Doggone Good Halloween Safety Tips For Dogs

An important message from Higgins the Totally Kids fun furniture & toys shop dog.

Halloween Safety Tips For Dogs

1. Avoid chocolate and other candy.  Make sure to keep any candy that you are going to hand out safely hidden from your dog. Notify kids in the house to put their candy bags away. Chocolate is a big no-no for dogs as it contains theobromine, which their bodies cannot properly digest. The darker the chocolate, the worse it can be. Small amounts are typically not lethal, so if he does snag a bite don’t freak out. But also don’t let it happen.

Candy wrappers, tinfoil, and other dangers can be found in candy bags, so keep your dog safe by putting these away.

2. Put your dog in a safe place, either a separate room or his crate, when the trick-or-treaters are coming by. You should not let him be at the door to greet the kids. Costumes, commotion, and loud noises will stress him out and can cause problems ranging from stress to aggression.

3. Don’t leave your dog around kids without supervision. The erratic movements and loud, startling noises can really upset him. Add in a scary costume and you have a formula for disaster.

4. Be careful about placement of electrical cords for decorations. If your puppy or dog chews on these, trouble will follow. Arrange them for safety and use a bitter apple spray on the cord to keep pets at bay.

5. Don’t leave candles unattended. Carved pumpkins look great with a candle burning inside them, but they can be tipped over. They can also be investigated by curious pets which can lead to burns or worse.

6. Make sure that your dog’s costume is the right fit. Don’t put him in a costume that is too small or tight. Also check for loose ends that could be chewed on and swallowed or cause other problems. If your dog hates having the costume on be a friend to him and take the costume off.

7. Watch out when the door is open. If your dog is not secured in another room or in his crate then he might bolt out the door. With all the activity outside it may be even harder to get him back in.

8. Walk your dog before the festivities begin – all those costumes can be scary.

9. If the noise is bothering him, try adding background sounds (radio, TV) to distract him from the neighborhood hubbub.

10. Be careful when out walking your dog after Halloween – loose candy can be found and he may grab a big piece if he sees it before you do.

11. Think twice about taking him out with your family to trick or treat. There’s a lot of costumes and commotion which can put any dog on edge. He might be happier at home.

12. Tell kids the dangers of the treats and to not feed the dog any.

13. Be firm. Don’t let anybody who wants to greet your dog just to be polite. Be willing to say “no thanks” if your dog is feeling anxious or if the other person (perhaps an excited, sugar filled child) is approaching inappropriately.

14. If you take your dog with you, do not take him up to a stranger’s door – the resident dog may not take kindly to that and it could end up being a bummer. Someone should wait at the end of the driveway with the dog.

15. Do not leave your dog outside. There are plenty of rumors that dogs are taunted and teased, that gates are opened, and that candy is tossed in yards. It’s unlikely that lots of kids are running around causing harm to dogs on Halloween night, but the commotion is enough to unnerve your dog and it is conceivable that a youngster might toss a treat toward your dog with the best of intentions but bad results.

It may seem like a lot, but the truth is that Halloween is a fun time for parents and kids and can easily be fun for dogs too. Many dogs enjoy being the center of attention and will tolerate wearing a costume (which we get a huge kick out of!) to do so. Keep an eye out for the dangers of candy, keep your dog secure in your house, and be ready to ward off over excited kids and all will be well. Happy Halloween.

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Halloween treats to make your pooch howl! Pop over to She Knows cause she really does know how to make these Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats and will show you how to too.

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Halloween Treats For People

Pupcakes recipe from Gourmet Mom On the Go.

Who you gonna call?

Ghost Suckers!

Head over to 18 twenty five and  learn the ghost sucker secret Recipe for Fun.

Boo! Don’t let these pretzel stick ghosts frighten you, they’re really not that difficult to make. Kitchen Daily shares the tricks for this great cook together with the kiddos.

We think Brownie S’mores look frightfully good, don’t you? Home is Where the Boat Is shares this and other Halloween ideas sure to please your “Peeps”.

If we haven’t scared you yet, this might!

Words for Wednesday

Hallo-Green 2012 FREE Costume Exchange

The recycling message is an important one to us at Totally Kids. Green Halloween, National Costume Swap Day  is a fun way of teaching our kids that they too can take a personal responsibility in helping save Mother Earth.

Bring in a child size Halloween costume to swap and take home a “new to you” one.

Hop on your brooms and fly in for fun and games, prizes, hot cider and treats. Start bringing your costumes in NOW!

