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Christmas tree with b's

Behavioral Issues
  • Wow! I hadn't thought about the tree yet beyond what my 22 month old grandson might want to grab! I guess I'll tier it - good stuff on top; unbreakables at toddler level; nothing at Basenji level. Fortunately, I gave up on tinsel years ago. I also collect nativity scenes but I put a plastic toy one down at the lowest level for grandbabies to handle. The rest already go up fairly high. Christmas decorating may be scant this year until I see what Cory zeros in on. Our Chocolate Lab ate a few ornaments so I'm already partially trained for the season.

    Pat

  • Most of my Christmas ornaments are non-breakables. I place the few breakables toward the top of the tree. For the most part the dogs ignore the tree and ornaments. It is the cats who bat them off the tree. We don't put the tree up though until I am off for Christmas break and the dogs will be getting lots of attention and are less likely to feel bored. We also don't put the gifts out until Christmas since unwrapping gifts is their biggest temptation.

  • When we had cats, before basenji, my husband use to tie fishing line around the top of the tree and tack it on the walls, so when the cats when tree climbing, it wouldn't fall over.
    Sure did look sad toward the end of the holiday season, however.
    Grin.

  • Oh and presents.. they are NOT under the tree….gggg... we have a table that the present go on... way to much temptation....gggg

  • I was just thinking about this the other day when I was moving some boxes in the storeroom and EL D spied the christmas stuff and grabbed for the garland. It reminded me not the decorate the bottom of the tree but good points about the water reservoir and cords - I probably wouldn't have thought about those.

  • When I got Senji, he was 5 1/2, and it was summer. He always slept in his crate, and I put the crate in the corner of the living room. I always put the Christmas tree in the same corner where his crate was located. I took apart his crate and let Senji sleep on the couch "temporarily" while the tree was up. After the holidays, he didn't want to sleep in his crate anymore. He got used to sleeping on the couch. (DUH!) Even now, I think he sometimes misses his crate. He'll frequently go in the corner and lie down. When I have the tree up, he likes to lay under the tree. He's a good boy and doesn't damage the tree. :p

  • We have a little 36" fiber optic tree, and all our ornaments are from Ikea (god I love that place, lol) and they are all actually plastic but look like glass. We got them that way because of the cat. So I'm not worried about anything breaking, we also do put it up on a little table and have squirt bottles in hand if Tiggy tries to "taste test" it

  • I haven't put up a tree in years. I never get into the holiday spirit. Presents go on the table. We only buy for my son anyway. I can't imagine Dash around a tree. Way to much temptation.

  • We had our tree up last year & just put an expen around it…when company came the dogs went into their crates & the expen could be taken off for pleasant viewing :)

    And presents didn't appear until X-mas day! :D

  • You could also supervise them when they are in the room with the christmas tree, or put up baby gates if there that bad and block off the room to them

  • Jazzy has never bothered the tree –- well, this will only be the 3rd Christmas with her, but she never bothers anything.

    We'll be bringing our tree in tonight and I am concerned about Keoki. I KNOW the ornaments won't be able to be hung too low, I am a little worried about the tree skirt, and I FEAR he will pee on it. After all.... it IS a tree.

    Dh has proclaimed, "He'd better not!!" As if that's gonna stop him, LOL.
    I'll just have the wood floor cleaner handy for the next day or so until I am sure that the tree is safe.

  • @JazzysMom:

    Jazzy has never bothered the tree –- well, this will only be the 3rd Christmas with her, but she never bothers anything.

    We'll be bringing our tree in tonight and I am concerned about Keoki. I KNOW the ornaments won't be able to be hung too low, I am a little worried about the tree skirt, and I FEAR he will pee on it. After all.... it IS a tree.

    Dh has proclaimed, "He'd better not!!" As if that's gonna stop him, LOL.
    I'll just have the wood floor cleaner handy for the next day or so until I am sure that the tree is safe.

    It is funny, none of my male have ever even thought about peeing on the tree… we do watch them when we first bring in the tree... but after that we have never had to worry about it....

  • Same here…we have never had that problem. We do tie it to the wall in the back, to make SURE they don't knock it over...but that has more to do with the human child, than the Bs

  • Always something new to learn here – my previous beasties was no problem around the tree but EL D is a totally different personality. I thought about no ornaments and garland near the bottom of the tree and someone else pointed out the water reserve -- now I'll have to consider the light cords. Whew glad someone brought this up!

  • So far, so good. No pee on the tree! He has just been curling up on the tree skirt for naps. He did try to chew on a piece of the skirt, but one quick, "Hey, leave it!!" was all it took.

    We haven't decorated yet; just brought it in yesterday as two of our dd's were at the Seahawks game yesterday and we didn't want to decorate w/out them. We'll see how he does once there are pretty things hanging there – like apples in Eden, you know. LOL

  • Haven't put up a tree yet but I finished all other decorating today and this came to mind:

    "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and within 5 seconds a basenji was there!"

    So…...the stockings (which were hand knitted and embroidered by my now deceased mother) are now hanging from the top of the entertainment unit! LOL! Little Brat!!

    Pat

  • :d :d :d :d :d

  • Other than when they were very young pups, my B's never really bothered the tree. Now opening the packages under it were a completely different story.

    Thought some of you might like to see this - my grandmother had some wooden hand-painted ornaments made when my Basenji's were young. I don't know who made them and if the lady is still around. This was back in the early 1990's.

    attachment_p_29171_0_p1000854-320x200.jpg

  • Those are beautiful, what great ornaments.

    @Craigh:

    Thought some of you might like to see this - my grandmother had some wooden hand-painted ornaments made when my Basenji's were young. I don't know who made them and if the lady is still around. This was back in the early 1990's.

  • Just finished putting up my tree yesterday - it's sitting up on a crate so nothing too tempting at b-level. The only thing EL D did that made me pause … a small branch had fallen off (live tree - he hasn't touched the tree at all) and he started chewing on it and then just rolled around all over it. I guess the smell of the resin turned him on -- he just had to get some of that balsam perfume! Of course now I have resin in my carpet.

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