Merry Christmas to all... from your pets

Gumby · Post by **Gumby** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:06 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtPKbMw ... ature=fvwp

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 11:14 am

Speaking of Christmas...

Is anyone getting their beloved fur-kids a present? And if so, what? My girls are just going to each get one of those "pet stockings" that are pre-stuffed with simple, inexpensive dog toys. Things are tight this year, so that's all I can do. Maybe next year I can get them some of those expensive puzzles I've seen online.

wvvdiup1 · Post by **wvvdiup1** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:53 pm

Bones and more bones (my dog can't get enough bones), toys, treats, and possibly, a coat (if I can find one her size). That's just naming a "few" things I'm getting her! Hey, I know I spoil her!

dontpugme · Post by **dontpugme** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:03 pm

I'm thinking about buying one of those interactive dog toys....the ones where you hide the treat and the dog has to use its nose and paws to find it.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:25 pm

My dogs get a very long walk - then later another.

That's what they like best, apart from working, and we don't work Christmas day.

Though I'm hoping Babydog might have her new collar for Christmas

maximoo · Post by **maximoo** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:28 pm

Last year I got Max a hambone from the pet aisle in Walmart, wrapped in up in xmas paper & he had a thrill opening it. Later that day he threw up

This yr I'll get him the biggest beef marrow I can find. I'll wrap it up like last yr. I also just got him new doggie bowls. I'll put something tasty in each & let him 'unwrap' those too.
Fundog you are handy & creative, Have you ever thought of trying to duplicate those expensive puzzle toys. Somebody told me thet saw a dog get kibble from a gumball machine.

emmabeth · Post by **emmabeth** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 5:50 pm

Babydog most serpently will have a new collar for xmas day... and Santa might have organised summink else... if Babydog has been very good (hes got his elves out with the pointy sticks because Emmabeth has been a bad girl!!!!).

My lot get a looooooooooovely long walk, free of other peoples, and all manner of Yooman Foods, because this is what they like mostest.

Then those that like squeaky toys have those, until either they desqueak them or we cant hack it any longer and we desqueak them.. and then we allllll snore until Boxing Day.

wvvdiup1 · Post by **wvvdiup1** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 8:44 pm

When and what is Boxing Day?

wvvdiup1 · Post by **wvvdiup1** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:16 pm

Nevermind! I've just done a little research and found the answers I needed!

That's one way to get rid of gifts you've received on Christmas you didn't want and have a holiday for it! Genius!

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:21 pm

Wvvdiup, traditionally, in Europe and Scandinavia, "Boxing Day" is the day after Christmas, when most people box up their ornaments and take the tree down. In the past, it was also the day when those with a surplus boxed up their leftover holiday eats to give to the poor. Of course, these days, we prefer to keep the leftovers for ourselves, and donate "untouched" food to the food banks. And quite often, here in the U.S. (I don't know about everyone else), we don't get round to packing up Christmas until New Year's Eve. (Some people don't get round to it until February!)

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:22 pm

LOL, we must both be on at the same time!

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 9:31 pm

Oh and Maximoo, yes-- I confess, that is exactly what I did: I looked up some of those expensive toys online, and figured a way to imitate them cheaply. I'm still noodling some others. I've been like that since childhood. Necessity is the mother of invention, Poverty the father of improvisation.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 5:55 am

"Boxing Day" in England is traditionally the day after Christmas, when the servants were given their Christmas "boxes" ie gifts, which were generally dull stuff like lengths of material from which to make their uniforms

and given time off to see their families, because of course servants had to work very hard on Christmas day. It was also the day when money and gifts were distributed to the poor.

It is also traditionally the one day a year when anyone can follow the Hunt, and there is a huge turnout on horses and on foot, usually at a pub (public drinking house) big private house, village green or similar, where port and whisky is served in stirrup cups, and usually hot sausage rolls and fruit cake makes an appearance (try ingesting any of that while sitting on an excited horse).

Not many of us have servants now, and those who do give them better gifts and more time off

nor do we have "the poor", but the hunting tradition still applies.

Ornaments and trees are taken down on "Twelfth Night" January 6th. It is considered terribly unlucky to leave them up after that.

Nothing to do with dog training but I thought you'd be interested.

wvvdiup1 · Post by **wvvdiup1** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:20 am

Thanks for that information, Nettle! Maybe that explains my bad luck, as according to old English tradition, because I don't take my outside lights, the ones stringed across my roof and eaves, until around Easter, when the weather is usually better to climb a ladder to retrieve them. If Easter comes before the "better weather", I just turn the lights on! Hey, they may not be pastel colors, but they are colorful!

(Gee, I should have become a comedian!)

By the way, Nettle, even though this isn't about dog training, as long as we're alive we're always learning. Just keep that in mind.

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:26 am

Thanks for that, Nettle. We here in the U.S., as I'm sure you've noticed, are rather curious, if not fascinated, with traditions and customs in England and elsewhere.

Some of us are just dying to ask many other questions about British life, except that it has nothing to do with dogs, so we restrain ourselves. (sigh)

Here in the U.S., we do have the "poor," which is why we have many charity drives at Christmas, first and foremost the food banks, but then we have charity toy drives for underprivileged children that otherwise wouldn't get much of anything fun for Christmas, besides necessities like clothes.