Do your babies have special holiday traditions?
 

I thought it would be neat if everyone shared their packs Holiday traditions with the group.

For Thanksgiving (one of the rare occassions our table gets used :rolleyes:), I put one bite of everything we are eating in Cool Whip bowls (saved back just for this), along with a nice slice of turkey cut in Yorkie Sized pieces, and the pups get their special meal too. This year, Darcy will be eating with us, and I am so thankful for that.

After we eat (which is usually around 4) we all pile in bed for a cozy NAP!

For Christmas--we do the meal thing, too. I get them all one big gift, and let them "unstuff" their stockings...and we let them open their gifts before we do ours!

Everyone, please share what you do to make the Holidays special for your pups!

Awww, that is a really sweet tradition...and I might just steal it :p:p

Since this is Ralphie's and his new sister's (who hasn't come home yet) 1st Christmas I am not sure what traditions we will be starting yet. I know that I can't wait though!!

While it sounds like a lovely tradition, there is so much information about not giving our dogs, anything from the thanksgiving meal. Turkey has an ingredient that can make your dog sick, and other foods such as gravy and stuffing can cause acute pancreatitis, and this is extremely painful. One attack can set up a whole host of problems. I would be careful about any special foods I gave my dog; there may be a better way to show your love.

We take Joey for a walk on Christmas Eve after it gets dark. It's still warm enough here to do that, and dressed in his little Santa suit, he gets lots of attention, and we enjoy looking at all the Christmas lights.

These are great! My bullmastiff always got a plate fixed with all the different foods we were eating too. He could also unwrap his own gifts...


I'm not sure what kind of traditions I'm going to start up with Rory...now I'll have to think about it! She has not shown the same kind of talent with opening gifts all by herself, but she can do a pretty good job "helping", which is what she does every time I bring home a shopping bag or receive a package in the mail. Of course to be fair, I rarely return without a gift for her! :)

Soon as the tree get put up Brownie checks his stocking every morning to see if santa came.

I should have said that they only get the white meat from the turkey...and no skin, no fatty gravy. Also, it is only one small bite of everything we eat, and only on the holidays.

Those videos are soooo precious!

i love this!

I thought someone posted an article last year about this, tryptophan the ingredient in turkey that is said to make us sleepy, was said to be bad for dogs. Even turkey broth, they said. I'm having a hard time finding anything to back this up though, so I guess that was nonsense.

You are also right, about no skin or bones should be given and no gravy. So I guess, I will give Joey a little turkey this year too, and Joey thanks you from the bottom of his stomach. :D

I think people comment just to fight with people. My goodness, do any of you have real kids? They get what they are not supposed to get here and there. It seems everything said here is so negative. Don't do this don't do that. I see no harm in giving a small taste of your meal as long as it isn't too spicy to our babies. My goodness lighten up with the holier than thou attitude.

Mine are always dressed cute for the Holidays.They get a little turkey and side dishes on Thanksgiving. We have family over on that day so they get a lot of attention. On Christmas I make ham and I dont wantt them to have that so I boil them a chicken breast and they get a little bit of our sides. They both have stockings they go through and a couple gifts. The cats get tuna on thanksgiving and Christmas

Sheesh!!! Maybe you should lighten up!! You have obviously never had a baby in the hospital for one reason or another, that could have been prevented!!!! You should read the sick/emergency section- yorkies can get pancreatitis at the drop of a hat, which can cause death.

To the OP- I LOVE holiday traditions!! Every Christmas Eve we get to open a present (it's always jammies). So me, hubby, and my kids get their jammies to wear for Christmas Eve!! It was my favorite tradition as a child, so I made sure to continue with it when I grew up and got married!! Ohhh, I also love the Christmas Eve walk idea, we usually go for a drive cuz it's soooooo cold here, but looking at lights is so magical.

Did you read my second reply, I think you need to read it again, and no I don't post on this board to start fights. I try to give the information that I have found useful, it was incorrect information and my second post tried to clear that up. . Many members have new puppies, and last year there was a rash of illnesses after the holidays, my own grown son's dog has pancreatitis, and it's an extremely painful disease. Stick around and read the sick and injured threads after the holidays. Some people don't understand what a "tiny amount" is.

I have been giving "real" food on thanksgiving to my babies all my life. They have never ever had a problem. Maybe I was just lucky all thosae times. I still don't see the big deal. They sell turkey dog food. What's in that? You know you could get cancer by eating hamburgers?

Our first year!
 

This is our first holiday season with our baby. We will definitely be including her in our Christmas photo and we have already purchased a stocking for her. She has a new holiday coat that she will wear when we go visiting.

My husband and I have a tradition of getting and giving "twelve days of Christmas" gifts. 11 small gifts hidden around the house and 1 big one to open on Christmas day. Gracie will be a part of this but finding 12 little gifts for her is going to be tricky without it getting too expensive... we will have to be creative!

