The holidays can be a stressful time. Even for our dogs! Make sure you know how to help your dog have a happy paw-liday too!

It’s a fact, if you have a dog (or any animal) the holidays can be a difficult time of year! With all the hustle and bustle and guests coming over to visit or stay with you, your dog will more than likely feel mixed within the shuffle. In this post we are going to talk through some scenarios and share our thoughts on how you can help prepare your dog for all the fun the holidays bring.

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Plan in advance!

One of the best things you can do to help your dog get through the holidays is to plan in advance. When are you going somewhere, when is someone coming to see you, how long are they going to be there, where are they going to sleep etc. Those are all really important details to have in place prior to your visitors showing up at your door, not just for you, but for your dog too.

While we want our dogs to be an active part of our social gatherings (at least most of us do), just like us humans they are going to get overwhelmed. Especially if you are the hub and will have lots of people over! Keeping our dogs routine as normal as possible is going to help tremendously with their adjustment to the changes in their house. It’s also going to be really important to have a separate space for them, away from all the noise so they can decompress and take a break.

When you’re planning, make sure to consider how this might affect your dog’s space. Is the area they eat going to be too crowded with people during their normal feeding time? If so, move their spot to a calmer area of your house. You may have to stay with them while they eat since they might not be comfortable in a different spot right away. Do your best to keep their schedule as consistent as you can!

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Prep your guests

This is often times one of the more difficult things to do when you are having people over. As you can imagine, each person is different. Some may want to be down on the floor with your dog, and the next might want to just appreciate your dog from a distance. No matter how they react, the most important thing is that they listen to your ground rules!

We are our dog’s advocates. We know our dogs better than anyone else. Some dogs will handle people better than others, but, regardless of how your dog reacts you need to have some ground rules in place for your guests and how they interact with your dog. For example, my dogs are not allowed to have hardly any human food, they are allowed on the couch they are not allowed to jump on people, or be left alone outside for long periods of time.

When I have visitors, I share this information with them. One of my dogs can have a hard time with new people in her space (which is fine to a degree, cause it’s HER house). To help her, we always watch her body language and see how she’s feeling. If we think she needs a break, we have a space for her to go and relax (normally one of our bedrooms that she is very used to.) If she were to react negatively towards someone, that is on us, NOT her. So when we are having people over, they are always briefed on our dogs prior to us having them interact.

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Relax!

Remember, our dogs are very in-tune with us and our emotions. If we are anxious or stressed about something, they are going to pick up on that and be more on edge as well. If we want our dogs to have a good time, we have to relax and have a good time ourselves! Not wanting our dogs to misbehave when we have any type of social gathering is normal. It can feel incredibly embarrassing if our dogs are going nuts with people over. The anxiety of criticism is real, especially when its about something you love, like your dog.

Thankfully there are things that you can do to help your dog know how to behave in these kinds of situations. TRAIN! Each and every day you should be training with your dog. But, if your dog has a history of being a spaz or scared when people are over, add that into your training routine to give them more exposure. If you aren’t sure where to start or how to do this, reach out to your local professional trainer. If your dog struggles, there are always ways to help and improve their behavior.

The holidays can be stressful enough, do yourself a favor and plan ahead to avoid any added stress around how your dog might behave. You can, and should, enjoy your time this holiday season with everyone, including your dog!