Simple. Keep Halloween ON your pup and don't let it get INTO your pup.
Let your inner two-year-old scream, "mine, Mine, MINE!!!!" so that nobody, absolutely nobody with four paws and a tail goes near your candies. Your kitty, don't worry about. She may be curious. But pup? He'll race you to those Hershey bars and Kit Kats. Not good! Let me explain why costume GOOD; Candy BAD.
For some pups - certainly not all - the attention of wearing a Batman or a Princess or a Snoopy couldn't be more fun. For others, I'd rather hide under the bed and never ever come out, thank you very much.
But for candy, it is a different story. Pups, like we their people, are omnivores and love love love sweets. Why do we love sweets? Well, *sweet* is nature's way of telling us that a fruit or a vegetable is ripe. Ripe means at peak nutrition and also that the seeds are ready to be, well, pooped all over town.
Cats are obligate carnivores so *sweet* is of absolute no interest to them.
Back to pups. Hey, is that pup with his nose in your Halloween candy basket? Get it out of there now!
Too much sweet is always bad. We know how it can make us sick. And many dogs don't have an "off switch". That's because they are descended from ancestors who ate only when they had a kill and then they ate everything they could. But Halloween candy - and their wrappers - are hardly the kill of the wild. Let your inner two-year-old keep the candy to yourself.
But worse than quantity overeating is what pup might eat. We all know about CHOCOLATE but the big poison in your basket can be *sugar-free*, that would be XYLITOL.
Have and keep this number handy, ASPCA's Poison Control. They are open 24/7/365. Do not call your vet if your pup gets into your candy for he/she will only call Poison Control for you. Save time and go to the experts directly.
(888) 426-4435
Chocolate is the easy one. It is mildly poisonous and, as most know, dark is more toxic than milk than white which is not toxic at all for it has no actual cocoa in it.
Xylitol, or sugar-free, can be a nightmare. Where both we and dogs taste Xylitol candies or gum as sweet and very gratifying, our systems see Xylitol as inert. Dogs' systems do not and start pumping out insulin.
But Xylitol is inert and the insulin can and generally will produce insulin shock.
So, enjoy BOO Day, despite the rain. Enjoy Boo Day with your pup but keep those wonderful Halloween candies to yourself.
By the way, this is something all our Care Associates know and, of course, will act on if they find your dog had "broken through". They learn this when they become CPR/first aid certified in order to walk your dog.