A Festive Woof Woof Wednesday...with Cookies!

Our local pet store sells cookies for dogs, and pup Astrid loves them. The cookies are always flying out the door because they're so popular, so we stocked up on the festive ones back in November. Luckily, these things have an impressive shelf life.

We apologize for the poor lighting, but the cookies are usually an evening treat for pup Astrid, and so you get evening lighting. Without further ado, here's Astrid obliterating a snowman cookie.

These cookies are usually a Sunday treat for Astrid. Every Sunday, my parents, my sister, and myself get together for family dinner. Astrid's Pawpaw, that being this here human's dad, is usually the one to give Astrid her cookie. She always knows what seeing Pawpaw on a Sunday evening means, and she will never let him forget to give her a cookie. Ever.

Have a festive Wednesday, friends! Be sure to enjoy a cookie or two. Or three. Definitely three.

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Festive Flashback Doodle of the Day

As we've mentioned a few times, things got good and chaotic leading up to Christmas. I failed to share our new festive doodles and even lots of new festive photos of the furbabies. For that reason, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be a festive extravaganza over here on our blog, and so will the Twelve Days of Christmas, which start on Christmas itself. Before that extravaganza starts, here's a festive flashback from all the way back in 2018.

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Tip of the Day

Over the past couple of days, we've been discussing how to ensure that your furbaby is safe when you leave home or otherwise leave them unattended this holiday season. We've already reminded you to unplug Christmas lights and to remove the ample Christmas snacks from their reach. Now we want to remind you about those gifts under the Christmas tree. To begin, we've mentioned in previous tips the danger posed by items such as ribbon, tape, and even wrapping paper itself. After all, consumption of these items can lead to any number of issues, including intestinal distress, blockage, or other damage.

It's not just the outside of the gifts that can be hazardous, though. First and foremost, if any wrapped gifts contain food, whether it be yummy treats for a human or treats for a furbaby, keep those gifts well out of reach of your furbaby at all times. As you all know, kitties and pups have a darn good sense of smell, and some furbabies might feel compelled to chew or rip their way to any food they smell. This can be bad news not only for the gift itself, but also of course for your furbaby, especially if the food they find includes chocolate or other toxic components. Though it's obviously not toxic, also refrain from hiding gifts containing catnip beneath the tree. This could lead to a destroyed or stolen gift box, as well as to the potential dangers that result from eating gift wrapping material.

There are plenty of other considerations to make on this topic as well. Are any of the gifts you wrapped small? And is your kitty or pup one to slap around, run off with, or eat small items? Are any of the gifts large? Or are multiple gifts creating a large pile around the Christmas tree? Is your furbaby a jumper or climber or otherwise at risk of knocking over large or piled gifts? Are any of the gifts fragile? Is your furbaby simply a chewer who will eat their way through a wrapped gift just for the sake of it?

The long and short of it is to always be aware of the temptations as well as the dangers that wrapped gifts can pose to a furbaby. You know your furbaby best, and you, or perhaps someone else in your house, knows what is contained within those gifts beneath the tree. Keeping all of that in mind, treat gifts accordingly when leaving your furbaby unattended at home. If that means hiding all gifts rather than leaving them beneath the tree, then find a safe and secure hiding place for them.