Christmas Stress in Dogs

• Keep routines as normal as possible. Normal walks. Normal feeding. Normal downtime.
• Give them somewhere they don’t have to interact. A bed in a quiet room. A crate. A door that stays shut. – as in nobody else disturbes them. Let them opt out.
• They do not need to greet every guest. Especially if human skittles is their favorite game
• They do not need to be passed around, they are not a plate of cheese.
• They do not need to “get used to it” anymore than you need to get used to sitting in an icy cold bath with nipple clamps on

Kids + dogs = management first, not hope!

Children are loud, fast and unpredictable.

Uncle Dickhead who’s had one too many eggnogs is not a good energy for your dog to roll round the floor with – someone will get hurt and the dog will be blamed.

Intoxicated humans are way more unpredictable than the usual unpredictable ones and dogs love predictability.

Aunt Mable complaining that your dog is counter surfing is aunt Mables problem, not yours.

Keeps other peoples opinions of your dog in perspective – as in it’s not their friggin dog so their opinions don’t matter.

Dogs are expected to tolerate so much because “it’s Christmas”.

Supervise.

Advocate.

Separate when needed.

Prevention is not unkind — it’s responsible.

Emotional regulation isn’t taught in chaos

A dog who’s already struggling cannot learn, cope or behave better when the environment is tipped upside down.

Support first. Expect less. Lower the bar.

Stuffed Kongs in a quiet area, soothing music played, curtains closed and a warm glow lamp on.

Regular breaks from the ‘activity’ of family round.

Allowing time to rest and sleep.

Allowing time for a quiet walk.

If possible get one calm family member to be with the dog in another room, play calming, but enriching games using kibble or their allocation of treats such as ‘which hand’

A regulated dog behaves better.

A stressed dog survives.