Yup, very lean (white meat) turkey is just fine.
I've heard that you shouldn't give it because of the preservatives but all non-organic meat has those. Turkey seems to be associated with pancreatitis quite often but that is the dark meat. To be safe, I only give a very small piece of white meat if any unless it is just a turkey breast. Then I know it is safe and that is Ellie's protein sometimes. :)

To the poster who thinks everything said here is negative, I don't think this is like giving your child candy sometimes. One bite of fatty meat can trigger pancreatitis which can be fatal. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Again, did you read post 9, I had been given the wrong information, and tried to clear this up in post 9. Apparently white turkey meat isn't bad for them, just no skin or bones. I'm really sorry for the misunderstanding.


I do want to say, I still don't think giving them any type of fats is good, and sometimes table scraps are heavily salted. Pancreatitis can happen overnight, so just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't happen.

Nancy, and all the other posters,

I was not offended in the LEAST by what you said. I read on Dogster year's ago about not letting your pet's have too much fat in their food (like turkey gravies, skin, etc), because it can cause pancreatitis.

Now, let me say this: everyone PLEASE be careful and if you do allow your dogs to have some fatty food, really limit it. I don't think it would take too much for a yorkie to get sick.

I had pancreatitis, and was in the hospital for FIVE days, hooked up to an IV with fluids and pain meds, and was not allowed to eat OR drink anything more than a sip of water. I needed my gall bladder removed, and they couldn't do it until my pancreas went back to its normal size.

I have a really high pain tolerance, and had been feeling bad for 2 weeks, but was taking leftover pain meds from my numerous d &c's etc, and having a shot of something strong to go to bed (DUMB< HUH?) I also chewed Tum's, because I thought it was indigestion. Husband finally had enough of me when I woke up crying from pain for the second night straight-I literally could not get myself dressed I hurt so badly.

Not to go totally off topic, but I knew what Nancy meant when she posted. Please don't put your babies thru this if you can help it-I don't think one meal would do this to them, but it would do it over time.

Thanks, what a doll you are for posting this; I really didn't mean to ruin your thread. I am so sorry you had to go through this; I hear it's one of the most painful illnesses there is.

Let's hear some more fun traditions!

I think that everyone who posts on this thread should be REQUIRED to post pictures of your babies during your favorite traditions!!!!

Let's get back to the festivities!!!!

Well this year is really gonna be Sasha's first true expierence for the holidays. I didn't get her until after Thanksgiving last year and during x-mas since she was so young, she didn't have run of the house like she does now, so she didn't get a true expierence of x-mas either. I'm really excited this year since now she can be with all the company and I'm curious to see what she's gonna think of the x-mas tree once it goes up.

Good idea, here's a picture of Joey at the age of a little over one year, on Thanksgiving Day evening. It looks like he may have had a little turkey. :D His hair use to be pure white on top.

I ashamed to say that I, the OP, do not have any pictures of the pups eating their feast. I will be sure to get video this year. I don't know how many Thanksgivings I will have with Darcy (her heart), so I have gotten way better at taking pictures.

Yes, I want this to be a happy thread. There are a couple on here that are getting me down, and lord knows, we all have enough of that in our lives!

Oh Nancy!!! Joey is just precious! He actually reminds me a bit of Ranger- they both have the mischievious sparkle to their eyes!

:eek: no pictures!!!!!!!!!! You better get on that, missy!!! I want pics Thanksgiving night or else!!!

Here's one of Ranger last year right before Christmas. He was just a little tyke- probably about 3lbs. He was 6 months old.

where is the picture? :D

Well duh!!!

tooo cute. Here are Baxter and Cooper last Christmas, I am going to dig my old memory card out and put some on here of their first Christmases.....

We always bought Freeway a present (usually a pigs ear, he loved them.. I wouldn't give them to my next dog as he loved them so much that he would get soooo protective of them and I don't really think they were all that good for him) and wrapped it and put it under the tree.. lol, Freeway would then guard the thing until Christmas morning. He'd never ever tear into it or even touch it, but he KNEW right away it was his and he wouldn't let anyone near it. You could be clear across the house and all you'd have to say is "Freeway, where's your present??" and he'd look at you and run to the tree and start to growl.. it became a game because it was just so funny. He was so good though, he wouldn't even open it when we put it down in front of him, he would then let us touch it to open it for him.. perhaps that was just him being lazy though and him knowing he had us wrapped around his little paw... lol... I sure hope to have a new furbaby to share Christmas with this year.

Awww how sweet is that! I think it's cute (although I know it's bad) when they hoard their treats and toys. Baxter will sometimes run from me after I give him his nightly "puppy chicken" I tell him "I don't want your chicken, Momma gave it to YOU, remember!" :p

For Thanksgiving---My mom and I set up the pup's plate while we do ours...and we all eat together! Then we sleep or lay around and watch tv.
For Christmas---pups get lamb and cabbage... their favorite!