HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS FOR YOUR PET’S BEHAVIOR AND HEALTH

Keep your pets safe for this holiday!

Halloween can be a fun time for humans, and yet it can also be a scary and dangerous time for our pets. Here are some important reminders to keep them safe and happy on Halloween night.

🎃 Keeping your pets inside is the safest thing to do.

Exercise your dogs early! Feeding them dinner a little bit earlier and going for your evening walk a little bit earlier will not only allow you to take care of their needs before the excitement and chaos of trick-or-treating ensues but it also allows your dogs to be more calm and relaxed while you are preoccupied later.

It will then be easier to keep your pets inside if they already got their exercise. Most dogs do not want to be walking in the middle of all the craziness, anyway.

Cats can also get frightened easily or be too scared to make their way back home.

🎃 Keep all candy out of your pet’s reach.

Not only are things like chocolate and xylitol toxic to our cats and dogs, but the wrappers themselves can be dangerous as well as dogs consuming large quantities. Every year, veterinary hospitals and veterinary ER’s get cases where dogs come in because they ate a bunch of candy. Don’t let that be you - it hurts your dog and it hurts your pocket.

Another side note to consider is that when a dog gets into candy, they can perceive it as a valuable resource and then start fights with other dogs in the household or display aggression towards their owners if someone tries to take it away. I’ve seen it happen and it’s just another reason to keep it all out of their reach.

This ALSO includes your trash! All of those candy wrappers post consumption still have residue and can attract the attention of our cats and dogs.  Not to mention all the candy that you throw out because your kids don’t like it! Whether it’s the stuff you’re giving out or the stuff your kids have collected, be smart with where you stash it and trash it.

🎃 Prevent your pets from having any type of opportunity to dart out the front door, especially if you are having trick-or-treaters come to you.

Social and friendly dogs can potentially get caught up in the excitement from the door opening and closing with all the people. And even while trained dogs can take advantage of the fact that you are preoccupied and make a dash out the door.

For fearful and anxious dogs, giving them access to the front door can cause unnecessary stress and can risk an escape out of the door. These dogs are more prone to “spook” easily and run, specifically around novel situations.

Lastly, our dogs who display aggression towards unknown visitors or guests should be safely confined and removed from the situation completely. This is of course for the safety of your dog but also for the safety of everyone entering your property. Out of sight, out of mind.

Preventing escape through the front door can be done in a number of ways depending on the situation and your dog’s history. Putting a gate up or other barrier to block the front door entrance is one option. Or, gating your dog off to another area of the house away from the front door is also an option. For other dogs, the better option will be crating them in another room or area or simply confining them to their own room. Giving them their own things to do will keep them occupied and content.

And of course, you can always just sit outside to greet your trick-or-treaters instead of having them come to your door.

All of these above options can help prevent accidental running out of the front door OR territorial aggression towards the “scary” intruders.

🎃 Remember that pets can naturally find costumes to be threatening, not funny or amusing.

For this reason, do NOT force your dog into being pet by kids in costumes or force them to get close for pictures. What appears harmless to us can appear very dangerous to them. Seeing a bunch of people walking around in costumes is not the norm for most dogs, so it’s expected to see them be hesitant, confused, or scared. Dogs aren’t people and therefore they don’t understand that this is a fun annual event that we are partaking in. While of course there are exceptions to the rule and there may be individual dogs who are accustomed to this type of activity, honor your dog and their natural instincts.

🎃 Halloween costumes may be fake but Halloween safety is a REAL thing.

Every year, lots of pets get sick, lost, escape, hit by cars, and worse! One year when I use to work as an emergency veterinary nurse, there was a large dog that the owner had dressed up in a pink tutu inside their home. However, she got out of her family’s front door and went running down the street in a panic. Adults and kids started screaming as the frightened dog went running through the crowds of trick-or-treaters and someone actually shot the dog, assuming she was a threat! Thankfully, the dog survived but there is a serious lesson to be learned here that Halloween can pose many dangers to our pets - so let’s not forget about their safety.