Rein in the Chaos: Helping You and Your Dog achieve Holiday Success

The holidays can be a time filled with family, wonderful food, connection, smiles, laughter, and fun. However, some dog guardians find tackling the holidays with their dogs stressful.

As any dog trainer will tell you, the days following any major holiday will light up their phones and inboxes with messages from devastated pet guardians whose dogs bit someone over the holidays, stole food off of counters or tables or ate holiday decorations often resulting in an emergency vet visit, or jumped all over guests with more exuberance than a reindeer in a disco with jingle bell shoes.

Here are five easy tips to help keep your dogs safe and your holiday season as stress free as possible.

1. Limit access to the kitchen

   Let’s face it no matter how “well trained” your dog is, it’s hard to resist the temptation of a kitchen or dining room fall of tasty, delicious, smelling foods that are easily accessible to counter surfing dogs with or without a board.  Use exercise pens or baby gates to limit your dogs access to areas where food is being left unattended.

   I like the pen linked HERE

2. Limit your dogs access to the front door

   Not only is the front door the place were happy and excited greetings take place as we welcome friends and family into our home, it’s also an exit to the outside world. Many dogs can become overwhelmed near the front door with a large number of people coming in the house and can very easily bolt out the front door during excited greetings, jump all over your guests, or bite guests as they come into your home.

   Using a baby gate or exercise pen to limit your dogs access to the front door will not only prevent overexcited greetings or dogs who might become fearful and overwhelmed by a lot of people, from having a unwanted interaction with your guests, it will also prevent them from escaping from the front door.

   I like the gate linked HERE for front doors

3. Limit interactions

   If your dog is not enjoy people outside of your family, or gets easily overwhelmed or overstimulated with a lot of activity, it’s OK to put your dog in a safe quiet space away from the festivities.

   Quiet rooms with the television on or a radio left on where your dog can enjoy some quiet time away from the holiday activities can be beneficial to both you and your dog and help minimize both of your stress levels as well as maximize your success. Some dogs will enjoy staying in the car during the festivities if there’s not a space in your home, that will work.  Please be sure that the outside temperature is appropriate for leaving your dog in a vehicle unattended.

   Be sure to provide your dog with plenty of structured exercise and mental stimulation before your guests arrive, especially if you are confining them to a safe space.

   If you need ideas for great mental stimulation for your dog check out my Boredom Busters video HERE

   Read my blog post on Enrichment HERE

4. Learn to read your dogs body language

   Before a dog ever bites or growls they give plenty of subtle pieces of dog body language that, to the trained eye, will alert you that your dog is becoming stressed or overwhelmed, and that the next step, if nothing changes, will be for them to growl or bite. The more proficient you become in reading your dogs, body language, the better you’ll be at being able to prevent things from escalating. 

   Some things to look out for to identify if your dog is is becoming stressed are:

   ~lip licking

   ~yawning

   ~stretching

   ~displacement behaviors, such as excessive, scratching, sniffing, or licking, shaking off,

   ~panting when it’s not hot

   To learn more about dog body language you can purchase my Dog Body Language 101 video HERE

5. Teach your dog to settle

   Teaching your dog to relax on a mat a.k.a. teaching a Settle, is a fantastic skill to have in your back pocket, especially during the holiday season. You can ask your dog for a settle, while enjoying drinks and hors d’oeuvres, while cooking, while eating a meal, and while enjoying time with your extended family and friends. Be sure to teach and reinforce this behavior before using it during the holidays.

   Check out my Settle video HERE

Following these tips will help alleviate some of the stress the holidays can bring so that both you and your dog have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season. Cheers!

Sara Sokol is owner of Mr. Dog Training in Brunswick Maine; A positive reinforcement dog training facility, offering both virtual and in person classes, that has been voted best training in Maine for 8 years in a row..