Tips on Having a Dog AND a Christmas Tree!
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Teach Your Dog to Leave the Christmas Tree Alone
If you have been avoiding having a fully decorated Christmas tree for the holidays because you are worried about your dog or dogs misbehaving, then this guide is for you! It IS possible to have a tree around your dog without your pet ruining it. Use these tips to safely desensitize your pup to your decorations so you can have a dog and a Christmas tree this holiday season. Learn how to split the setup of the tree into 7 simple steps while training your dog to leave it alone so you can start enjoying Christmas again.
Looking for suggestions on how to have a Christmas Tree around your cat? Check out this post on 5 Fun and Festive Cat-Friendly Christmas Tree Ideas from Shed Happens!
1. Put the tree in an out-of-the-way place
After the tree is up, keep an eye on the dogs when they are around the tree. Let them check it out, but not interact with it too much. This means no contact with the tree other than a quick sniff. Make sure your dogs have plenty of toys to play with instead of the Christmas tree during the whole holiday season. (For some low-cost toy options, take a look at the DIY Dog Enrichment Ideas post) If the tree comes pre-lit, turn the lights on when you are around, so the dogs get used to seeing that as normal too. If the tree does not come pre-lit, add the lights once the dogs are used to the tree being up.
2. Put the tree topper on
This is safe to do once you no longer have a fear of your dogs knocking the tree over. Start with tree toppers that are either plastic or metal so they are not as breakable. This can also be put on the tree when you put the tree up.
3. Next, add the Christmas Tree Skirt
Do not fully fasten it until you know the dogs are not tempted to pull or tug on it. This way the tree does not get knocked over that way. You can fasten or tie the skirt together once you are confident that your dog/s will not dig at or pull on it.
4. Once the tree has lost any type of novelty, put up the tinsel
Tinsel is something that is easily replaceable and not easily breakable. You do have to be careful with ingestion of it because it can get wrapped around the intestines if your dog does eat it. If you have a dog that tends to eat non-edible items, you might want to douse it in an anti-chewing formula if this has historically worked for your pups. Start by putting the tinsel at the top and depending on how much interest your dogs show in it, continue adding more until the whole tree is covered.
5. Start putting up plain ornaments
Start with plain, non-breakable ornaments that have limited personal value to you. This way if it breaks, you will not be heartbroken. We used dollar store ornaments the first year. You will start decorating from the top and slowly add them lower and lower, so the dogs get used to seeing them on the tree. The goal is for them to be another boring piece of furniture that they are used to. Do this slowly so your dogs get used to ornaments being on the tree as they start getting into the range where your dogs can reach them. This step can take a few days if your dogs are very curious. Remember to keep an eye on them and redirect them to one of their toys whenever they start to interact with the tree.
6. Start putting on the more meaningful or fun ornaments
The ultimate game plan will be to have the ornaments that look the most like dog toys or have the most personal value to you be at the top. This limits the likelihood of them being damaged at any point. Remember not to put the valuable stuff on the tree until they have shown that they have limited to no interest in the tree or anything on it.
7. Presents: Never put anything that smells good under the tree
You have dogs so wrapping paper will not hide the smell of tasty candles or treats (dog or human). Keep these items out of reach in a stocking or in another room until it is time to open them up. Try only putting presents that won’t easily be destroyed and won’t be tempting to your dogs. You can always have some fake presents wrapped and put underneath the tree to get your dogs used to not touching them, or for presentation if you don’t think your dogs will leave the gifts alone. This tends to be more of a problem if you wrap presents for your dog and they have been taught to ‘open’ their gifts. (My dog ruined a friend’s present this way. The package admittedly felt like a dog toy and my oldest opened the present and played with it while I was at work. Whoops!)
Extra Tips
Remember that you know your dog/s best, so it is up to you to decide what would work better for your pups. Some of these steps may take longer than others and certain decorations (or presents) might prove to be too much temptation for your pets which means that you will have to avoid putting them out. Depending on how likely you think your dogs may be to still mess with your Christmas tree, you can always elevate the tree so it is out of reach or place baby gates around the tree to block the area off.
Accidents can happen but this process should help limit any potential Christmas mayhem. Additionally, remember that tired dogs are good dogs. Make sure they are still getting attention and lots of pet enrichment during this jam-packed season, so they are not tempted to grab your attention through negative ways and acting out.
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Our biggest struggle has actually been their love for sleeping under the tree. Our German Shepherd mix Dav likes to sleep under there but every now and then she forgets where she is and stands up in a hurry knocking the tree over. It’s a good thing she’s cute lol
Oh my goodness that sounds like the cutest nightmare haha! I was just scrolling down to comment and caught this. Today was the 1st day my dog went under the tree to scratch his back on it. It was cute but I was worried.
LOL, Luckily our dogs know to stay away for the most part, unless a toy accidently gets tossed too close to the tree!
The challenge we have is our cat climbing it and playing with all of the ornaments. Our dog is very well behaved around the tree. Ha!
Oh no! I’ve heard tin foil around the base of the tree might help with cats 🙂
Fantastic tips! We also try to use non-breakable tree toppers just in case. The funny thing is that these tips could relate to toddlers too LOL!!!
Lol. That’s what I’m hearing! And yes non breakable better toppers help too!
Adorable photo of your dogs near the tree. Luckily our dogs have never had any interest in our Christmas tree but these are good suggestions for those who have dogs that do.
I have never had a problem with the dog bothering the tree or gifts but there was the yeat we had two kittens racing up and down the tree. We did minimal unbreakable ornaments that year. The following year they had no interest in the tree. It is a fond memory.
This is such helpful information 🙂
Great tips! I was lucky growing up that my cats and dog never bothered the tree!
