids do get very over excitable at Halloween and the sweeties can be more than most dogs can resist 😉
Great post! We live in an area so rural that we don’t have trick or treaters, so no worries there. And I rarely, if ever, dress the dogs in any kind of costumes. Only for the infrequent blog “photo shoot.” The only rules here…. there are two holidays that we keep the dogs inside the house more than usual: 4th of July (it’s like WWIII around here) and Halloween.
This will be Freighter’s first Halloween. Should be interesting. We will keep them all behind a gate; however, I don’t think we will have a lot of kids due to weather.
Sampson sure has Delilah pegged….hahaha!
Hope you are OK.
Good reminders….I have “dressed” the girlz up a little–they were not pleased. We live in the country, therefore don’t have any Trick or Treaters. My bigger concern is hunting season when people can just be STUPID.
I need one of those reflective vests for Litchi, all the time. I haven’t seen any here in South Africa but, being as utterly black as she is, I can never see her at night. Luckily, Halloween isn’t a big deal here, so hopefully most of the pets will be safe.
Good Morning Sampson! What did you do with Delilah? Tie her up and gag her? Put her in her crate? Hehe!
My name is Callie, and I have 2 younger sisters. Shadow and I are Golden Retrievers. We’re 8-1/2 and 8 years old. Then there’s the little demon dog, Ducky. Mom & Dad rescued her from our local shelter to keep her from being put to sleep by mistake. She’s a Corgi-Lab mix according to the shelter, according to us, she’s a pest. Oh well, at least she spends the day at doggie day care every Monday through Saturday. I have to admit that she is a LOT better now than she was!
We don’t even know much about Halloween. Our Mom says that she & Dad haven’t had any trick-or-treaters in YEARS.
Hi Sampson! I’m Sue, Callie’s mom. We live in SC where the schools and churches have Halloween parties so that parents don’t have to worry about their kids being hit by a car. People down here drive like idiots, and there are no sidewalks on most of our streets.
PS Callie & Shadow don’t get dressed up for any holidays. The only clothing they have are rain slickers. Ducky’s friends at day care rigged a devil costume for her for the Halloween party last Friday. She looked soooo cute! I can’t wait to get a copy of the pix!
We’re the Grinches who stole Halloween. We turn all the lights off and watch TV at the back of the house. It makes the neighborhood much quieter that way.
I’m with Jan – we hide int he basement and watch T.V . .it’s much more relaxing 🙂 (we don’t get very many trick or treaters anyway!)
That is some really good advice, Sampson. Our Halloween usually involves us locking the door, turning off all the lights, and hiding in the basement. Shiva is not so happy to have so many visitors at our door and it’s just easier if we pretend we aren’t home. It’s kind of a downer for neighbourhood children I am sure but in this house, dogs come first. 😛
No kids asking for candies here, although Doggy had to dress up for a blog contest, he was a cross-dresser.
The vest doesn’t make you look fluffy.
I wonder if Delilah would write her Halloween tips the way you did, Sampson?
Halloween is so busy in our neighborhood that we don’t have time to go inside the house and wait for the doorbell to bring. We sit on the porch while we have 10 kids on the porch, 10 coming up the steps, and 10 waiting at the bottom. It’s insane.
We have yet to make it past 7:30 p.m. without running out of candy and that’s even inviting other friends and making them bring candy.
We sit on the porch with Honey on her leash. Some of the kids have so much fun petting her they forget to get their “treat.” That allows us to make it a few minutes later. 🙂
Hi Y’all!
Glad y’all are safe.
Sampson, what’s trick or treat? I’ve never seen a trick of treat.
We live in very, very rural areas and the only thing I know about Halloween is that some people put up autumn colored decorations on their porches until Thanksgiving when they change the decorations for Christmas ones.
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
We keep a baby gate up in the door, so we can look over and greet the trick or treaters, and they can pet us, but we can’t accidentally get out. A certain unruly Shepherd hangs out in her crate during trick or treat hours, too. We don’t wear costumes on Halloween, just fancy collars and bandannas, but we do wear costumes to the nursing home, and Mom does a good job making sure they fit us before we go!
Bunny
Hi Sampson ~ I bet your Mom cringes when she sees dogs in costumes:-) Happy Halloween to you!
Nice post Sampson and a great reminder to all of us two leggers!