It’s holiday season and let’s give the best gift we can to ourselves and our dogs by talking about how to prepare for Thanksgiving and other holidays.

Let’s talk about anxiety, safety, and foods your dog can and cannot eat.

Anxiety

First, not all of our pups are okay with new or numerous people in their home. It’s okay if your dog isn’t ready to greet your guests or even hang out with them. Just like you, your fur baby will have a threshold for handling social stress. Make sure you have a safe, quiet, out of the way place for your pup to hangout if he or she won’t be comfortable with a loud or busy home. If your dog or puppy can handle a little bit of mayhem, then think about how long he or she can be happy with those sights, smells, and sounds. You may still need a quiet place for your dog to take breaks and rest. Crates, playpens, baby gates, long lasting chews or toys can all help, so prepare ahead of time. You may want to freeze some edible treats in a Kong or Topple.

If your dog’s anxiety is more extreme, consider asking your veterinarian for a short term medicine solution. We can work on a long-term behavioral modification when there isn’t such a time crunch for your puppy to get ready for the busy holiday season. Other things to consider using to help your dog feel less anxious are calming pheromone diffusers. Adaptil and Thunderease by Adaptil are two brands that really work. Make sure the diffuser will cover the size of the space you where your dog will be and that it has plenty of time to saturate that space and become get into your dogs system. The manufacturer reports that it may need to be in that space and your dog exposed to it for two (2)  to three (3) days to begin working. From experience, you will need to keep the diffuser plugged in continuously. When it is removed and then you plug it back in, dogs have to start over to get the calming effect from the pheromone. (Use 1 diffuser for an area up to 700 sq. ft.)

Safety

There are two main safety issues during Thanksgiving. The first is controlling your dog’s access to the door entryway. You need to think about how often people will be entering and exiting your doors and how to help your pup have some distance from that entry for safety and for a more relaxed greeting of your guests.

The second safety concern for Thanksgiving concerns the food we eat during this holiday and the season and what foods are unsafe or even potentially deadly for your dog. Onions and garlic including powders can cause ruptured red blood cells. Some foods can cause paralysis or even death: xylitol, macadamia nuts, toxic mushrooms, and alcohol. A number of other foods can cause kidney or pancreas distress or failure as well as diarrhea and vomiting. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs because it contains theobromine and caffeine which can cause heart and neurological issues. Dark chocolate is more dangerous than regular chocolate. Foods that your dog can have include plain green beans, carrots, turkey, peas, pumpkin, pork and more. Take a look at this image for a quick guide to safe and dangerous foods and 24/7 phone number for poison control. (Note: There is a charge for the advice when calling poison control.)

Here are a couple of articles that include additional information if you are interestedin learning even more:

https://www.learnfromgeorge.com/dog-trainer-tips/human-food-toxic-to-dogs

https://www.goodrx.com/pet-health/dog/what-foods-are-poisonous-to-dogs

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets

Toys, treats, calming aids, baby gates, playpens: https://www.learnfromgeorge.com/recommended-equipment-toys