This October, Petland Texas is honoring National Animal Safety and Protection Awareness by dedicating this Halloween blog post to puppies everywhere, including the furry friend that’s curled up on your lap right now!

All Hallows’ Eve is a mysterious time of year, full of tricks and treats, scary costumes and spooky music, horror movies and bleak stormy nights and fog rolling in from the darkness and—gasps for air—a silvery moon that creeps across the sky! 

Muahahaha! 

But keeping your brand-new puppy safe on the holiday shouldn’t be a mystery. 

October is definitely the season when it’s fun to be swept up in the fantasy and scared, but there’s nothing fun about the real-world dangers that can emerge on Halloween and hurt your puppy.

Here are the Halloween safety tips you need to know in order to keep your new puppy safe.

MAINTAIN A PET-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT

If you’re part of the Petland family, then you probably went to great lengths to puppy-proof your house before you brought your furry friend home for the first time. It would be a good idea to approach the Halloween holiday with the same methodical care, especially if you’re planning on hosting a Halloween party.

Your home environment should always remain pet-safe no matter what, but we’re no party poopers! It’s totally fine if you want to spruce up your living space with festive Halloween decorations! But you’ll have to be mindful of the specific decorations you use, as well as their placement. 

We wish that most seasonal decorative items came with a pet-safe label, but unfortunately this isn’t always the case. That being said, you can use your best judgment to avoid decorations that come with obvious choking hazards, and be sure to read the labels to see whether the item is made with toxins or chemicals. When in doubt, simply don’t buy. 

Fun fact, the best decorations are natural, think pumpkins, squash, gourds, colored corn husks, and autumn wreaths. Twinkling lights can add a nice ambient touch, just be sure that there are no tangles that your puppy could get stuck in. Finally, if you’re planning on snacking on Halloween candy, be sure that the treats are out of your puppy’s reach.

KEEP YOUR PUPPY CALM BEFORE ANXIETY STRIKES

There are several anxiety-causing surprises that come with Halloween. Trick-or-treaters knocking at the door or ringing the bell could cause an uncomfortable degree of anxiety in your puppy, so we recommend that you implement a different system for your trick-or-treaters to use. 

If you aren’t going to stand outside or at the door to interact with the steady stream of costumed kids, you could leave a bowl of candy outside with a sign that says, “Take one.” The best way to go about troubleshooting this potentially scary scenario is to have your Plan B ready in case your puppy gets overly excited to the point of being anxious when strangers come knocking.

Keeping your puppy calm could become challenging if you’re planning on hosting a Halloween party. Things to ask yourself are, has your puppy already met the guests you’re planning on inviting? Will there be music playing? Will there be any loud noises or loud games during the party? 

You’ll want to consider every aspect of your party, including whether or not everyone will wear a costume and what kind of food, snacks, and drinks will be served. Every detail must be puppy-safe, which means you’ll have to pay extra careful attention to costumes with choking hazards and snacks that are poisonous for dogs. And remember, Halloween masks can be very scary for dogs of all ages, so we recommend that you go to painstaking lengths to make sure your puppy knows it’s you under there!

Here’s a consolidated list of all the…

Biggest Halloween Puppy Dangers:

• Poisonous Halloween candy and treats, including chocolates, candy with “sugar free” Xylitol, painted pumpkins, glow sticks, and other toys with liquid and / or chemical components
• Pet costumes that fit poorly due to an inappropriate size and / or obstruct your puppy’s vision, hearing, airways, and / or ability to move freely
• Choking hazards can come from a myriad of Halloween objects, such as small decorative items like fake eyeballs, torn costume and / or wig bits that tear off, discarded craft project pieces like crayons and puff paint tubes, candy wrappers, and the list goes on
• Decorative tangles of all types can entrap and hurt your puppy, so be extra careful with fake cobwebs, netting, decorative cloth ghosts, twinkle lights, and any other stringed items
• Fire hazards from candle-lit jack-o-lanterns, lit decorative candles, outdoor firepits, and even your guests’ cigarettes all pose the risk of starting a fire, and that’s without the complication of your new puppy running around, so consider foregoing any real flames this Halloween
• Getting scared, running away, and getting lost is a scenario that poses a great danger to your puppy, which is why it’s so important that you take extra measures to make sure your Halloween home environment is puppy-proof and puppy-friendly! You don’t want your furry friend to freak out and bolt! 

What if you’re planning on having a tame Halloween at home, just you and your puppy? Depending on where you live, trick-or-treaters might ring your doorbell all evening, or your seasonal decorations might be a little too risky. To help you cover your bases, here are some additional aspects to consider and extra measures you can take to stay on the safe side this spooky season!

Extra Measures You Can Take to Keep Your Puppy Calm & Safe:

• Only put your puppy in a costume to take some pictures, and then take the costume off the little guy
• Keep all candy on high countertops and other out-of-reach places where your puppy can’t jump up to have a taste
• Only use Halloween decorations that are specially marked “pet-friendly” and / or “safe for pets” and if you’re going to paint your own pumpkins, be sure to use non-toxic, pet-safe materials
• Always supervise your puppy around open flames such as fireplaces, fire pits, and bonfires, and keep a ready-to-use fire extinguisher nearby
• Prepare your puppy’s crate with cozy blankets and other comforting items and treats, and don’t hesitate to crate your puppy if there’s too much excitement in your home

Finally, be sure that your puppy’s ID tag contains all of your current information, including your home address and cell phone number, and if you haven’t registered and activated your puppy’s microchip, do that right now before the Halloween festivities begin!

Are you ready for Halloween but missing the puppy piece of the puzzle? Come on down to one of our Petland Texas locations to pick out your very own, adorable pup-kin! Our available puppies are to die for… but not literally! That would be way too scary, even for Halloween!