Puppy In The House At Christmastime

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our household. This is obviously Landon's first experience with Christmas. First time seeing a tree in the house for him. It was quite funny too when we got the tree out. As we reprimanded him and told him to stay away from the tree next thing we know Piper is in the tree. She was starting to wrap her paws around the bottom and shimmy up the tree. Both of us had a good little laugh of disbelief as we watched it play out. 

Brad and I had a small difference of opinion concerning the tree this year. He wanted to stand it up on a small table so Landon can't get to it at all. I didn't like that idea! "Um, no"...was my response. I don't believe in that. What I mean is...I believe in teaching a fur-baby to not touch something/not mess with something/not go near something. I do not believe in doing things completely different just because there's a pup in the house. That being said, I understand the tree has to be decorated slightly different than usual to reduce some of the temptation for the pup-pup. But I fully believe we need to teach him now to respect the tree and leave it alone instead of not having a tree anywhere near just because we have a puppy in the house.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. So far so good. He's investigated it and briefly sampled chewing on a branch but after being told "no" and to "leave it alone" he has respected the tree. We will decorate our tree today. We got it out of the attic last night and set it up, then decided to leave the decorating for today. Our thought process was to allow Landon to adjust to a tree in the house before the decorations are there too. Landon leaving the tree alone isn't my biggest concern with a young puppy in the house, it will be the gifts under the tree soon.

Just a little added note, Landon is the youngest puppy I've had at a Christmastime. Cody was a year old. Since he was born in December he was weaned in early February. Making him a full year before he truly "experienced" Christmas. As for Simon, he was 9 and a half months old for his first Christmas. Piper remains the youngest furry overall that we've had at a Christmastime. While Landon is now the youngest pup at a Christmastime. I look forward to it. It's going to add a little dash of zip and zing to our household's Christmas. For sure!