Great tips! We have one dog whose tail could knock over a tree.. so this year we put a 4′ on a coffee table!
Excellent tips! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this! Definition going to use these tips!
Hope it helps!
I used to put the kid’s paper and handmade ornaments on the bottom. Those were the ones that could withstand the tail wagging!
Yep! I only put the ornaments that could handle tails and random bumps towards the bottom 🙂
Great ideas! Our Sheltie turns a year old this month so it’ll be interesting to see how she does with all the new decor!
Fingers crossed it goes smoothly!
I always thot cats were bad about wreaking havoc on the trees. I guess dogs can be too and they are bigger!
LOL, yes…both can be detrimental!
Is it weird that it never crossed my mind to decorate the tree in stages so that my dog could get used to it… luckily enough my dog is little (french bulldog) and can’t make it over the presents to get to the tree hehe
Not weird at all, I don’t think most people think about doing it in stages. We just used this method to get animals used to things in the zoos that I worked at, that I use a lot of those techniques at home 🙂
I’ll never forget waking up one morning to find my cat laying INSIDE the tree. These days, she’s pretty good at just laying underneath, although she will occasionally bat an ornament across the room. I always wonder how people keep their doggos from drinking the water for fresh trees. Any tips?
I can’t imagine finding an animal IN the tree! LOL. To keep them from drinking the water there are several water additives you can use to make it taste bad. 🙂
These are great tips for the doggies! Merry Christmas!
I’m so fortunate my old man has never made issue of the tree. Great suggestions for those that do!
That’s a great step by step approach. I’m lucky, my pup is not interested in the tree.
Adorable pups! My cat used to love going under the tree and playing with the lower branch of the ornaments. Sometimes she’d try to eat the fake branches that’s when I had to use ssscat to keep her away.
Great dog Christmas tips!
Thankfully, our dogs have been great around our trees. It’s the cats that have knocked it over. Several times. LOL. Love the cute pic of the dogs around the tree! Merry Christmas!
The one dog I ever had didn’t even notice the tree. The cats? !! Another story!!
Your pets look so cute around the tree. Ours is curious to know what the fuss is all about, but so far as not knocked one down, rather sleeps beside it, looking at the twinkling lights.
That’s good! The dogs originally thought all ornaments were toys until we taught them that the tree is hands off 🙂
Thankfully we’ve never had any issues with our dogs and our Christmas tree (or other decorations). Now, if we could just get the kiddos to keep their little hands off of everything. 😉
haha! We used to surround our tree with a baby enclosure to keep out the dog and the toddler.
That is also very effective!
I am lucky In that my 3 cats pretty much ignore the tree. One likes to sleep under it, but that’s all. We try to keep the breakable stuff about three feet off the floor, since they do on occasion play with anything low lying! Lol
The second we put the tree skirt down, my dog Dolly made a bed under the tree! We hardly put any ornaments within her reach. The pic of the wreath around your dog is adorable!
I’ve never had a problem with my cats or dogs and the Christmas tree however my son and his wife/family finally had to crate their one year old lab when no one his home because he kept pulling the lights off the tree and chewed on the branches. Hopefully he will do better as he gets older.
Great tips for gradually getting the dogs used to the tree. I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I imagine it must be particularly challenging if you have a cat. I remember having a large plant in my apartment and 2 foster kittens. They kept climbing up it and wouldn’t leave it alone. They would have had a blast with a tree and all the decorations!
I’m glad I only have to worry about one species and our tree. This will the first year for two of our dogs with a decorated tree so we will be going through the stages again and seeing what they can handle.
Cookie would only care about a Christmas tree if there was a squirrel on it. But having large dogs and a small dwelling, we didn’t want to risk them knocking it down by accident. So we always picked a tree small enough to fit on a table or a desk.
My older two dogs are like that. We will see how the two newest pups will be. Though one has started jumping on top of tables if she is really curious so even a small tree on the table wouldn’t be safe right now!
Super tips! I’m grateful that Henry doesn’t bother the tree, except for wanting to sleep under it. I know some dog parents even put a baby gate at a safe distance around the tree for additional safety measures. I had a friend who always put her tree near her couch so she could nap on the couch and watch the twinkling lights. But it encouraged her dog to try to climb up into the tree. She moved the tree a bit, and it was solved. I haven’t used tinsel or food items on the tree in many years. It’s just too encouraging for the fur kids. I like your idea of doing things in stages. That’s a great idea, Tiffany! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas with a safe tree to boot!
Baby gates don’t work over here with Evie- LoL. I’m hoping we can still use tinsel but it will be up to the puppies this year to see if they can handle it!
Great post and fantastic tips, I do not celebrate Christmas and in a funny way relieved as I can just picture Nili trying everything with a tree but it is so important for dog parents to understand how dangerous they can be.
Great tips! I did teach to my five Huskies to respect the tree, and they did! What they enjoyed was lying under the tree and falling asleep to the lights! I have so many wonderful, warm, cozy photos of them doing just that! I think the best tip you gave is to not put anything that smells good under (or on) the tree! Dogs have that uber keen sense of smell. Funny story to attest to this…I had these two sweet smelling Avon waxy gingerbread ornaments (anyone remember those?) and thought they were up high enough and that since they were pretty old (from the 80s), the smell was hardly there – so I thought they were “safe” from my curious Sibes. Well, apparently those super noses still smelled it as Gibson, my biggest Husky at 98 lbs, reached one and started chomping on it. I got it, he was fine, and to this day I still hang it on my tree with his teeth imprints in it. So, even 20 year old fading odor ornaments can still be detected by those super-noses!
oh wow! I would have put them up, thinking they are safe too. Right now our biggest challenge is keeping their energy down with constant arctic temps and snowstorms this winter