First Christmas with a dog

[BigWig78]

Just wondering what people with dogs do on Christmas morning? Quick pee for them then walk after present opening? Or walk first with a wait for presents? My “kids” are old enough to not mind waiting- in fact as teens I have been waiting for them to waken up these past two years I’m sure. But in planning the day, I just wondered when the walk might be.

Dog stocking or gifts? Food? Or just another day for the dog?

Plus anything with raisins like Christmas pudding and cake!

Sorry, missed previous raisin post!

It’s always good to remind about raisins and mincemeat etc. since even when entertaining I might not think twice about putting out nuts and raisins or mincemeat pies etc. So thanks.

Our pup has quite a sensitive stomach so won’t get many treats but might look at an advent calendar as that would only be one a day.

My dog loves Christmas & he has an advent calendar to open throughout December as well as presents to open on the day. He has a Christmas jumper and wears bow ties on his collar. He's comfortable and relaxed wearing clothes as he has dog drying robes, plus cost jumpers & coats to keep him warm in Winter. We give him meat and veg from our Christmas dinner too.

My dogs turn into statues if you put clothes on them…

I had 4 dogs before this one and none of them liked clothes so we didn't force them. This dog just loves anything & everything so we're having fun

Dd would love a dog she could dress!

We used to put hats on the guinea pigs. They were quite amenable little rodents. Greedy enough to know that is they put up with the yearly Christmas Eve Ritual of " sit on a Christmas Fleece, have a felt hat or wooly hat placed on your cranium and have a photo done , then those Christmas vegetables trimmings have got "guinea pig" 'written all over them.
<Disclaimer>
The hats were balanced never secured
They were well rewarded
Nothing round their torso

‘But in planning the day, I just wondered when the walk might be’ whenever you want OP. It’s your house/family/day! There’s no doggy Christmas rule book🤣

DDog’s absolute favourite place in the world is the beach - as a treat, we take her first thing in the morning on Christmas Day. It’s always feels really special & festive, the joy on her face is undeniable. Lots of other families out walking dogs at that time too and we always stop for a nice chat or two.

After that we come home, have breakfast, open presents (DDog gets her own stocking full of treats & toys to unwrap!), do more food
prep and get glammed up for Christmas dinner. We head to DM’s house and celebrate with family - DDog stays at home for a few hours but is tired enough from the big walk that she doesn’t mind. She has another short walk (and turkey leftovers, of course!) when we get home later in her evening.

DD is 22 now so it’s nice to have something a bit different to do on Christmas Day now that things aren’t so centred around Santa, presents etc

We have a lazy lurcher. Generally we do breakfast for dog, presents (1/2 for dog, usually including something edible), human breakfast. Then wash up etc and then do a nice longish dog walk (we’ve got a 3yr old this year and will have a 8 week old so plans may change) but used to be a nice countryside ramble as we don’t eat until 5ish. Then back for a human picky lunch. Dog will no doubt get scraps and Is a terror for thieving bits off the side/peoples plates. Lazy afternoon apart from those cooking (tv, playing with kids) and dog might get her pigs ear or whatever she had in her gifts. Then proper human dinner at 5/6pm with dog having scraps in her dinner. When we did goose she had gooseneck etc from the gravy. We generally do beef fillet now so she just gets veg (she adores broccoli) and maybe a few leftovers. If we’ve had oxtail gravy she might get some oxtail.
Occasionally she’ll have a late evening walk if anyone wants some fresh air but generally she isn’t bothered after the morning ramble. She’ll usually supervise the dishwasher stacking and kitchen tidy then take herself off upstairs for a snooze.

Christmas is the most common time for dogs to have to go the vet having eaten something dodgy- be alert for chocolates/dried fruit e.g. mince pies/bowls of nuts being left around, particularly if you have people over who may be less aware of what dogs shouldn't eat.

Dh lets our dog out in the garden first thing in the morning every day when he's making the coffee, then we take him for a walk when we are ready, the time varies depending on the day. On Christmas day it is usually after opening stockings, but before doing tree presents. Dog absolutely loves being given toys so definitely gets a present or 2 of his own. Last Christmas day we had MIL's dog staying over so I took both of them to the woods for a walk in the morning before everyone else arrived for lunch.

By lunch time there were 20 people and 4 dogs. The dogs were all sitting in the kitchen salivating whilst DH, my brother and cousin were carving up the meat (and without doubt sneaking the dogs tasty morsels of turkey skin and giblets)

I think my mum took my dog out for a quiet walk later on in the day- dogs are a great excuse if you want a moment away from the crowd!

My top tip is that I have some decorations for the tree that are actual jingle bells. I hang them on the lower branches and then if the dog noses the tree/brushes up against it/ gets stuck under it they make a noise and you can go investigate.

I like a Christmas morning walk to get some peace and an afternoon walk with everyone can be a lovely new tradition. Our dogs don’t mind a bit of flexibility on walk time though. They love being part of the present unwrapping. We have a 1 year old retriever so keep a close eye on what presents she is investigating as she would chew a toy if given the chance. We got her something last year so she had a new toy and chew to keep her out of other people’s.

Be very careful about all the chocolate and dried fruit around at that time of year. Last thing you want is a Christmas Day trip to the emergency vet because pup’s got into the mince pies!

We really enjoy our Christmas Day morning dog walk, everyone’s in a good mood and often the dogs are wearing something festive - mine has a red and green collar with a bow tie Then a mooch around the block once dinner gone down.

Mine does have a stocking and Santa Paws brings him something for it, usually a big chew.

It’s the first Christmas for my puppy, my older dog died back in July but we usually just let her outside quickly in the morning, then did presents and breakfast and then took her out, which is what we will do with the puppy. She will be 10 months by Christmas. Will defo be locking her out of the living room at night as I don’t trust her not to go near the tree over night. She already tried eating my plants 😂

Our second dog was only 12 weeks at Christmas and I think he thought his present was an indoor toilet so we had to keep him away from the tree! Luckily by his second christmas he’d realised

It's been a while since I had a dog around at Christmas 😢but we used to keep the normal routine- walk at 5am, 2pm and 8pm. Ddog used to get excited around gift opening and playing with the paper. Never touched the tree though! As others say be careful around advent calendars and gifts from others around the tree in case they contain chocolate.

Dog is a nice reason to walk off the food! 😂 Enjoy the new family member xx

One of my favourite things of the year is the Christmas day dog walk! I always go to a country park and see a lot of other dog walkers and also families with kids and their new Xmas toys. Everyone is in a good mood, wishing you merry Xmas etc, kids are all excited..it's really lovely. I wouldn't do a quick one before many people are around (unless you have a nervous dog of course). Make the most of it and enjoy it!