dog proofing christmas trees

[Genia]

I saw a site once about dog proofing your christmas tree. Since that was probably around July I didn't bother to read it. Now I can't find the site. Does anyone know of a site or have any hints? My Jeffrey eats anything and everything and I would like to avoid trips to the vet over the holidays. I remember child-proofing my tree (my daughter would eat anything and everything! She's going to kill me when she reads this, but it's true! ) but that consisted of raising everything out of reach. This will not work with Jeffrrey. The only solution I can think of is putting a gate in front of the tree. Sugesstions, please!

[ktreva52]

You could try one of the Scat Mats -- they make them in a circular pattern to go around Christmas trees. How about spraying the lower branches with Bitter Apple? Does Jeffrey know "leave it"? If so, allow him only in the same room with the tree when you are in there and can catch him if he seems to be taking an interest in the tree.
Frankly, we've given up on trees more because of the cats than the dogs, and the other part is, we don't have any little people (human variety) in the house anymore and generally go to someone else's house to celebrate. We decorate with other things like lights and such, but a tree just isn't always up.

[Pam]

The problem is much worse with cats I think. I gave up on a Christmas tree two years ago. By Christmas Day all of the ornaments on the bottom half of the tree had been taken down by my cat, Andy, and had been relocated in the top half by the humans who found them laying on the floor. The lights had been pulled down 100 times so I finally threw in the towel. Now I have a long garland that goes across the archway between my living room and dining room and I have lights and tiny balls and about a half dozen ornaments hanging from it. It looks pretty and the cats can only watch from the ground and wish they could reach it but there's no way up!!

[Karen]

For many years our family's Christmas tree was surrounded by a playpen. That wasn't because the dog in residence at the time would have eaten the tree, but rather for two other reasons:

a. Her tail was pretty lethal to any lower-hanging ornaments - she was a Great Dane mix, so think of "lower" as anything under 3 1/2 feet off the ground. We swore she had no nerve endings in her tail, cause she wacked it pretty hard against all sorts of things with no noticable effect!

b. She LOVED candy canes. Would have climbed the tree to get one, and would practically stare the good taste off of one you were trying to eat. the playpen kept the candy canes (which were only near the top of the tree) safe, too.

It also had another beneficial effect - it kept all the presents neatly beneath the tree, and when they were younger, kept the grandchildren from eating the tree, the lights (oh, they sparkle must be yummy!) or the presents!

It would not, of course, have even slowed down any self-respecting cat!

[This message has been edited by Karen (edited November 27, 2000).]