Cooper-proof Holiday Decorating

Foster Dad and I have never done a ton of holiday decorating, but we do enjoy a live tree and hanging our stockings with care, even though we don’t have a chimney.  Last year, we were a little Scroogey and skipped all of it.  After a year off, I decided come hell or high water destructive foster dogs, I was going to decorate for Christmas, dang it! Especially since Emily at Our Waldo Bungie got me into the holiday spirit way back in October when she invited me to be a part of this year’s Pittie Posse Secret Santa gift exchange! By the way, don’t forget to check back on December 21st for the big reveal!

We’ve already shared our tactics for introducing a live Christmas tree to Cooper. Since this will be his first Christmas at our house, and he has a certain “history,” we weren’t quite sure how he would react to a change in his environment. Since a lot of our holiday decor is sentimental, we wanted to be sure to keep it as safe from Cooper’s vicious chompers as we possibly could. Here’s how we did it…

Fake Presents

I love a tree with presents under it. But after all pounding the pavement and hitting the stores searching high and low for the perfect gifts for our loved ones, there’s no way we were going to leave them to chance under the tree.  Solution: fake presents.

I just took some empty boxes and wrapped ’em up. This actually solves three problems: 1) Our real presents are stowed safely away until Christmas morning 2) I get to use up some of the wrapping paper I don’t like and 3) you caught me – I’m actually nowhere near done Christmas shopping. I only have two gifts in my possession, which would look pretty pathetic if they were the only things under the tree.

Raising the Bar Roof Decor

Since we are human-munchkin free, and Oscar has never given our Christmas stuff a second thought, we have always had the freedom of placing our holiday decorations wherever we wanted.  Since that’s not the case this year, we looked up – literally. Instead of hanging our stockings on our stocking hooks where we usually do, here:

…we busted out some Command strips and hung them here:

Again, multiple problems being solved here…1) obviously the stockings are out of reach of any curious pups and 2) I still get to use my stocking hooks, and display some of the ornaments that didn’t make it to the tree.

Move it.

I am a creature of habit and I tend to find a “good spot” for things and not move them, ever. This includes holiday decorations – they usually end up in the same place every year.  We have a console that sits under or TV that is usually a great spot for some of our Christmas trinkets, but it also happens to be dog-nose height.

Too tempting for the pooches. I did set our little Christmas tree music box out, but the rest of my little Christmas friends got moved down the hall this year.  This part of the house is closed off from where the dogs spend their days while we’re at work.

These guys resemble stuffies a little too much to hang out with the pooches unattended during the day.

There you have it, just a few simple fixes to keep our holiday decorations pooch-proof, but still make the house feel festive. What do you do to keep your holidays dog-friendly? Have you had to alter any of your traditions?

Cooper is still searching for his Furever Home! If you’d like to add Cooper to your family, please visit Agape Animal Rescue and fill out an adoption application.

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