Halloween is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honour all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween.

It is now a free for all chocolate festival where really we all go mad for a few hours and think it is completely acceptable. As you can see I am not necessarily 100% in favour of this day, and I certainly want to provide some warnings for your pet.

Chocolate is dangerous. We have already had Teddy in this week after eating 170gm of chocolate skull. Please keep chocolate away from your pets and remember they can get onto the kitchen table and open their own wrappers. If your pet eats chocolate please call us to see if your pet has ingested the toxic. Chocolate ingestion can be very serious and possibly even fatal if not treated.

If it is after hours please follow the directions on our voice mail service.

Animals do not like scary noises and sometimes the doorbell. If you want to participate in Halloween and your pet is not a fan, please consider placing your animal somewhere away from the noise in the quiet and play some soft classic music preferably string instruments. I have always found 102.5 FM to be a favourite. You can also talk to us about some calming medication that may get you through the night. If you do have the pheromone sprays Adaptil and Feliway, knock yourself with them as they are brilliant. Speak to us today or tomorrow about it.

Animals may or may not like dress ups. Did your mother ever make you wear a knitted jumper that was too tight and embarrassing. (I remember going on school camp and the instructor used to say to me “nice jumper Geoff, do you have matching socks?”

If your pet does not like dress ups please don’t do it. You may make them look scary but they themselves are scared and that’s not good for their emotional well being. (Please note the dogs that feature in our Halloween photos in dog day care are all ok with the dress ups and not every animals features.)

Please support Dogtober.org.au and buy your pet food from us tomorrow.