? Presents under the tree

[janis]

Advice or stories? I have put up our Christmas tree this weekend. I decided not to temp the fates and did not put any of my favorite ornaments down low. I turned on the lights - guess who came to investigate! He did the nose bump was quickly bored and left with a look that said "so you though I would do something bad?" My next move will be to put the tree skirt under the tree and see if that is a problem....but I'm scared about packages - he LOVES paper! Shredding it not admiring it! Advice or stories of Christmas' past?

[josie&holly]

Holly loves shredding paper too! I have to put the vacuum cleaner in front of letterbox [we dont have mailboxes in UK and my letter box is at bottom of door!] so that she does not grab any mail before I get it! I have had shredded edges on post before now................... so would not want to put parcels at foot of any tree for a fear like yours of her investigating!

Oh, if I drop a tissue on floor she loves to destroy that too!

[Dempsy's Mom]

Dempsy's first Christmas with us was last year. He never bothered a think and he hasn't this Christmas either ... so far. But when we give him his gifts he seems to know what to do with them. It's just like when we hand him his gift he knows it's his. "Oh Boy! My turn!" and he just has a great time. Very fun.

[hheldorfer]

Buffy loves shredding paper so I don't put any gifts on the floor until Christmas Eve/Christmas Day when we can keep an eye on her. And forget the bows - they're usually the first victims. However, it's a riot to watch her open her own gifts.

[TazTalk]

We have not put up a tree the past 2 years since we got Taz. He is still so ball obsessed, I’m afraid of what he’d do with the ornaments. He’d look at the tree as unlimited opportunity for fun.

A few years back when we still had Bandit, we had an interesting Christmas Eve. Someone at work had given me a wrapped present and I had not yet opened it - and didn’t know what it contained.

So my in-laws came over with a stack of gifts and my daughter took all the presents off the kitchen counter and put them under the tree (including the one from my work).

We went to dinner and came home to quite a surprise. There was a torn up box of chocolate covered toffees on the floor, with only 6 remaining. I looked at the box label and it said qty 36 – so 30 were missing!!

Bandit looked like a blow fish. His belly had expanded to what seemed to be twice his normal size. We called the emergency vet and they suggested we get some hydrogen peroxide down him to induce vomiting.

Well, that certainly did the trick. I won’t go into details – but it was not pleasant.

So, beware of gifts under the tree…

[lindasue]

Last year Pegi was a pup and investigated the tree; we didn't put presents under it until Christmas eve. This year she is out of her crate and has the run of the living room, where the tree will go (notice I said "will go"). Haven't put it up yet, but know I will have to block off the room whenever we aren't home. And seriously no presents under it!

Favorite dog/Christmas tree story - many years ago I had a boxer. Went to California for Christmas and left dog w/my parents. They went out for Christmas eve; came home and the tree was down, presents opened and scattered throughout the house.

Learned my lesson then!!!

[bradl]

This topic isn't at all what I feared it would be

Our guys think the tree stand is a giant bowl of pitch-flavored water, so we "fence" the stand off. We used to also use a short expen to wall off the presents, but with just Peggy and I, we now just keep the presents off the floor altogether. The dogs do help us unwrap.

[Idaho Cairns]

Our dogs have always been really good with Christmas trees and ornaments around the house at Christmas time, don't know why exactly except that my Cairns have never had problem with destructive behavior--Sammi and computer cords being the exception.

They tend to ignore the thing for the most part. However, when given their stocking last Christmas morning, they got involved big time but then they were permitted to "open" their stocking.

[Sue G]

I didn't think about it until I came home one day and found the Disney cups I bought my grand-girls chewed to pieces. They weren't wrapped yet, but were on the bedroom floor in a bag. I'm not taking any chances. My gifts are in my bedroom where I can shut Ozzy out during the day when I'm not home. On the tree front, everything's been good. So far, so good!

[janis]

"This topic isn't at all what I feared it would be "

Hadn't even thought about that! This is our first Christmas with Kirby I figured there would be potential for a Cairnish Christmas! As well as a host of stories of Christmas' past!

[Zekey's Mom]

were on the bedroom floor in a bag...

I have a bad habit of tossing bags on the kitchen floor when I come in and then getting distracted. Zekey has an uncanny sense of which bag is from PetSmart (ok, it smells like treats), and he grabs the first toy he comes to, cardboard backer and all!

I didn't have a tree last year, so can't add to the advice. But, from past trees with my cats, there's nothing sweeter than finding a little bundle of fur all curled up and sleeping on the tree skirt.

[pindrop]

I had to admit that I have been worried about how to handle this issue as Layla is just three months. We too have an artificial tree and I'm not sure how she will take all this in stride. She has her terror moments during the day and runs around like a crazy pup - grabbing her ball or her Wiggly-Giggly and tossing them in the air. I was thinking I could put the tree on a small table but someone mentioned blocking it off with her pen. That might be just the ticket. So..with this said - I will attempt to put everything up this coming weekend and keep my fingers crossed.