Honey, Call the Dog!

Holiday Manners for Dogs

• Your dog is perfectly behaved at home but when you step into grandma's house they're jumping on counters and sniffing crotches and stealing all the snacks off the coffee table.

• You have solid routines with your pup so home life is smooth as silk, until Friendsgiving where your dog barks her face off at every guest and runs around smacking people in the shins with her favorite toy.

• You even know that your pup is very anxious but feel obligated to host a holiday or bring them with you to a celebration. Now you're both anxious and don't know what to do.

I can help you both feel better.

First, think about how tiring a big gathering can be for you, even if you have a great time. You probably have systems for preparing yourself and for decompressing afterwards. Your dog, even if they can sense that something is going to happen, has no way to know the guest list and schedule so they can budget their bandwidth like you do.

What we can do is build predictable routines for our dogs when they're included in events to help them succeed and be on their best behavior.

Here are 5 things you can do to get things started:

1. Think about what your dog struggles with so you know what routines you might want to adjust for your and your dog's comfort. Do they get overexcited when folks come in the door? Bark when folks are eating at the table? Jump onto laps as soon as someone settles on the couch?

2. Decide what you want them to do instead. Bring a toy to visitors near the door? Lie on a mat near you at mealtime? Hang out on the floor near visitors sitting on the couch?

3. Practice your new behavior in the calmest situation you can think of. If you start out teaching your dog to lie on a mat while just one person sits at the table with no food at all, your dog is able to learn the lying on a mat behavior and she can concentrate on getting good at it without the distractions of other people and food.

4. Slowly level up your dog's new skills by adding one thing at a time. Maybe they learn to lie on a mat while you have coffee, then a snack, then light meal, and finally a 3 course dinner. After all that, you can go back to coffee and add a 2nd person to your training.

5. Using food puzzles can help you with duration. If your dog gets a kong on their mat while you sit down to dinner they're more likely to hang out longer than if they're bored and staring at the yummy turkey you're scarfing down.

Bonus: Does your dog have to be at this event? If they're at the event, do they need to be in the same room with all the guests the whole time?

It's nice to be able to celebrate with our beloved pups if they're enjoying it. If they're stressed, though, we're doing them a favor by finding a comfortable situation away from the hubbub where they can celebrate on their own. This might be a different room in the home, a crate, or staying with someone else for the day.

Need help with your Training Recipes for the holidays? Head over to the short contact form on the website.

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