Home for the holidays part 3 Tips & Strategies
Ok, in Part 1 & 2 we talked about the challenges for dogs during the holidays, how to avoid food related illness and accidents. We talked about helping dogs with big feelings cope with visitors. Now let’s talk about management and tips for all our social pups that welcome our guests with open arms, perhaps too enthusiastically, managing more pets in the house than usual, common mishaps we can work to prevent.
Enthusiastic Greeters:
Have a plan!
It can work best to keep excited dogs away from the doorway as guests are entering and delay the greeting as you would with a frightened dog as this can give you a chance to say hello, give them a chance to take off their coat and set down things they might be carrying in without having an excited dog bouncing all over them.
Or keep a leash hanging at the door with some treats handy so you can help your dog stay off as the guests enter and you can use treats to reward the pups for staying with you.
You could have one person answer the door while you work on rewarding your dog for staying our their place as people arrive.
Some pups will deflect their energy to a toy if you give them one to carry around as they greet.
Give your guests easy to follow instructions, I like “please wait to say hi or pet until I give the go ahead, we are going to wait a moment so he can settle down first”.
Don’t assume once they have said hi and have settled that they will be fine with each re-entry, a person going back and forth to get things from their car might be welcomed with the same enthusiasm each time!
With excited dogs greeting other excited happy dogs, going on a walk together to greeting outside can help let them get their greeting zooms out before they come inside.
Managing arousal:
Most issues with dogs hanging out with other dogs or with kids relates to getting over aroused or over tired. When the energy of the house is high and people are laughing and cheering, kids are running around, often dogs also get very excited and that is when most altercations occur even between happy social dogs, they all have a boiling point. So your normally tolerant dog might get fed up with the visiting teenage dog that keeps knocking into them, or the little kid that keeps grabbing them. Or they might be the one doing all the knocking into and grabbing that angers the other dog.
Often injuries to children from dogs at family gatherings are not malicious in intent at all and are accidental! Dogs can scratch kids as they paw at them when feeling playful, little kids get knocked over by racing dogs, dogs can snatch snacks from toddler hands. So you should also have someone supervising and ready to intervene when excitement levels are rising.
It’s good to have an activity like a walk or outside play time earlier in the day that gets the dog’s excess energy out. Then you can have rest time in the house as you are eating dinner together. If you have visiting dogs or small children visiting the dogs are not always with, plan ahead and have spots ready for your dog to take a rest with a chew or stuffed frozen food toy/puzzle while you sit down to dine.
Avoiding accidents:
Dogs bolting out open doors during holidays is a super common issue! Place a baby gate or exercise pen up around the entrance way so your dogs cannot access the front door unless supervised.
Place notes on both sides of the door reminding guests to “watch for the dogs” or “don’t let the dog out” (cats) as you have door open).
As I mentioned before: secure all trash and don’t leave food out where dogs can reach it.
Check ingredients of things brought into the house for dangerous things for dogs.
Remind guests not to feed your pets scraps (If my guests want to feed the dogs things, I put a container up on the counter and tell them to put it in there and I will feed what is safe when they get dinner. Also, feeding from the table is a great way to start a fight among dogs that don’t live together (and sometimes even if they do)
Keep dogs and little kids physically separated unless supervised.
Put up toys that guests might throw for your dog unless directed where and how to do so safely.
Only give bones, chews, food puzzles, etc in physically separated spaces if you have visiting dogs or small children.
If you have elderly folks help your dog not lay under their feet, a common accident is people going to step over dogs and the dogs jumping up at the same time tripping them.
Nip zoomies in the house in the bud as soon as they try to start.
Remind anyone not familiar with dogs (and even those familiar if the need arises) that when multiple dogs start zooming to watch their knees and find sometime solid to stand by, dogs will smash into people when playing intensely.
Don’t be pressured to have your dog included in things if any of it makes you feel uncomfortable. Many “non-dog people” will gaslight us around the things we know help set our dogs up for success, you don’t have to give in to family or peer pressure, trust yourself!
