Season Greetings,
This is my favourite time of year.
Spiritually – Autumn is related to letting go & releasing and Winter is for nurturing & restoration. This time of year – for me – involves a lot of introspection. Short days and long nights provide the opportunity for reflection as I love to ‘hibernate’.
Consider this time of year as your time to contemplate or to even to meditate to prepare your mind, body and spirit for the New Year resolutions and the coming season of Spring and regrowth.
Back to the day job – here are some Winter tips for you to keep in mind to keep those gorgeous dogs of yours – healthy:
- Festive Season is all about food and drink – so here’s a list of human foods that are poisonous to our pooches.
- Chocolate. Don’t forget those decorations or presents under the tree.
- Christmas pudding/mince pies/Stollen – anything that contains or is a raisin, currant or sultana.
- Allium veg – garlic, onion, leeks shallots and chives.
- Macadamia nuts.
- Blue Cheeses and other ‘mouldy’ food.
- Sweets (anything containing Xylitol – a sugar-free sweetener).
- Alcohol.
And don’t forget those cooked poultry bones, these can splinter causing obstructions.
- Christmas tree dangers! Do you opt for a real Christmas Tree? Be mindful of those needles, they’re sharp and can get stuck in paws and if eaten or the oil from them is ingested – it can cause tummy upset. Lights/decorations dangling down – watch out for chewing on those cables or crunching on your favourite bauble.
- Festive Plants. I love to decorate with Holly from our garden – we have a beautiful tree that gives us fabulous boughs every year. However – yes – Poisonous! Ivy, mistletoe, poinsettia and potpourri are all poisonous!
- Frozen car? Did you put antifreeze in the windscreen washers? Be careful with any spills – antifreeze is extremely dangerous to dogs, where only a tiny amount can cause damage to their kidneys and potentially death. Unfortunately, antifreeze is irresistible to dogs due to the sweet taste and smell – so clean up those spills immediately and wash their paws if they’ve walked through it.
- Out for a walk on a frosty day? Have the roads and paths been gritted? Wash their paws thoroughly after. Not only can grit irritate the skin, it can cause cracking and burns to the pads. The ingredients of grit are also toxic so if ingested (licking those paws as they all do after a walk) can be very dangerous too.
- Stress & anxiety. This time of year can bring a lot of emotion to a family – high and low, happy or sad or a mix of everything this can be transferred and affect our dogs too – it is called the Somatic effect. Add onto that an already anxious dog. So give them space, and time to decompress and sleep.
- Young children. Picture the scene, the Adult human wants to take a festive photo of the family, the dog in his new jumper and reindeer antlers (there are people that do this and it’s sad!), humans in matching outfits, the Christmas tree is all lit up, Christmas songs blaring from the radio, opened presents strewn across the floor and children running around excitedly – playing with new loud and flashing toys. Adult human makes dog sit and child to cuddle dog. DogS eyes go wide (whale eye), mouth draws tight, body tenses, human asks the child to kiss the dog, the dog pulls away, child clings on……….need I say more? This is the lead-up (trigger stacking we call it) to a bite. All warning signs ignored; dog not allowed time to decompress – dog’s anxiety ignored. As a Christmas present to your dog, ensure that you know how to respect & behave around a dog properly – so you can then teach your children this valuable lesson. Please, respect that your dog is a sentient being, with their own emotions but remember don’t humanise those emotions and behaviour. This is called Anthropomorphism, ‘’ attribution of human traits, emotions and intentions to non-human entities and is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology’’ (Oxford Dictionary 1885). Lecture over.
- Snow Snow Snow – yes I said SNOW. Will it be a white Christmas this year? If we are lucky enough (my personal opinion) to get snow, be careful of those snow-laden paws. Keep the fur between pads nice and short (so snow is unable to cling on and potentially form into hard balls of ice). Wash those paws to remove snow rather than pulling it off.
- The dark nights draw in early and leave late in the morning – if you are out and about walking your dogs make sure they can be seen. Reflective collars, harnesses and leads. Reflective strips on their dog coat. Also, make sure you can be seen too! As you know I am the proud guardian of a Springer Spaniel. If I let her off in the dark, I keep my torch on – not for me to see with– but for my dog to be able to see where I am on the path.
- Dog coat or no dog coat. I was very anti-dog coats before training as a Clinical Canine Massage Therapist. Now I am very pro dog coats – for those elderly dogs, dogs with fine thin fur, post-operative dogs, injured dogs, dogs that feel the cold, dogs with arthritis, and working dogs that have finished their ‘shift’, there are many situations where a coat for your dog is important. So get a coat – don’t be a grinch, get a good quality one that will last. Measure according to the manufacturer’s guidelines but I would make sure that the coat hangs over the root of the tail – fully covering the whole spine and hip area. There are some great ones that are waterproof on the outside and fleecy on the inside. That’s their Christmas pressie sorted then.
On that note, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
As always – thanks for reading; stay warm & safe.
Namaste.
Love Lou xxx
Thank you for reading today’s article.
Louise James, Momentum Clinical Canine Massage
