5 Tips to Keep Your Dog Safe on Thanksgiving

5 Tips to Keep Your Dog Safe on Thanksgiving

Huge meals cooking in the oven, children running around the house, unfamiliar relatives with their odd habits and particular needs, lots of visitors and plenty of hustle and bustle—Thanksgiving can be a very stressful time for us. Just imagine what it’s like for our dogs! With some planning and consideration, you can keep this year’s holiday festivities stress-free and safe for your canine and human family members.

1. Secure trash cans, dispose of cooked bones immediately-

Tempting food trash should be placed in a secure trash can or taken directly to an outside bin. Veterinarian Tracy Barlup of Longmeadow Animal Hospitalin Hagerstown suggests that owners, “be careful with human foods, chewing gum and candies. Some are poisonous to pets – such as chocolate, grapes, raisins, onions, garlic and the artificial sweetener xylitol.” Cooked bones, fatty gristle, and other leftovers can cause serious healthy problems—from an upset tummy to internal bleeding.

2. Actively supervise all interactions with children-

The holidays are a stressful time for people and dogs alike.  Loud parties, strange guests, and hugs or unwanted attention from children can make your dog stressed. When dogs are more stressed, they are more likely to feel the need to defend themselves. Any dog, regardless of breed, size, or personality can bite if put in a position where they feel threatened or afraid.
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of understanding dog body language. Watch for signals of stress in your dog—licking their lips, shaking off as if they were wet, moving slowly, looking away and showing the whites of their eyes, pinning their ears or a tucking their tail. If you see any of these warning signals, intervene immediately and separate the dog from whatever is upsetting them. If a dog’s early warning signals are ignored, they may resort to a bite to make themselves understood. Check out some handy illustrationsif you’re unfamiliar with dog body language (or even if you think you’re a pro!).
Doctor Barlup notes that your response to a dog’s behavior is important to consider as well. “Don’t reprimand a pet for fearful behavior. This will only make things worse.” If your dog signals their discomfort with a situation by growling or snarling, calmly remove them and prevent the situation from happening again.

Additionally, keep children separate from the dog while it is eating its meals, sleeping, or chewing on a toy. For more information about keeping dogs and kids safe, visit doggonesafe.com.

3. Keep a well-stocked freezer-

Before your guests arrive, fill your dog’s bones, Kongs™ and chew toys with delicious, healthy treats and freeze them. Frozen chews take longer to empty and can serve as “pacifiers” when you need to give your dog something to do. If your dog is easily stressed by noise and commotion, give them a frozen goodie in another room to let them relax during your party.

It’s convenient if you keep a stock of them on hand. My dog loves guests and will plaster herself to them for the entirety of their visit if she can. Sometimes, that person’s idea of a pleasant visit doesn’t involve dog slobber and hair. If your dog is up in everyone’s business and needs something to occupy them while you socialize, grab a frozen chew and let them enjoy it in their crate or another room.

Good filling options include soaked kibble, plain yogurt, canned pumpkin, peas, carrots, peanut butter, and rice. There are many recipes for filling your dog’s toys online to inspire you as well.

4. Get guests involved-

When your guests arrive and everyone is being introduced, show off your dog’s skills. Can he sit? Roll over? Jump through a hoop? When your guests are familiar with (and charmed by) your dog’s talents, you can ask them to do training games with the dog to keep everyone entertained. You can also show your younger guests how to appropriately interact with your dog.

• “Hide and seek” is a fun game for children to play with a dog. One child waits with the dog while the other child takes a few treats and hides in a separate room. Then the person hiding calls out “come find me!” and the dog has to sniff them out. The dog gets treats for finding the hidden person, and then the players switch places.
• “Find the treat” is another simple and fun way to let guests engage with the dog. If your dog has never played this, start off easy. Have the dog wait while you hide a treat in plain sight, then release the dog to go find it. Gradually increase the stakes by hiding the treat more conspicuously. Eventually, you can take the dog to another room where they can’t see the treat being hidden at all and then ask them to go find it.

5. Polish up manners before the guests arrive-

Does your dog jump up on people when they come in the door? Do food items on low tables suddenly go missing when you turn your back? Are pants legs often the victims of impromptu games of tug?

Address these issues before your house is full of people to make the holiday season a little bit simpler. Practice their polite manners when your house is boring and calm and both you and your dog will be better prepared for a busy house with lots of things going on. There’s a reason you study in the library, not the line for rides at Disney World!

Once your guests do arrive, ask them to help you reinforce your dog’s skills. Let visitors know ahead of time that you are working on a particular skill with your dog. It’s easier to tell guests what you need from them over the phone before they arrive than to try to explain that they should ignore the dog when it jumps up once they’re already there, being jumped on.

If you need hands-on assistance with teaching your dog appropriate manners, contact a qualified positive trainer in your area. Visit the American Veterinary Society for Animal Behavior’s resources page for tips on choosing a trainer or The Pet Professional Guild  for a listing of trainers in your area. Or, of course, give Atta Pup a ring!

photo credit: dog.happy.art via photopin cc