With the holiday season approaching, most of us are looking forward to celebrating with our family & fur babies. You may have plans to have guests, delicious food, music & some fine wine!
Here are ways you can assure this season is equally jolly for humans and fur companions.
Create a Zen Pen
Whether your dog is overly excited about guests coming over, or it causes them stress - creating a zen pen for them provides a safe haven. This space should be a comfortable quiet place to retreat if holiday festivities become overwhelming. Include all things your dog loves - soft blankets, chew options, favourite toys. Be sure to introduce this area beforehand so your dog already enjoys hanging out inside. Alternatively, you can create a separate room or baby gated area into their safe room in preparation for the holidays.
2. Maintain the Routine
Dogs are creatures of habit ! To avoid stress, it's best to keep up their usual routine as best as possible by maintaining regular schedule for walks, meal times, training & playtime to provide sense of stability during the holiday season.
This provides a sense of stability & predability for your dog, which will help them feel more relaxed.
3. Moderate Celebrations
Be mindful of loud noises and limit exposure to holiday stressors like fireworks. If your dog is noise sensitive, consider using a white noise machine or play YouTube music such as this playlist to help muffle the chaos. Remember, dogs senses are significantly more heightened than ours, especially their hearing - making overstimulation for them more likely. If you know you have a noise sensitive dog, it would be helpful to try counter conditioning (pairing something positive with sounds) & desensitization (gradual exposures to the sounds) prior to holiday festivities. A simple activity for this is to give your dog a delicious bone, Kong,or lickmat while playing party guest sounds on YouTube!
Be sure to practice this activity at your dog's pace & be aware of signals of stress so that we can avoid them feeling overwhelmed.
4. Gradual Introductions
If your dog is meeting new people or pets, introduce them at their own pace & keep an eye out for signals of stress or requesting space. Provide them with the freedom of going to their Zen Pen to retreat to if needed. Here is a body language infograph with helpful visuals for identifying stress signals that can often be missed or misread.
5. Mental & Physical Exercise
Ensure your dog is still receiving opportunities to release pent up energy, and keep them mentally stimulated! Food puzzles, frozen kongs, lick mats, snuffle mats are all fantastic to provide your dog mental enrichment while relaxing inside their Zen Pen. Additionally, these options are naturally calming as they provide outlets for natural behaviours such as licking,chewing, sniffing and scavenging - essential for a relaxed dog.
6. Holiday Treats
It's tempting to share our leftovers with our pups during the holidays. Take a look at this list of foods that are harmful to ensure your plate is safe to share with your fur babies
Finally, be sure to spend quality time with your furry companion amidst the holiday hustle. A little extra attention & reassurance goes a long way if your dog tends to feel stressed by social commotion. Remember, every dog is unique, so adapt these tips based on your dog's individual preferences and needs.
We hope this post was helpful, like and share with others & happy holidays ❤️🤍💚
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