How to...

...decorate your Christmas tree when you have dogs with high powered tails, in an effort to minimize the number of Christmas ornament casualties.

Something I myself, learned the hard way. 

Your tree must be divided into three different sections:

1.) low risk

2.) moderate risk

3.) and high risk

The low risk section of your tree means it has the least amount of likelihood that your dogs' tail can take out an ornament in just one swing and have it shatter all over the ground. This risk-area will typically be more towards the top of your tree. In your low risk section of your Christmas tree, you want to hang fragile ornaments, ornaments that have potential to break easily, or ornaments you'd rather not have to kill your dog over, for breaking it.

Example:

The moderate risk-area of your tree has potential to have ornaments knocked off its branches with a few swipes of your fur-child's tail. There's not as high a likelihood as the high risk-area, yet increased likelihood from the low risk-area. You will usually find your moderate risk-area around the mid-sections of your Christmas tree. Here, you can hang ornaments that are durable, cheap, or replaceable in order to cause the least amount of heartache in the event of a high powered wagging tail.

Example:

See? Nice and plastic.

Lastly, the high risk section of your Christmas tree (per process of elimination) is the lowermost parts of your tree. Here, your ornaments are likely to get knocked off your tannenbaum frequently and at high speeds. You may want to hang either your unbreakable ornaments or nothing at all in this risk-area. I suggest soft, stuffed ornaments, similar to that of a pillow.

Example:

Should you decorate your tree in accordance to the aforementioned risk assessment, you will save

both you and your pooch(es) the heartache (or punishment) of suffering from broken and shattered

Christmas tree ornaments.
Nor will you be forced to chop off your dogs’ tail.
Cause let’s face it, nobody wants that.
It’d be pretty messy.