How to Keep Your Dog Happy and Healthy During Holiday Chaos #FueltheHolidays

Rocco shows Nate one of his favorite tricks, Hide Your Eyes!

This week, we're visiting with family in Chicago.  And, Rocco and I are getting to experience first-hand all the chaotic happy situations we'll be chatting about Friday, Nov. 28 at the #FueltheHolidays Twitter party with our pals at Zuke's. 

While the holidays ARE filled with joy and happiness, and LOTS to be thankful for, they also can be a time of stress and chaos that can be particularly difficult for pets, and children.

Rocco is typically a very social dog and happy in most situations, but this week I've experienced first hand when it's time to pay attention to pet parental instinct, and know when your pup needs a little peace and quiet.

Some tips that came to mind while Rocco was visiting with his human cousin Nate this week:

Keep your dog happy and healthy during holiday chaos

• Keep your dog focused and happy by continuing with basic training. Performing sits and downs for treats or some basic hand touches will help keep your dog focused on you and will help offer comfort in their familiarity.
• Let your dog show off their favorite tricks! In the photo above Rocco gets plenty of treats for doing tricks like Hide Your Eyes, delighting cousin Nate.



Rocco and Nate both enjoy box games!

• Play interactive games. When Nate started to getting a little restless with his own toys, we pulled out a box and played some box games. Both Nate and Rocco are two years old and it turned out they both enjoyed the game. (Funny how kids and dogs at that age respond to the same games! 

• Keep the routine the same. Help reduce stress by keeping your pup's exercise, feeding and play routine as close to normal as possible. That includes having plenty of healthy treats and chews on hand to reward your pup and help keep him occupied.
• Keep harmful foods, plants and holiday decor out of reach. If you're a guest in someone else's house and you don't have much control over the environment, that might mean keeping your pup tethered to you on a leash.  In our case, I also have to scour the entire environment for harmful pills that might have fallen on the floor.
• Know when it's time for some peace and quiet.  Nate and Rocco had a terrific time playing, but like most two year olds, when they got tired and too much rowdiness ensued it was time for a little time out. I could tell when Rocco had had enough and it was time to give him some space and peace and quiet. We have a crate for Rocco to relax in, and he also feels comfortable in my lap away from all the hustle and bustle.

Rocco and Nate took turns getting in the box!

We all hope you're having a terrific holiday and hope you'll take a little time out on FRIDAY to join us at #FueltheHolidays on Twitter. Start time is noon ET and we'll play for a full 90 minutes! We'd love to hear your tips for keeping pups holiday happy, and of course, there will be plenty of healthy Zuke's treats to win for your own pups! 

RSVP for #FueltheHolidays and you'll be entered for a a chance to win even if you can't make the party. Hope to see you there!

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and My GBGV Life to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

Santa Paws Drive 2011: Nominate Your Favorite Shelter Now for Online Pet Toy Drive!

This is the story of five pals who met on Twitter and how together, with the support of pet lovers everywhere, we'll help bring some extra joy to shelter animals this holiday season.

Just think about it... many of us shower our pets with gifts during the holiday season, but what about the shelter pets? Don't they deserve some holiday cheer too?

That's what Dorian Wagner, founder of YourDailyCute.com, was thinking when she wanted to start a "Toys for Tots" type of program, but this one would help shelter animals and provide them with toys and treats during the holiday season. So Dorian reached out to four of her like-minded blogger pals (including us!) who continue to work together to make the dream grow.

Now, kicking of its third year, Santa Paws Drive is the first-ever online holiday toy drive dedicated to helping shelter pets worldwide. The five of us Elves will work tirelessly (like Elves do!) to deliver toys and some extra cash to needy pets and animal shelters this holiday season.

Here's how it works and how you can help!

Starting today, we're officially taking nominations for shelters to benefit  from our third annual Santa Paws Drive. This year, we are focusing on shelters and rescues who make the extra effort to help special needs pets. These might be pets who need a little more attention or medical help like senior pets,  FIV+ or FeLV+ cats or other "less-adoptable" animals like black dogs and cats.

Nominations accepted through October 21

To nominate your favorite shelter who goes above and beyond to help special needs pets, please fill out our nomination form before October 21, 2011. Shelters can be anywhere in the world -- there are no boundaries for helping these special pets!


We'll choose six shelters based on need and your nomination notes and announce them before the giving part of the Santa Paws Drive starts on November 1. Starting November 1, you'll be able to donate toys, treats or money to send directly to these special pets to help make this their best holiday ever!