Keep the GREEN going!

Before you visit us, check under your beds and back of closets for any gently used toys that the kiddos are no longer playing with or need. The toys for Autism collection is a GREEN project that is ongoing year long.

WANTED: GENTLY USED TOY DONATIONS
All parents in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area! Totally Kids
is accepting all toy donations to benefit the locally headquartered group “Parents United Against Autism”. We’ll take the donated gently used toys to local families in need. Aside from helping our friends and neighbors, this is an excellent opportunity to clear out your closets a little and keep those unused toys from ending up on a landfill for the next 100 years. Please bring whatever you can.

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Make an Egg-stra Special Recycled Bat at home. All Free Crafts will show you how.

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Green Halloween food tip: Eat your leftovers! There is over 29 million tons of food waste each year, enough to fill the Rose Bowl every three days and the rotting food in landfills contributes to global warming.

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Candy Coma Cure

Are you that parent? The kids are now  sound asleep so you know it’s a safe time to rummage through their stash for the “good” candy.

Our Facebook survey results are in. The candies that top the theft list of the most likely to be stolen by parents are: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups at the top, closely followed by Snickers, M&Ms, Kit Kats, Twix, Milky Way, Butterfingers, candy corn, Three Musketeers, and Skittles.

If the candy jar at your house runneth over, or you have a Halloween fear of dental bills, there are cures for the candy coma.

Have you heard about the Switch Witch?  A child grows in Brooklyn shares this disappearing act for all of the sugary stuff you may not care to have around for you or the kids.

The story goes like this: a child gets to eat all the candy they want up through Halloween night.  On Halloween night, before the child goes to bed, s/he lays out all their candy for the Switch Witch. The Switch Witch comes when they are asleep and takes the candy and switches it for a toy. Ta da! Cavity-creating candy is gone and a sugar free desirable new toy is there instead!

For the more curious:

The Switch Witch lives in Hallow Heights which is a little island in the sky by the moon. The Switch Witch loves candy.  All witches love candy, but the Switch Witch loves candy the most and she has the biggest candy stash of all the witches.  Do you know how the Switch Witch gets her gigantic candy stash?  The Switch Witch gathers most of her candy for herself and all the witches and cats on Halloween night. (Did you know that witches’ cats love candy too? They only eat milk chocolate though as it has delicious milk in it! –this is true only for witches’ cats though!).  So, here is how the Switch Witch gets her candy: late Halloween night, when all the children are sleeping, she visits the houses of children who choose to switch their candy for a toy. How does she know which ones are switching their candy in? A child puts a piece of candy on the door (of their room or house) to let her know that they want to switch.  The Switch Witch flies from building to building on her broom, with her black cat Corn (as in Candy Corn) on the back. They come in through a window. They fly in through the window with magic- the window does not need to be open.  She takes all the candy the child puts out and puts it into a sac that Corn holds open for her in his mouth.  Then she ties the candy bag to the end of the broom.  She takes out a shiny black bag that is full of toys. She leaves one toy for the child to thank them for the candy.  Then she leaves just as quickly as she came: on her broom, out to visit other children and perform more switches. By early morning, she and Corn return home to Hallow Heights where she sorts all the candy into large glass jars. That night, all the other witches come to visit and the Switch Witch doles out the candy they want.  They eat their candy with her, share stories of Halloween, hear about what toys she brought to the children and come back night after night for a treat.  You know how most pictures of witches are flying near the moon?  That’s because they are on their way to Hallow Heights to visit the Switch Witch and share in her gigantic candy stash.  By next Halloween, the Switch Witch has run out of candy and goes back out to do her switches.

I’m not sure about this one, but to each your own.

Halloween’s a Scream

Trick or Treat! The Halloween season comes to a close after a month of many fun festivities, Wag-O-Ween, Hallo-Green, National Costume Swap Day Party and many contests. The costume recycling was a great sucess with a huge load of Halloween costumes was delivered to St. Joseph’s Home for Children, thank you to everyone for your generous donations.  Now we face lots of un-decorating, bats, birds, ghosts, spooky things all need to come down this week. There are cobwebs everywhere.

Kate, Stephanie and Annette, three of Totally Kids weekend team pose in their Halloween attire.

This pooch decked out as a witch, stops by to take a test drive on her way back for a photo session with the Wag-O-Ween photographer, Josh P. Roberts.

Josh and Osa sporting a Twins jersey join Stephanie for Wag-O-Ween. Woof!

