Tips for Keeping Your Dog Safe During the Holidays

The first step that you can take is to train them. Training can act as an early gift for the holiday season as far as the pets are concerned. Dogs are social individuals. As long as they do not see someone untoward such as people dressed up as Santa Claus, they are more than happy to socialize.

They would always prefer spending time with you and your guests rather than staying locked away in the laundry room when they come to your home on Christmas day. Therefore, you need to train them to obey commands such as be quiet and stay.

That way, you can be sure that your dog would be acceptable to the people who visit your home on the festive occasion even if they do not otherwise like them. Who knows, they may even be allowed to rest on a fleece bed next to the Christmas tree? That is one spot that your baby would appreciate for sure.

Always remember that not all your guests may be dog aficionados like yourself. Some of them may appreciate their presence from a distance, and even they would like them to be the most obedient people in the room.     

4 Tips to Protect Your Dog This Holiday Season

1 Maintaining the usual routine of your dog 

It could be that your routine could be completely awry at this time of the year. The thing with dogs is that they always follow a definite habit. Any change in their routine can subject them to stress and a considerable one at that. It does not matter how subtle that is.

The moment they get stressed, they would start behaving in a way you would not like at all. It includes chewing with an intent to destroy. They may pace around or whine restlessly. They may become even more aggressive than they are.

All these are ways the dog is trying to deal with their anxiety. Apart from that, these are highly temporal beings that we are talking about over here. It means that they can understand if you are stressed or not, which is so common in the holiday season.

You may even find your baby loitering around the bowl where you have kept your spiked eggnog. You must maintain a proper routine for your dogs during the holiday season. Make this a target.

It is impossible for most people out there. However, you need to do the best that you can. At least add them to your daily planner for the festive season.

Read Also: How To Read Dog Body Language 

2 Traveling with them 

Holidays are one of the busiest seasons, especially when traveling. You may be visiting your grandma’s house this season, and you may be thinking of taking them along with you. In that case, you would be well advised to plan everything out in advance. Are you flying?

In that case, you would want to check the regulations and policies that your airline has in this regard. Bear in mind that these policies vary significantly from one service provider to the next. For example, in some cases, you may have to book air-controlled traveling spaces for your dog.

In others, you would not get this. It means that if the weather is bad, your dog would not be able to make the trip. Also, if your dog is not a service dog, they would have to fly in a kennel approved by the airline.

Remember that there are significant variations in these cases as well. The best thing, in this case, is to go as big as you can. Otherwise, your baby would be rejected, if even the points of their ears touch the ceiling of the kennel while standing!

Read Also: 7 Tips To Help Your Dog Or Puppy Deal With Separation Anxiety

3 Dealing with other fur babies 

There are 90 million households in America with at least one dog. When visiting your friends and family members during the holiday season, there is a good chance that your dog would encounter someone who belongs to a different pack.

Since dogs are dogs, they do not perceive others of their ilk in the same way that you do. The dog who appears nice to you could be well-perceived by your pet as a threat or an opponent. It could jolly well lead to a fight as well!

So, always keep an eye on your dog when meeting another dog for the first time. If any one of them appears to be threatening, separate them without wasting any time. Keep them in that condition, till the visit gets over.

You need to do this, irrespective of the personality of your dog. It does not matter if they are nice, or naughty.

4 Dealing with kids 

As per CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), there are millions of instances of dog bites in the USA (United States of America) each year. Most of these happen to small children. Recognize the warning signs that dogs may give when they encounter children.

Never ignore them. If a dog bites a small child, they do so because they feel threatened. During the holiday season, it is more or less common for kids to all animated and excited. It is that time of the year they get new toys to play with and spend more time mingling with friends and relatives.

Since parents of the children are probably busy preparing food or entertaining the guests, they do not supervise the kids as closely as they would do with them. It means that if a kid who your dog is not familiar with disturbs them, there is a good chance that they may get bitten.

Therefore, you must prevent such a possibility before it happens. The holidays are perhaps the special time of the year. However, there are plenty of stressors at this time of the year. Your dog would always want to be like any other day in their lives – so keep it that way.