I put up the majority of our Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, but the house didn’t feel complete until we had our tree in place. Over the weekend, JG and I finally went out to the tree farm to find a prime specimen. The ground was wet and slushy — certainly not ideal for lying on the ground with a bow saw — but JG was a trooper and we made it home with the 8-foot tree still tied securely on the luggage rack. It was much smoother than last year, when I craned my neck to see the tree on my side mirror and made panicked sounds whenever it made a drastic shift. After a long struggle to make the tree stand up straight, we took a break to have lunch while the tree dried off and shed innumerable needles.
JG brought up Ted from his crate to get acquainted with the tree, and I was pretty nervous. I had read horror stories about dogs pulling down trees, marking them as their territory (shudder), or chewing it incessantly. I was a big fan of “none of the above,” so I hoped that Ted wouldn’t freak out too much about the strange appearance of vegetation in the living room.
Unbeknownst to me, Ted had a strategy for showing the tree who was in charge:
- Survey the scene: sniff the tree base.
- Sniff the actual tree.
- Take a nibble, but back down at a sharp word from the owners.
- Crouch down and growl.
After that ritual, Ted has been indifferent to the tree. He watched me with great curiosity as I wrapped it up with lights and futzed around with the ornaments, but he appears to have accepted the tree as part of the domestic landscape. That gale of wind you felt over the weekend was my sigh of relief.
Come and get your (almost) daily dog dose with Rufus, Ben, Gus, and Zapp!
7 comments
I love the picture of Ted crouched down and growling at the tree!
We just have a stupid fake tree (I am dying for a real tree, but we just can’t justify the expense until we actually start spending Christmas at our house), and Ben pretty much ignores it. He has been caught sniffing at all the presents, though. I think after 3 years he’s finally figured this Christmas thing out. For the first time this year, we actually had to put the puppy presents up out of puppy reach.
We have yet to get our puppy presents…but we do have a stocking! With bones on it! I can’t figure out where to hang it, though. This whole dog Christmas thing is new to me.
How would you feel if a giant green monster invaded your turf? Ted is so adorable (as always).
I think I need to click away from this post before I die of jealousy, as I do not have (a) a dog or (b) a Christmas tree.
Aw. In time, you’ll have both A and B, I’m sure of it.
So once again, you tease me with stories of the perfect dog.
Luckily, Chloe hasn’t really bothered much with the tree. My cat, though, thinks it is the perfect place to hide and then pounce on said dog. Never a dull moment.
Would it help if I told you that we had a good streak of non-accident days, until yesterday, when Ted went on a whole walk without doing ANYTHING, but as soon as we got in the house, decided to relieve himself? ARGH.
He’s soooo cute! The only two years that our dogs cared about the tree was the year that one of them flung one of their toys into it and it got stuck - and the year that it fell down in the middle of the night. It scared the beegezus out of them!
Fortunately, the tree:Ted ratio is so out of scale that I don’t think he could do much damage to it. I was more afraid of the marking of the territory thing, which we seem to have avoided. Whew.
I was really nervous about how the cats would react to the tree, since this is the first year we’ve had one. They do not treat our hibiscus tree well when it’s inside for the winter. I am surprised it’s still alive.
Luckily, the spruce needles seem to keep them at bay. Good thing we didn’t get one of those floppy white pines!
Ted is cuter than ever!
See, aren’t you glad that you went with The Only Kind of Real Christmas Tree?
Since this is our first Christmas with a regular size tree and two dogs, I was very nervous about putting up the tree. I insisted on “NO breakable ornaments” because I was certain that three was going to come crashing down! Rufus and Kaya did investigate the tree while we were putting it up, but now they really just don’t care about it at all!
Although, Rufus does growl when the lights turn on by themselves!
Our tree is chock full of breakable ornaments, but not at the bottom, within Ted’s reach. He is too good on his hind legs!
That is so majorly cute!
Thanks, Katie!
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