Let’s face it – the holidays can be hectic. It can feel relentless. Whether you’re unboxing the seemingly neverending stream of decorations that spend the majority of the year in storage, spending what seems like forever in the kitchen cooking holiday meal after holiday meal, packing up, hitting the road to travel to visit family or welcoming in a whirlwind of surprise guests into your home, there’s little doubt that schedules and planning go awry at this time of year.
But if the holidays are stressful for us, how must our dogs feel? Their routine and structure is often relegated to an afterthought at this time of year, with other events taking priority. This is before we think about how overwhelming the constant stream of visitors into their home can be for them. Dogs, just like humans, are creatures of habit; any deviation from a predictable routine can cause a little stress, or even a lot of stress, if planning ahead doesn’t take place.
In this article, we’re going to look at the steps you can take to make the holidays as relaxing as possible for your dog.
Why the holidays are stressful for dogs
Dogs thrive on predictability. They love to know what is going to be happening, when it is going to happen. and who it is going to be happening with. This goes for everything in their lives – including mealtimes, exercise and walks, and even downtime and rest.
During the holidays, the rulebook often goes out of the window. The house may be busier than usual, with adults having time off work and kids not in school. Guests may be coming and going, or family may come to stay for a few days. All of these changes can lead to your dog feeling overwhelmed at the changes to their environment. This is before even considering the subtleties that your dog picks up on from the change in your own body language as you deal with the stressors from the change in your day-to-day routine. Dogs are masters at reading our body language subtleties and are attuned to our emotions. The holidays can be one of the most stressful times of the year for humans (whether we are aware of it or not), and I promise you that your dog can sense it.
There are a couple of other reasons why the holidays can be stressful for your dog. Firstly, if your dog has noise sensitivity, it may be difficult for them to cope with kids running around and screaming, loud music at parties, and fireworks. In addition, if you are traveling out-of-town for the holidays, your dog will have to adapt to a new environment and stay in an unfamiliar place (ex: traveling to spend the holidays with family, or at a boarding facility).
Creating structure and a calm environment before the holidays
Ensuring your dog remains calm over the holiday period begins far in advance. After all, if your dog’s everyday routine is not enabling them to feel relaxed and comfortable, then controlling their anxiety during the holidays will be almost impossible.
Make sure you have established clear expectations for your dog in relation to mealtimes, exercise, training, and rest. This defined structure will help to foster a calm environment for your dog. It can also be worth building in some additional refresher sessions for obedience and socialization, particularly if you know that you will be welcoming a lot of guests to your home over the festive period. Providing physical and mental stimulation is a great way to prevent undesirable behaviors from developing.
Here is yet another scenario where proper crate training can be your best friend. Having crate time viewed as a good, regular thing in your dog’s mind is huge. Not just for hitting the road safely when traveling to see friends and family, but also in the home so the dog has an area where they can get a break from it all. When your dog has less space to worry about, they’ll be more calm and relaxed.
Having a ‘safe space’ for your dog is crucial at any point of the year – this space should be somewhere your dog can retreat to and relax. Crate time for a dog who has been properly crate trained will be welcomed by them – they will enjoy getting a break from the chaos by having crate time to decompress. It should be in a quieter area of your home, away from any high-traffic areas. You can also put their bed in this area, and work on the Place command to help them relax.
Training for common holiday scenarios
Once you have your calm, relaxed plan in place for your dog, you can then also incorporate some specific training activities to help prepare for the holidays. Working on these in the days and weeks leading up to the holidays mean that it will not be such a shock to your dog’s system when the festivities actually begin.
Here are some ideas for how you can train for common holiday situations:
- Doorbell/door knocking manners. Practice how your dog responds to the doorbell or knocks at the door. Work on keeping your dog in their place area through constant repetition. As visitors can often arrive unexpectedly, it is a good idea to ‘randomize’ this training by doing it at different points of the day.
- Guests entering the home. Implement a process for how your dog will actually greet visitors once they make it through the front door. You may choose to keep the dog on a leash, and you definitely want to discourage jumping. It can be a good idea to prepare any visitors by telling them not to pet your dog for jumping, which could reinforce undesirable behaviors.
- Food preparation. If your dog is a notorious countersurfer, stage some situations for preparing and serving meals.
- Practice with ‘difficult’ visitors. If you know that your dog struggles with certain groups of people (ex: fear of men, or overexcited around young children or just aunt Susie), you can stage situations with friends or family members to help condition the dog.
- Traveling. If you are planning to travel out-of-state and have never done a long journey with your dog before, prepare them by going on a few shorter journeys in advance of your travels.
Keeping your dog calm and safe during the holidays
Even with all the preparation and training, when guests start to arrive and the chaos ensues, it can start to feel overwhelming for all involved – including your dog.
Try to keep your dog as calm as possible by keeping to their routine as much as you can. Feed them at the same times as you usually would, take them for walks at the same time of the day, and so on.
When things get busy at the house, encourage your dog to stay in their designated area. Consider providing them with mental enrichment activities, such as frozen, filled bones or puzzle games. One underrated tip is to also communicate to your guests exactly how they should interact with your dog – visitors who do not own dogs, or who have excitable children, may not truly understand the etiquette that will enable your dog to remain relaxed. It is also a good idea to tell all visiting guests, whether they are known to the dog or not, to ignore the dog until the dog is able to take in what is happening and settle down.
It is imperative to advocate for your dog, and small children should never be left alone with dogs – even if the dog is the sweetest dog in the world. Kids don’t know any better and they certainly don’t understand the importance of boundaries (in particular, the boundaries that dogs are used to). Inform parents who bring small children the do’s and don’t’s around your particular dog. This is also vital for food safety with your dogs – ensure guests do not feed scraps from the table as this can a) reinforce unwanted behaviors like whining and begging, and b) could be dangerous if they consume toxic food.
If you have a dog who requires a lot of management, ask yourself this question – do you want to be in ‘dog handler’ mode, or do you want to be in ‘entertaining guests and getting reacquainted with old friends’ mode? Multitasking those two things is not really workable. Dogs are den animals, and It is perfectly fine to put the dog up for a bit in a crate with a safe chewable. This allows you to be fully present for the people you’re visiting with and gives your dog a break from the chaos. Then, when you get your dog out, you’ll be fully present and attentive to what the dog needs. Your dog will be much happier for it.
In conclusion
Keeping your dog calm during the holidays is mostly about good preparation – ensuring that you have a solid routine in place before things get busier will make it easier for your dog to adapt when things get busier. Thinking about how you will manage your dog over the holidays will enable you – and your dog – to truly enjoy the holidays with reduced stress.
