When dog owner George Kingsley of Brooklyn, N.Y., took his five-year-old pug Sophie to a friend’s holiday party last December, he was looking forward to the punch. What he didn’t expect was that Sophie would enjoy it as much as he did. “People were eating while standing, so they were holding their plates and forks, and resting their plastic cups full of vodka and cranberry punch on the floor. There was music playing, so no one heard Sophie darting around the room lapping up their drinks. I’m not sure how much she’d had by the time I noticed,” recalls Kingsley.

While alcohol, like other recreational drugs, can be life-threatening to dogs, Sophie suffered only uncharacteristic hyperactivity in the few hours following her binge. Not all dogs fare so well during the holiday season. “The most common holiday-related food problem we see in dogs is chocolate toxicity,” says Dr. Cynthia Hoeft, DVM, of the Eagle Fern Veterinary Hospital in Estacada, Ore. “People have a box of chocolate during the holidays and it sits out on the coffee table. The dog tears through the wrappers. If you’ve got a dog, don’t leave chocolates within its reach,” she advises. Read on for more doggy don’ts and do’s to keep your dog’s health hearty throughout this, and any other, festive season.

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