These pretty little Peacocks won everyone’s vote for Best in Show for costumes, and    their is a talented mother behind them. No, not hiding behind them, she made the costumes.

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Gourmet Mom on the Go will show you how to treat your family to these ghostly ghostly pancakes. Take a good look at them and don’t you agree, Halloweens a Scream?

Monster Dash

She’s no monster but surely can dash.  After running around the store all day, up and down ladders hanging pictures, constantly arranging and rearranging furniture for vinettes and displays, it was off to serious running along the Mississippi River almost every evening after a full day’s work. Today was the test of all her dedicated training. At mile post 8 Megan gracefully sailed past us with her beautiful smile in what appeared to be just another lovely Minnesota crisp fall morning walk in the park, not a gruling marathon run. We are so proud of Megan, a real winner.

The Monster Dash is one of four big  races sponsered by Team Ortho each quarter to raise money for research. Every year Team Ortho donates money to the Shriner’s Hospital, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association and the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation. All of which have received a portion of nearly $90,000 over the last three years.

These high-quality races throughout the year to keep people active.” Staying active is one of the best defenses against orthopaedic injuries, to areas like knees, hips, and the spine. Exercise increases or maintains your bone density; as a result you may be able to better avoid injury in the future. Earn some “bones“ in the race Volunteer Incentive Program.

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Monster Food

Dash to the kitchen and make monster brownies.

Monster Eyeballs Anyone?

You’ll need a laboratory to create these tasty monsters with edible googly eyes.

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Make and shake these with the litle monsters in your life.

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What goes “Ha-ha-ha . . . THUD!” A monster laughing his head off!

Doggone Good Halloween Safety Tips For Dogs

Halloween Safety Tips For Dogs

1. Avoid chocolate and other candy.  Make sure to keep any candy that you are going to hand out safely hidden from your dog. Notify kids in the house to put their candy bags away. Chocolate is a big no-no for dogs as it contains theobromine, which their bodies cannot properly digest. The darker the chocolate, the worse it can be. Small amounts are typically not lethal, so if he does snag a bite don’t freak out. But also don’t let it happen.

Candy wrappers, tinfoil, and other dangers can be found in candy bags, so keep your dog safe by putting these away.

2. Put your dog in a safe place, either a separate room or his crate, when the trick-or-treaters are coming by. You should not let him be at the door to greet the kids. Costumes, commotion, and loud noises will stress him out and can cause problems ranging from stress to aggression.

3. Don’t leave your dog around kids without supervision. The erratic movements and loud, startling noises can really upset him. Add in a scary costume and you have a formula for disaster.

4. Be careful about placement of electrical cords for decorations. If your puppy or dog chews on these, trouble will follow. Arrange them for safety and use a bitter apple spray on the cord to keep pets at bay.

5. Don’t leave candles unattended. Carved pumpkins look great with a candle burning inside them, but they can be tipped over. They can also be investigated by curious pets which can lead to burns or worse.

6. Make sure that your dog’s costume is the right fit. Don’t put him in a costume that is too small or tight. Also check for loose ends that could be chewed on and swallowed or cause other problems. If your dog hates having the costume on be a friend to him and take the costume off.

7. Watch out when the door is open. If your dog is not secured in another room or in his crate then he might bolt out the door. With all the activity outside it may be even harder to get him back in.

8. Walk your dog before the festivities begin – all those costumes can be scary.

9. If the noise is bothering him, try adding background sounds (radio, TV) to distract him from the neighborhood hubbub.

10. Be careful when out walking your dog after Halloween – loose candy can be found and he may grab a big piece if he sees it before you do.

11. Think twice about taking him out with your family to trick or treat. There’s a lot of costumes and commotion which can put any dog on edge. He might be happier at home.

12. Tell kids the dangers of the treats and to not feed the dog any.

13. Be firm. Don’t let anybody who wants to greet your dog just to be polite. Be willing to say “no thanks” if your dog is feeling anxious or if the other person (perhaps an excited, sugar filled child) is approaching inappropriately.

14. If you take your dog with you, do not take him up to a stranger’s door – the resident dog may not take kindly to that and it could end up being a bummer. Someone should wait at the end of the driveway with the dog.

15. Do not leave your dog outside. There are plenty of rumors that dogs are taunted and teased, that gates are opened, and that candy is tossed in yards. It’s unlikely that lots of kids are running around causing harm to dogs on Halloween night, but the commotion is enough to unnerve your dog and it is conceivable that a youngster might toss a treat toward your dog with the best of intentions but bad results.

