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How to enjoy safe Easter with your dog Friday, April 10, 2009

by Stephanie Modkins (Examiner)

Easter is a wonderful time for the whole family. However, it can present a few risks for the family dog. So, here are a few safety tips:

1. Keep yeast dough and chocolate away from your dog.
Yeast dough and chocolate can cause vomiting, bloating and other digestion problems in your dog. So keep your dog out of the kitchen and away from these foods. If necessary, create a diversion - like a special food bowl - that will give your dog his own treat. Also, don’t forget to let your children and visitors know not to feed your dog these items.

2. Store or throw away decorative Easter products.
Your dog will naturally be attracted to colorful Easter ribbon and grass. However, these items can hurt or even poison your dog if he eats them. Also, for tiny dogs, Easter ribbon is big enough for them to get entangled in. An event like this could lead to accidental death. So, after everyone’s opened up his or her Easter baskets, store away your ribbon or throw it along with any excess grass away.

3. Ask visiting smokers to put their butts in the trash.
Tobacco products are fatal to dogs. So ask smokers coming to your Easter festivities to throw their cigarette butts into the trash. Signs that your dog has nicotine poison are excitement, panting, vomiting, diarrhea and salivation. Twitching, depression, weakness and cardiac arrest follow these signs.

4. Watch out for stray candy wrappers in reach of your dog.
Like Halloween, Easter is a big candy day. So, children (and adults) will be tempted to drop candy wrappers on the floor or leaving them on seats and tables. If eaten, candy wrappers can block up a dogs intestines. So be sure to keep an eye out for them and throw them in the trash immediately.

5. Keep the stress level in your home low.
You may want to throw a huge Easter celebration, but if you own a skittish dog this may be a huge mistake. It will either stress him out or create a situation in which he may attack someone. So, you will have to consider how many people you really can have around your dog in order to make sure your Easter is fun.