{"id":3005,"date":"2011-12-01T16:13:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/?p=3005"},"modified":"2024-11-20T16:26:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T21:26:40","slug":"pets-for-christmas-not-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/?p=3005","title":{"rendered":"Pets for Christmas not a good idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/ggp\/id:i-ga-ba400-b-pp1-bp75-b2008-s12-h5-belec-p-btext\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3012 size-medium\" title=\"pets xmas1\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas11-300x50.jpg\" alt=\"Chocolate, grapes, raisins and macadamia nuts are dangerous to dogs. A dog can choke on a turkey or chicken bone. Will you be able to make sure that it doesn't get into any of these or that a guest won't feed them to the dog?\" width=\"300\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas11-300x50.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas11.jpg 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Don&#8217;t fry a turkey indoors. Don&#8217;t give your child a BB gun (say it with me, &#8220;You&#8217;ll shoot your eye out, kid&#8221;). And if you are thinking about giving someone a pet for Christmas, well&#8230;not such a hot idea according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. You can <a href=\"http:\/\/dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/ggp\/id:i-ga-ba400-b-pp1-bp75-b2008-s12-h5-belec-p-btext\">read their press release<\/a> for yourself in our database of <a href=\"http:\/\/dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/ggp\/\">Georgia Government Publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many and varied are the helpful tips put out by departments within Georgia&#8217;s government. This one in particular caught my eye as the holidays approach. It reads, at first, like a bucket of cold water thrown on the fiery hopes of children everywhere. And it is dispassionate in its assessment of pets as gifts&#8211;mildly alarmist even. &#8220;Returning home to find a new pet sick or in need of medical care is not the Christmas memory you\u2019ll want to carry through the years.&#8221; No, indeed not.<\/p>\n<p>That said, it is full of practical considerations that would benefit a considered holiday purchase. Does the person receiving this gift actually want a pet (what type of surprise would an iguana for your Grandma elicit?).\u00a0 Will their interest in the pet outlast their interest in the Xbox? And remember, &#8220;A dog or cat is not like a sweater that you can return or stick in the back of the closet.&#8221;<a href=\"http:\/\/dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/ggp\/id:i-ga-ba400-b-pp1-bp75-b2008-s12-h5-belec-p-btext\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3025 size-medium\" title=\"pets xmas 2\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas-21-300x50.jpg\" alt=\"Decorations may look like playthings to a dog or cat eager to explore its new surroundings. Will you be upset if the cat climbs into the Christmas tree to hide or if the dog chews up an heirloom ornament?\" width=\"300\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas-21-300x50.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pets-xmas-21.jpg 648w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So this holiday season, before you promise little Johnny a Rottweiler, take a minute to think it through with the <a href=\"http:\/\/dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/cgi\/ggpd?query=_au:%22Georgia.%20Dept.%20of%20Agriculture.*%22\">Georgia Department of Agriculture<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t fry a turkey indoors. Don&#8217;t give your child a BB gun (say it with me, &#8220;You&#8217;ll shoot your eye out, kid&#8221;). And if you are thinking about giving someone a pet for Christmas, well&#8230;not such a hot idea according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. You can read their press release for yourself in &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/?p=3005\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Pets for Christmas not a good idea?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-3005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dlg-collections","tag-georgia-government-publications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3005"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9131,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3005\/revisions\/9131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}