Spooky reality behind Halloween's tricky night for our pets
SACRAMENTO - Halloween is full of treats, but for our pets, it can be a tricky holiday. It's the spooky reality behind the spooky season's biggest night.
"Dog bite wounds will go up and car injuries – things of that nature – tend to go up around Halloween," said Dr. Ricky Walther, a veterinarian in the greater Sacramento area.
Walther sees these injuries all too often.
"So trying to keep your pets behind a gate and in a safe space so you can open the door for trick-or-treaters and not let them out is very important," Walther said.
"Just because your dog is trained in a normal situation or normal scenario – Halloween is not a normal scenario," said Celebrity dog trainer, Joel Silverman.
Silverman says even if you have the most well-behaved pooch, nights like Halloween can bring about new fears and anxieties in our four-legged friends.
"Somebody bangs on that door or looks weird, your dog is going to do what it was trained to do and that's protect people," Silverman said.
If you know your dog doesn't do well with loud noises like the doorbell or the constant flow of trick-or-treaters in costume at the door, you can kennel your canine in a room with the TV or radio on or consider taking your dog out of the home altogether for the night.
And if you plan to dress up your dog for the holiday, condition them to wear the outfit well in advance.
"Get the outfit 3-4 days in advance put the outfit on the dog so you can get an idea of how to put the outfit on the dog, put it on the dog, give the dog a couple of treats, take the outfit off," Silverman said.
Silverman says before Halloween, make sure the outfit doesn't physically restrict your dog in any way and that they can walk and see clearly.
And while dog treats can be a great way to motivate your pet, human treats can be very dangerous – especially chocolate.
"The higher the actual chocolate content is, so dark chocolate and extra dark chocolate, is going to be more problematic for pets," Walther said.
Chocolate can be toxic and even life-threatening to dogs because of a chemical called theobromine which they cannot metabolize.
"It's very weight dependent, so smaller dogs, smaller amounts of chocolate are problematic, bigger dogs, bigger amounts of chocolate are problematic," Walther said.
If you think your furry friend has consumed chocolate or a candy wrapper, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is a great resource, day or night.