Ders are all kinds of different tings in my home dis momff and in duh homes of many of my furry furenz. I’s talking ‘bout trees, colorful lights, tablepawths, and all sorts of udder festive decorations. I don’t knows what ‘duh pawlidays’ are all ‘bout but time of year seems to put smiles on lots of people’s faces. Duh twinkly lights inside and outside are much better den duh gray skies during duh day and duh dark skies dat seem to begin when I’s eating my lunch. I also been getting more warnings ‘bout “don’t eat duh special food or duh special plants,” which is fine wiff me, since ders are so many udder tasty treatos around. (Our furenz at Chewy even has made a helpful chart of which pawliday foods are great fur pettos and which ones can hurt dem: https://www.chewy.com/education/holiday-foods-not-to-feed-dogs)

I’s been told dat ders will be pwsents, which is exciting, since goodest boys and goodest girls always deserve gifts any time of duh year. I won’t find out fur a few weeks what Santa Paws is bringing fur me, but I’s been pawssured dems will be great and I wills enjoy dems whever dems squeak or crunch.

Some furenz of my mama and daddo has also said dat dey want to bring more pettos home as a pawresent fur one person or maybe duh whole family. While I’s all fur more people welcoming doggos and cattos into good homes, pawspecially when dey come from a shelter, giving dems as a pawresent really should require some talkies ahead of time.

Just like duh TV pawmmercials where duh husband furprises his wife wiff a new car wiff a bow on it, a new petto is a nice thought but maybes not duh greatest idea.

When planning duh gift of a petto, keep deez tings in mind.

• Is duh family member up fur duh pawsponsibility? Wittle boys and wittle girls will give plenty of wuvs to a cute critter but may not loves duh udder parts of ownership like going fur walkies, changing critter boxes, or enfurcing rules. Dis can mean dat it’s a pawsibility dat ownership will become an un-fun job over time or udder family members may has to end up picking up some of duh slackos.

• Is duh family ready fur duh time pawmmitment? Doggoss and cattos typically live 10-15 years, and birdos can live even longer. Dis needs to be kept in mind if duh family plans to move in a few years or expects udder life changes or bigger time pawmmitments in duh near future, such as peoples going to college or getting married.

• Is duh house ready fur an animal? Just like baby-poofing a house, homes should also be ready to wiffstand duh arrival of a new animal. A rambunctious puppers (or even a bigger untrained doggo) can discover anything and everyting wiffin reach to chewies, from furniture to home siding. Cattos can also dig der claws into whatevers dey please. Doggos benefit from plenty of secure yard space to run around in but also someting safe. Dey may be noisy which could aggravate yous neighbors – or even udder family members who aren’t used to barking or meowing any time of duh day.

• Can you affurd a pet? Like peoples, pets need food, supplies, and care, so deez all need to be added into duh household budget.

If you and your family do like duh idea of a new petto, it’s duh pawfect time! But it’s smart to have doze discussions in advance, even if dems make-believe wiff questions like “If Santa were to bring home a new puppers, who would take care of it? What would we need to do to be ready if dis happens?”

Fur all of doze who are planning on new arrivals, let us knows how it goes! And happy paw-lidays!