Trick-or-Treat frenzy

[jimnconnie]

How do your dogs handle Halloween? I know Bailey & Sophie are going to be barking their fool heads off for about 2-3 hours tonight. They haven't been trained to respond to the door-bell calmly, and a bunch of ghosts & goblins hollering "Trick or Treat" at the top of their lungs in full costume are really going to keep them going. In the past I have just gated Bailey in the dining area where he could see us answering the front door. He would bark & whine, but that wasn't too bad. Now, with 2 dogs, I know the frenzy level is going way up!! Any suggestions?

[sanford]

My suggestion would be some Valiums or several strong martinis...not both! (These are for you, not the dogs).

Have a blast!

[kjwarnold]

Or if it's chilly, go for the hot chocolate spiked with Schnapps!

We're in the country (kind of), so no trick-or-treaters here. When we lived in an area with lots of kids, our first Cairn, Willie, thought it was great. Every time the doorbell rang, he raced to the door to see what was out there next. I think he did bark at bigger guys in scary costumes, though.

There's always the crate if they get really out of hand. Regardless of what's going on, Packy is always calm and quiet in his crate.

[goforette]

We're going "crate-less" this year (have your fingers crossed this could be interesting) - I'm going to harness them up in case I need to grab one .... or two - pray they don't bark their heads off - they're older now - they have manners so let's hope they can use them appropriately and not scare off the little dorothys this year....

[Puddlesmama]

Shoot....I am going as Dorothy and Puddles is Toto..of course! We are going to go and terriorize the neighborhood!

[goforette]

My girls did so good - my loud mouth Hollie barked at first until she realized they were children. She didn't particularly care about the cute little costumes it was the scary ones she didn't appreciate - but by the end of the night - they didn't even bark at the Jack Russell Terrier dressed up as superman! I'm so proud of my little terriers... they were so good (better than I imagined they'd be this year)

[jimnconnie]

Bailey & Sophie were really wound up at first when they were gated in the dining area, so we put their leashes on and took them into the living room and sat them down right near the door so they could see everyone. It was warm enough to leave the inside door open so they had a great view of everthing and, with the help of some liver treats for good behavior, they were actually pretty nice. They were really excited to see Dorothy come to the door. We should have asked her to come in for a photo but didn't. All in all, they were really pretty good. Just when you think you have them figured out, they surprise you!

[Teri9672]

my solution is to sit outside on my driveway to give out candy. This way the girls don't get worked up over the doorbell ringing.

[Brody'sMom]

We only got 3 sets of trick or treaters and I missed the first 2! When I answered the door for the third set, I had to scoot out the door to keep the dogs (mainly Brody) inside. Generally, our dogs just ignore the front door, but I guess 3 rings in one night was too much for Brody. When I tried to scoot inside, he scooted outside.

I don't know who panicked more, me or him. He suddenly realized he was in the relatively unknown front yard and he bolted inside and hid in the bedroom (he ignored the kids completely)!

Mia, who has little to no interest in going out the front door (it usually means a trip in the car, which she hates) just sat about 10 feet back. She has not realized the front door leads to the area outside the fence, a place she really wants to be when she is in the back yard!

[toomanypaws]

Being I was handing out candy w/ a ferret on my shoulder, I crated all but Hannah. Kiara would be in "hunt mode" and Abbey is my barker. Hannah loves attention and I don't have to worry about her trying to make a break for it when the door opens.

Here's Hannah ready for the trick-or-treaters.

Maybe if I start now I can get a group photo for the Christmas cards.