It may seem like a lot, but the truth is that Halloween is a fun time for parents and kids and can easily be fun for dogs too. Many dogs enjoy being the center of attention and will tolerate wearing a costume (which we get a huge kick out of!) to do so. Keep an eye out for the dangers of candy, keep your dog secure in your house, and be ready to ward off over excited kids and all will be well. Happy Halloween.

___________________________

Halloween Treats For People

                Pupcakes recipe from Gourmet Mom On the Go.

Oldies But Definitely Goodies

How much candy can you fit into a crisp ghostly white percale environmentally friendly pillowcase and how many houses with steep steps do you have to run up to and shout out “trick or treat” to fill it?

At our house, Bob was the revered king of Halloween, never stuffing one, but close to almost two pillowcases full of  candy year after year. Really no one else even needed to bother putting on a costume and venturing out on a chilly Halloween night as Bob brought home enough candy to keep the entire neighborhood in candy until the following Halloween. Not the case though, the challenge was on with everyone trying to top Bob’s record. This competition continued year after year and always with the same results, the Candy King was Bob. Looking back, Bob was the only one big and strong enough to carry home a nine pound bag filled with the spoils of Trick or Treating.

Then, the worst thing happened every year the day after Halloween. The mountains of candy would always disappear. Our cruel father would take the candy and donate it to the orphanage downtown.

Over the years we all came to forgive Dad from robbing us of weeks of sugar highs and sparing us from future trips to the dentist with rotting teeth. Dad was on to something and today there are others sharing his belief that there is a limit to after Halloween candy dilemma.

Phillip Done, author of “Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood,” suggests having the Candy Fairy visit your kids. Have your kids write a letter to her and leave most of their candy out before they go to bed at night. She’ll take the candy (for children who couldn’t go trick-or-treating) and leave your kids a gift. For parents, that could be a fair and fun trade. There is also the The Halloween Candy Buy-Back Program!

Quite possibly some of us may have found special spots to stash a few favorite goodies. Don’t tell Dad, Please…

What were your favorite Halloween candies as a kid? Do you remember any of these oldies but goodies? And there’s nothing like an old pillowcase – sturdy, voluminous, , and environmentally conscious – to hold your epic stash. But you must have wondered – exactly how much could you possibly collect i

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Rock Candy? Not quite, but No Time for Flashcards will show you how to create these rock Jack-O-Lanterns.

Dig up some scary bones with Frugal Family Fun. Sorry, you’ll have to resist gnawing on these bones.

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These Candy Corn Cookies you CAN eat!

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What do birds give out on Halloween?  Tweets.

Wednesday’s Wags and Tales

Devon’s Dogs

You may recall from previous posts,  that our Devon, aka Mrs. B., is a dedicated purple jersey wearing, rather superstitious Vikings fan. (she believes that she possesses some magic powers – or that her dogs do) We will not talk about the Jets game, it is over and done with. From this photo, it looks like her dogs also share a thing for football. Well, maybe they don’t always share that football, but like the game.

Wags and Tales Bio:

Hi! My name is Brandi, and this is my fur brother Brutus. (You can tell which one I am; I’m wearing the pink collar.) We love to take walks, play fetch and snuggle. I lived at my house all alone, until my humans adopted Brutus from the MN Boxer Rescue. I don’t know what I did without him! He has taught me how to snuggle and play like a good dog. I have taught him how to chew on things we are not supposed to! It’s a win win situation for me. We also have some creatures that live with us called “cats.” I have taught Brutus how not to eat them, and he has taught me how to chase them, but again, we do not eat them, that is not allowed.  Sometimes it gets really crazy at our house! But we love to love our humans.  It is our most favorite thing to do! We snuggle up and go to sleep as soon as they sit down on the couch. Well, my human is telling me its time to go on a walk, (another one of my favorite things to do), but I am sure you will hear from me again! Bye!!!!

If you have a special pooch and would like to share any tales, we would be pleased to post it here on Wednesday’s Wags and Tales. Send photos and stories to kayrocks@gmail.com.

SAVE THE DATE: Calling All Dogs! Bring your people to the Wag-O-Ween Party Saturday, October 23 from 11AM to 4PM. There will be hot cider, games, prizes, dog biscuits, free furry fotos and fun times.

Totally Kids | 7876 Portland Avenue South | Bloomington | MN | one mile from the Mall of America | 952-881-2425

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Trick for a Treat …Dog Gone Good Too!

Puppy Pleasin’ Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats. (say that 10 times)

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