Halloween

I've heard that Halloween can be a scary time for dogs as they often get afraid of everyone in costume - including their owners. Luckily for us, we live in a condominium where no kids come to trick-or-treat so we didn't have to worry about that, however, we ourselves did dress up for a party last night and to our pleasant surprise, Rootin did not get upset or afraid of us and the evening went well :)

Here are some things we did the prepare for the evening and make things less stressful for him:

1. We tried on our costumes and did a "dry run" in the morning. We let him sniff our clothes, and we walked around in them for about 30 minutes or so. My husband's costume didn't cover his face, however, my costume involved a full headdress surrounding my entire face so I made sure to spend extra time in the outfit to make sure he was comfortable seeing me dressed up.

2. Knowing that we would be out for 4-5 hours in the evening and would be dressed in costume when we left and returned, we took him to the Hayward Shoreline in the middle of the day for two hours. It was a new place that he had never been, so he wore himself out exploring and had a blast. He even went to the bathroom three times during the trip so we knew that he was set for likely the rest of the day.

3. We showered him with attention during the remainder of the evening before we left.

4. We took him out for another short walk right before we left.

5. We left the hall light on by the door (where he usually sits) and our bathroom light on in our bedroom (where his bed is) so that he wouldn't be in the dark. This was key as one of our neighbors had a party going on when we came home with music blaring which might have scared Rootin if he was in the dark.

6. Even though we were exhausted, we took him out for another walk when we came home.