When you host holiday events at your home, put your pets in a back room with the door shut (crates or x-pens are a great idea) so that your pet does not bolt out front door and into the street when you open it for guests.

Don't let your kids dump their stocking full of holiday candy out on the floor when your dog is around. Even a well-behaved dog may be tempted to grab a piece or two.

Be sure you properly dispose of candy wrappers after the kids eat their candy and do not leave them around for the dogs to ingest. Plastic and paper wrappers do a good job of obstructing the GI Tract, so unless you want to help finance the holidays for your vet's children, keep the candy wrappers away from your pets.

Never feed your pets chocolate. Chocolates contain theobromine which is a xanthine derivative similar to caffeine. Theobromine is especially toxic to horses, dogs, parrots, and cats because they are unable to metabolize the chemical effectively. Cats are even more sensitive than dogs. The first signs of theobromine poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination. Dark or bittersweet chocolate is higher in theobromine than milk chocolate.  Approximately 1.3 g of baker's chocolate per kilogram of a dog mass is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity.  The half life of theobromine is 17.5 hours in dogs. And, don't allow your pets to help you with your morning coffee (even if it's mostly creamer...).

Don't feed dogs raisins or grapes - they can cause acute renal failure with anuria in some dogs. Vomiting and diarrhea are often the first symptoms of grape or raisin toxicity & occur within the first few hours of ingestion.  The estimated toxic dose of grapes is 32 grams of grapes per kilograms of mass of the dog, and for raisins it is 11–30 g/kg

Valerian root is a good calming agent for some dogs. Some dogs will be nervous wrecks when they live with a busy holiday host & there are constant comings/goings of guests. If valerian root is left where cats have access, they will roll in it, salivate onto it and eat it as if it were catnip. Talk to your holistic vet about dosage. Rescue Remedy, a Bach flower essence available in most health food stores, is a natural stress reliever many dog fanciers who show in AKC events keep on hand at home and in travel kits. Rescue Remedy can also be used by stressed out humans.

Don't allow your pets access to the Christmas tree or other holiday plants.  The water keeping your tree looking perky is toxic to pets - most especially if you put an aspirin in it. Pine needles can puncture a pet's intestine. Google for a comprehensive list of toxic plants. Ingested tinsel may block the intestines & playful, curious kitties are particularly fascinated by tinsel.

Use lit candles only in areas your pets cannot access. If you have a high jumper & can't live without your holiday candles, leave them unlit or light them only when your pets are confined.

Make sure snow-globes are inaccessible. If a pet knocks one over & it breaks, the puddle contains anti-freeze & that is something you definitely don't want your pet to ingest.

If you suspect that your pet has eaten something toxic, call your veterinarian and/or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's 24-hour emergency hotline at 1-888-4-ANI-HELP. Make sure you know where the closest emergency clinic is before you need one - ask your vet for his/her reference if you have a choice of more than one area emergency clinic or interview them before you have a need for their services.

Reduce stress by maintaining the normal feeding and exercise schedule (my dogs know my weekday schedule so well they don't understand the concept of letting me sleep late on weekends). Some folks get lax about walking their dogs, and a few resort to letting pets out on their own. This potentially puts animals in danger (especially toy breeds dogs even in city limits), in addition to nuisance complaints for barking or bite incidents. There is no such thing as a holiday from responsibility to care for our pets.

Please do not give a pet as a Christmas gift & reconsider getting one for yourself during the holidays. Pets (even small ones like fish, gerbils, parakeets, and baby iguanas) can be a long-time commitment. Wait until after the holidays when life settles back down & it will be less stressful to add a pet to the family - please consider adopting a rescue first before buying a dog from a breeder. Never buy from a pet shop as the puppies are from puppy mill stock (I won't buy anything from a pet shop that sells puppies.) On the other hand, if you have time available, many shelters are desperate for volunteers to help with the daily chores. Learn all you can about the breed (or species) before getting one - otherwise, you may end up so overwhelmed that you end up giving the pet up and that can be traumatic for both you & the pet.

In general, "people food" should not be provided to pets. If you want to give a treat to your pets, make sure it is a high quality treat - you can make your own liver treats pretty easily & your canine /feline fur-kids will go crazy for them. Google keywords: liver treats dogs recipes for recipes.

And finally, use common sense to protect your pets during times of high stress like the end of year holidays.