We know the importance of keeping our dog safe on Halloween. Walk them early in the day. Keep them on leash for bathroom breaks when eliminating in the garden, don’t underestimate a scared dog’s ability to jump a fence they usually wouldn’t. Ensure their ID Tag and microchip details are registered and up to date. Keep them away from the front door and behind closed doors or in crates. Have music or TV playing loud to drown out the scary noises outside AND of course, provide lots of chewing and self soothing puzzles and activities to help them self soothe and calm. Also, don’t be afraid to put your dog first and leave a bowl of treats for the children outside the house with a note to say “please do not ring the doorbell, it worries our dog”. People will completely understand!
What kind of chewing and self soothing exercises you ask? We’ve got that covered too.
1. Did you know cooked pumpkin is a highly nutritious Halloween treat you can give your dog? Cut your pumpkin in halves. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits. Place the two halves on a baking sheet and bake until the flesh is soft and able to be mashed. Allow the cookwd pumpkin to cool. Wash and clean the seeds and then place them on a baking tray to toast to golden brown. Scoop out and mash up the pumpkin flesh. Stuff it into your dog’s kong, spread on their lickimat or spoon into an empty egg carton and close the egg carton up. Sprinkle the toasted pumpkin seed on top. Give to your dog as it is or freeze it for later when the trick or treaters are calling. Freezing stuffed food puzzles make them more of a challenge and last longer. Licking a lickimat clean or chewing and shredding a food puzzle like these are natural stress relieving activities for dogs and provide decompression and calming brain chemistry. To make it even more stress relieving, hide the pumpkin food puzzle or stuffed egg carton in a box and then that in a box for your dog to have loads to shred through and pull apart to get reward.
2. Get two ordinary peppers, orange preferably to stick with the classic Halloween colour. Chop the top and stalk off and remove the seeds and stems inside. Carve out two little triangles and mouth shapes in the side, if you like. Stuff the hollow peppers with wet food, natural yoghurt, mashed banana or tinned sardines and coconut oil mashed into a paste. Any paste like stuffable food your dog will enjoy. Freeze the pepper for later or give it to your dog as it is for an easy interactive food puzzle your dog can polish off.
3. Forage boxes – take your dog’s toy box if they have one, or take a basin, plastic container or cardboard box – anything you can put a few items in will do. Place a few items of your recycling, such as empty egg cartons, empty milk drum, toilet roll inserts etc. or dog toys or teddies or small pumpkins, basically whatever dog-safe times you have that your dog can snuffle through and pull out of the box. Scatter your dog’s dinner portion of kibble throughout the box and hide a few long lasting chews (pizzle sticks, antlers, beef skins, yakker) for your dog to find along their way and give them to interact with and engage their natural forage and sniffing abilities to find the food. This kind of activity give your dog a “win” and a sense of achievement in a way that makes them feel good and allows them to relieve the stress of what’s happening outside the house.
