How Many Days Until Halloween? 21 Days Left on Oct. 10

Three weeks from today is Halloween. Twenty-one days separate October 10 from October 31, which leaves 15 weekdays, six weekend days and two Saturdays before the holiday.

For households with animals, three weeks is a comfortable amount of time to test a plan instead of improvising one.

Why the night is hard on animals

The evening delivers three problems in the same hour: a doorbell that rings dozens of times, strangers in costume at the door, and shouting in the street. A dog that tolerates one of those may not tolerate all three. Animal emergency clinics see their busiest nights of the year around October 31, and the causes are largely preventable.

Chocolate contains theobromine, and dark chocolate and baking chocolate carry the highest concentrations. Xylitol, a sweetener used in sugar-free gum and some candies, is acutely toxic to dogs in very small amounts. Raisins, macadamia nuts and alcohol are also on the list. Wrapping is not protection. A dog that smells chocolate will chew through foil.

Cats present a different problem from dogs. A cat that lives indoors will spend the evening watching a street full of strangers through a window, and a cat that normally goes out will want to go out on the one night it should not. Keeping the animal inside from dusk is easier than retrieving it after dark, and moving a litter box to a quiet room removes the last excuse to open the door.

A routine worth rehearsing this weekend

Keep the candy bowl above counter-surfing height rather than merely out of sight, and empty it into a sealed container before bed. Put the animal in a closed room away from the front door instead of behind a baby gate, and leave a television or radio on in that room, because continuous sound masks a doorbell better than silence does.

Walk dogs before dusk rather than during the trick-or-treat window, and keep them leashed even in a fenced yard. Costumes and shouting can spook an animal that has never left the property before, and a frightened dog that reaches the street on Halloween night meets traffic. Cats belong indoors for the whole evening. Black cats in particular are worth keeping inside through the last week of October, less for the folklore than for ordinary pranks and traffic.

Test the arrangement once this weekend at the hour the doorbell will actually ring. A rehearsal on a quiet Saturday evening exposes the flaws while there is still time to change them.