The festive season is well and truly upon us. The tree is going up, decorations shall be hung and soon the house will be filled with an abundance of visitors and the smell of delicious food.
It’s important to remember that the festive season can be a stressful and unsettling time for your dog so check out our top tips to help keep the festive season merry and stress free for your dog
Plan ahead
It is not always possible to take your dog to visit friends and family, always plan ahead and book your dog walker/sitter well ahead of time. It’s not fair to leave your dog with just anyone so choose carefully and make sure that your dog is happy and comfortable around whoever you choose to leave them with.
Try to keep your routine (as much as possible)
Dogs thrive on routine so it is important to keep their routine as normal as possible over the festive season. Even when you’re full of Christmas feast, your dog should still get their evening walk. Maintaining their feeding and exercise routine will help to keep them calm and happy.
Extra post and deliveries
During the Christmas season we often get more deliveries than usual. If you know that your dog normally reacts to the doorbell (I.e. barking) then it may be a good idea to get your parcels delivered to another location such as work and put some training and management in place ahead of the festive season to help keep your dog calm when the doorbell rings (desensitising your dog to the doorbell sound and/ or teaching a mutually exclusive behaviour such as going into another room or on their bed when they hear the doorbell ring).
Visitors
As fun as it is to have a house full of visitors, this can be an overwhelming time for your dog. Make sure your dog has a safe place to go to where no one can intrude. This should be somewhere your dog already has a positive association with, for example their bed, a specific room, a penned-off area, a crate, etc.
Ensure your dog always has water available as well as a comfy place to rest and something to do, such as a delicious (natural) chew, a stuffed Kong® toy or a snuffle mat.
Teach your dog what to do when guests arrive well ahead of the merry mass of cheerful house guests’ arrival; as per our guidance on what to do when deliveries arrive at your house, you can teach your dog to swiftly go into another room or to a station (bed, blanket, etc) and try to avoid your dog meeting guests at the front door (as this can be a bit of a red zone).
The Christmas tree
Stabilise your tree properly and if you have a puppy or especially adventurous adult dog, section off the space around the tree with a pen.
Christmas tree decorations: anything edible is verboten and be extra careful with glass, metal hooks, tinsel and electric lights. Remember most dogs like to explore new objects with their mouth! It’s safest to put any fragile ornaments at the top of the tree to avoid a happy waggy tail to torpedo your precious decorations into oblivion.
Keep any holly, mistletoe and poinsettias out of reach and whereas pine needles aren’t particularly poisonous to dogs, they can cause damage to their paws, mouth and intestines. You could of course always consider an artificial tree!
Delay placing your gifts under the Christmas tree to avoid temptation. It’s a good idea to check that a present does not contain anything remotely edible before placing it under the tree, leave presents that include chocolate, sweets or mince pies out of reach of your pup, as we all know that chocolate is toxic to dogs.
Feeding your tasty leftovers to your dog
It’s always nice to offer your dog an extra tasty treat over Christmas but be careful what you choose to give them. Turkey and other meats can contain bones that are dangerous and can get stuck or cause blockages to their digestive systems. Our human food is often so rich and salty that it can upset a dog’s tummy so a good idea is to create your own dog friendly Christmas dinner and stuff it in a Kong® to give to your dog while you tuck into your Christmas dinner.
And don’t forget to buy a present for your dog. Naturally, we don’t need an excuse to spoil our dogs and especially at Christmas.