The Dog Days of Christmas

Hampton Road Designs Dog Days of Christmas-How to Spoil Your Dog

Our daughter Emma’s favorite (and most expensive) holiday tradition is spoiling our dogs. She begins shopping for them in July. She even spends her own money buying them gifts, which says a lot given that she is a 15 year old girl. Lucky for Emma, and our dogs, Bruce and I are happy to indulge her. I suspect this devotion to dog gift giving started when she was about 8 years old. That is when we got our first dog, Jasper, his custom stocking. Two years later, we made the perfect stocking for our second dog, Johnny Cash. This year we are tasked with making a stocking for our newest pooch, Coco Chanel.

They've Got Personality

Just like people, each of our dogs has a very different personality. Thus, they each require different gifts. Jasper, our oldest, would be President of the PTA, HOA, and Citizen’s Patrol if he were a human. So, we like to give him “task oriented” gifts. Last year we got him a squishy toy tree trunk stuffed with little squirrels. He spent hours pulling those squirrels out of the trunk and destroying them. One by one. Jasper 13. Squirrels 0. This year he is getting more squirrels, and a new dog tag.

Johnny Cash is our sweetheart. Seriously, he is the sweetest dog you will ever meet. Part Dachshund / part Doberman, Johnny just wants to love and be loved. So, every year he gets his own personal Lamb Chop. He just cuddles with little Lambie and gives her kisses. Lamb Chop is the only toy in the history of dog toys to survive more than a week in our house.

A Coyote in a Poodle's Body

And, then there is Coco Chanel. All I can say about her is that we wanted a Poodle but got a Coyote. You see, all of our dogs are rescues which makes them extra special in our book. However, Jasper is not one for cuddling and Johnny Cash is too big to cuddle comfortably. So, in February, we went on the hunt for the perfect lap dog. When Emma met Coco it was love at first sight. I took one look at her puppy paws and asked, “Are you SURE???” Emma replied, “YES!!! She is perfect and will be little and cuddly and sweet and lady like.” Yeah, ummm…. Not so much.

To be fair, Coco is perfect and sweet. She just isn’t little or cuddly or lady like. Instead, she is a midnight prowler who brings in sticks and moss and leaves and god knows what and lovingly builds dens for her toys and my shoes while the rest of us sleep. Every morning it’s a different den and different shoe, but the same pride and enthusiasm for her night’s work. In an effort to help refine her “ruff” edges, we invested in some couture dog toys, a nice pink collar, and a Chanel-inspired dog tag for Coco. Wish us luck!