Putting the FUN in FUNdraising


As always, we'll be hosting some fun Twitter pawties and raffles to help raise more money, toys and awareness for the special needs shelter pets throughout the holiday season. Stay tuned for more details and dates, and we hope you'll join us in the fun!

Remember, all the Santa Paws Drives donations can be made online so it's super easy to help. And once the giving part of the drive starts on November 1, we'll also have widgets and flyers for you to share to help spread the word... and help more anipals who need it most!

Then, once all the toys are counted and all the donations have come in, the Santa Paws Elves will pack up all the goodies and ship them off to each shelter in time for Christmas.

Introducing the Elves
(No, we're not from the North Pole, but we represent from coast-to-coast and across the pond!)

Dorian Wagner, Deerfield Beach, Fla.-- YourDailyCute.com
Salina Gannon, La Verne, Calif. -- NipandBones.com
Kerri Schlack, Philadelphia, Pa. -- TheKittenCrew.com
Lynn Haigh, Leek, Staffordshire, U.K. -- DougalsDen.com
Diane Silver, Atlanta, Ga. -- ToDogWithLove.com

Since its inception in 2009, the Santa Paws Drive has raised $15,000 in toys, treats and donations for 12 shelters worldwide. Please help us make this the most joyous season yet for shelter pets by nominating a shelter, spreading the word and pawticipating in our Santa Paws Drive!

As Cosmo says...

I don't go anywhere without my big green bone. I want all
the shelter animals to have special toys too! -- Cosmo Havanese

Santa Paws Drive Brings Holiday Joy to Shelter Animals

I don't go anywhere without my big green bone. I want all
the shelter animals to have special toys too! -- Cosmo Havanese

Because shelter pets deserve toys too,  a couple of our best pals created the Santa Paws Drive -- an online toy, treat and donation drive designed to bring holiday cheer to shelter pets this season. While we're all warm and cozy at home with plenty of food, toys and treats, we'd like to think the shelter animals can have a little something special too. The Santa Paws Drive makes it easy to help.


Just go to the donation tab on SantaPawsDrive.com and choose what you'd like to donate. The Santa Paws elves have made it super easy to choose from dog toys, cat toys or cash. The elves will take care of all the shipping and send the goodies off to six shelters across the world.


Here are a few other ways to help too! 

• Buy a $1 raffle ticket for a chance to win some great prizes from some generous sponsors. All proceeds raised will go directly to the shelters.  
• Participate in one of the Santa Paws Drive special events to help raise awareness AND have a great time!
• Spread the word by writing a blog post, tweeting (#BeTheChange #SantaPawsDrive), posting to Facebook and then add your link to the list below so we can see our collective effort!

Special thanks to the elves behind the Santa Paws Drive: Your Daily Cute, PawPawty, Nip and Bones and The Kitten Crew!


December 10 is the last day for treat donations and December 20 for cash donations so what are you waiting for!!  It's time to get hopping!

Special Announcement: Iams will donate 50 bowls of food for every tweet with #CosmoIH4TH from now till Thanksgiving!

I'm lucky I have a wonderful home and lots of good
meals during the holidays. Please help me help
 the anipals who need it most-- your pal, Cosmo

It's Cosmo Havanese here, with a special announcement! Because it's exactly a week before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., I wanted to find a special way to help the anipals who need it most and might not have the chance to have a nice turkey and stuffing dinner.


So Iams is teaming up with me and LISTEN TO THIS!!! For every tweet that goes out with the hashtag #CosmoIH4TH from NOW until midnight on THANKSGIVING, Iams will donate 50 BOWLS OF FOOD to its Iams Home 4 the Holiday program. WOW! We can collect A LOT of food this week and it'll sure feel good to know the less fortunate anipals will be getting nice Thanksgiving meals. 


Just think how many anipals you can feed by adding #CosmoIH4TH to every tweet you send through next Thursday. I hope you'll all help and let's see how many bowls we can get donated!!!! Wheeeeee!

Iams Home 4 the Holidays currently has 3,800 animal shelters enrolled in 21 countries, and its goal is to donate 5 millions meals to shelter pets this season AND help adopt out 1.5 million pets. We explained the program earlier this season here. 


Already this season, 318,370 pets have been adopted and 493,245 meals have been donated. We've got a ways to go, so let's get tweeting!!!