By Sarah Groves Dog Training - your puppy training specialist covering Neath, Port Talbot and Swansea
Can you believe it’s THAT time of year ALREADY!?
It might feel far too soon to start thinking about how your puppy is going to behave around Christmas time, BUT as we all know, time flies by so quickly.
So now is actually the PERFECT time to start preparing your puppy or teenage dog so that you can make sure the holiday seasons go as smoothly as possible and remains disaster free!
Here are my top tips to get you started!
1 - The lead up to Christmas
Christmas decorations will be the first change in your household – some dogs will be totally fine with change, others might find the experience of moving furniture and new decorations a little overwhelming.
And if they don’t find it overwhelming, they might find your decorations super fun to play with and chew up.
If you have a young puppy you might want to consider totally changing your Christmas decoration layout for just this year - we all know how puppies like to explore with their mouth – a change for just one year will limit your stress and save a potential trip to the vets!
Some puppy owners will put their Christmas tree high up on a table, others will surround their Christmas tree with a puppy play pen – you may need to get creative to find what works best for you.
2 - Christmas presents and food
It’s likely that you will be keeping your Christmas presents hidden away to start with anyway but once they are all wrapped, consider wisely as to where they will be stored up until Christmas day.
Traditionally, presents are kept under the tree BUT this year you will need to make some changes to make sure they are kept in tact and out of puppy's mouth!
There are many Christmas foods which are harmful to dogs – mainly chocolate, raisins, onions, cooked bones and fruit stones. Make sure that any Christmas foods containing these are kept high up and out of doggy reach!
3 - Guests
You might have an increase in people coming in and out of the house, which will be exciting or overwhelming and stressful for puppies.
Consider what your puppy will be doing when people arrive - what behaviours do you want to see from your puppy?
Would you prefer –
A dog who jumps up, zooms around and lands on your guests head, nibbling ears and begging at the table?
OR
A calm puppy who settles on a bed, mat or designated space relaxing?
If you would prefer a calm pup, then NOW is the time to start working on this!
You might want to have a word with your guests before they arrive too, just to advise them to remain calm around the puppy to avoid further building overstimulation.
Providing your puppy with a safe space to relax in will help them to escape the busyness if they do feel overwhelmed. A safe space can look like a crate, play pen or a different room with their bed, toys and chews.
Change in routine
Over the Christmas period, the house is generally more busy – the kids are home and you may be off work for some days – this can create a sudden change in routine for the pup or quickly create an over stimulated pup with all of the busyness and movement.
Sticking to your pups usual feeding, walking and daily routine as much as possible will help prevent the negative effects of the holiday changes – also making sure to allow your pup some time on their own if they are already used to this, just to prevent any separation distress when everything suddenly goes back to normal.
Enrichment
Keep your puppy busy and calm by providing them with enrichment activities and plenty of chews through the day – this will not only keep them calm, but will also help prevent them from getting into trouble and finding their own enrichment!
Check out my ENRICHMENT BUNDLE HERE to learn more!
Training
Getting some training for your puppy now will help to make the Christmas period go a bit smoother.
By teaching your puppy some general obedience skills, and teaching them what to do in different situations, you can greatly reduce stress as pup is more likely to be well behaved over Christmas as they have a better understanding of what you want from them at home.
Skills that you might want to teach your pup include:
- Settle on a mat – for when guests come over and when you’re eating Christmas dinner
- Stay – to stop them from darting out of the front door
- Leave it – to deter them from eating unwanted items and food
- Recall – so you can have fun Christmas walks
- Loose lead walking – so you can feel more relaxed on a walk without being dragged down the street
Want to make a start with puppy training and live within the neath, Port Talbot and Swansea areas?
GET IN TOUCH!
Email: Sarahgrovesdogtraining@yahoo.com
Call: 07891222454
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