This holiday season, you may be welcoming loved ones into your home for a night, a weekend, a week, or more. Sometimes your loved ones have loved ones that they want to bring along. And sometimes those loved ones of loved ones are four-legged and furry.
If you’re not used to having a dog in your home, you’d be right to have a lot of questions about care, routines, and best practices. And as dog owners know (and non-dog owners can’t be blamed for not knowing), prepping can pay off. Setting a dog up for success in new environments during a busy time can go a long way to prevent any potential mishaps over the holidays.
“We can’t communicate with them what’s happening, so they don’t know if this is a temporary situation or a long-term situation or what’s going on,” says Alison Schramel, Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT), at the Animal Humane Society in Minnesota. She notes that she sees an increase in dog bites during these stressful times.
Our vets on staff at The Farmer’s Dog also tell us that the last three months of the year are some of the profession’s busiest—vet visits, emergency services, and behavioral appointments increase in the days preceding and following times of major gatherings. It’s the responsibility of the pet’s guardians to do most of the work of being a good guest—brushing up on training, ensuring the dog has everything they need, and, in some cases, making alternative arrangements for the holidays—but it helps immensely when both guests and hosts are partners in care. So save the family some grief and, potentially, some unexpected bills, and make way for the dogs.
Below are some tips for welcoming a dog into your home during festive gatherings, so everyone—humans or canine—can have a happy holiday.
Communication is key
Preparation, it might go without saying, begins before the arrival of guests. Chat with your dog-owning guest about their particular pup—their needs, likes, dislikes, habits, and quirks. All dogs are different and usually the pet’s person knows the dog best. You can get a sense of what to expect, and communicate that you’re open to accommodating their rules and boundaries in order to make sure everything goes smoothly. It’s also an opportunity to communicate your own boundaries as the host.
For example, Schramel notes, if [the dog isn’t] allowed on furniture. “Or making sure that the homeowner is also on the same page about things like what food [the dog is or isn’t] allowed to have,” she says. “Just general kind of guidelines that the dog is already used to at home that apply there as well.”
It’s also a good time to get a sense of the stuff that you can expect will arrive with the dog.
“I think reaching out and seeing if they need to have anything, or reaching out and reminding them to bring their dog’s comfy bedding, or a crate, or if they use baby gates at home, to bring those with them—that would be great,” says Kelly Ballantyne, a veterinarian and board-certified veterinary behaviorist who specializes in both veterinary and behavioral treatments at her Chicago clinic Insight Animal Behavior Services.
Routine, routine, routine
Ensuring a dog has a routine in place, even if it’s minimal compared to their usual routine, can bring some consistency to an atypical situation.
“Make sure that they have a consistent place where they can get their food and water. Having some predictability around that will be really helpful for dogs trying to settle into a new place,” says Ballantyne.
When there’s a drastic change in their life (and picking up and moving to a totally new place among totally new people for an indeterminate amount of time counts as a drastic change), dogs tend to benefit from having some things they can count on—just like a lot of humans do.
A room of dog’s own
In addition to a routine, provide a safe space for the dog to retreat to when things get rowdy or overwhelming for them.
“We know family time is stressful for us,” says Ballantyne. “I sometimes find myself hiding in the bathroom if I need a little bit of a breather, so we have to give our dogs that same courtesy as well. They’re not going to want to be engaged with people the entire time.”
Schramel adds that it’s not so different than with kids. “Being that playground monitor and making sure they get little time-outs and breaks is good to keep everyone’s arousal levels down,” she says.
Choose a room that won’t be necessary to use during the height of festivities, like a bedroom or playroom (often bathrooms are good safe spaces for dogs because they have fewer windows and are smaller than other rooms, but if you’re having a lot of guests over, a dog using the bathroom as a home base presents some obvious issues).
Schramel suggests bringing a fan into this room and facing it toward a wall. “It pushes air through a space so the air currents bounce off the walls and break up sound waves [better than] a white noise machine or TV,” she says. Ballantyre notes that some dogs like calming music played from a speaker.
Dogs who can’t tolerate being in a space apart from their person might do better behind a baby gate. This way they can still see the action. (This is why it’s a good idea to ask your guest ahead of time if they’re bringing this equipment. You may wish to provide it yourself, if they’re not.)
In either case—room or gate—ensure the canine visitor has items that they enjoy in those areas. Pups thrive when they have enough mental stimulation, so if you want to provide a new puzzle—D.I.Y. or from your favorite local pet store—or something to chew on, this would be a wonderful welcome gift for them.
You’ve heard of childproofing. Now it’s time to dog proof your home
When dogs are in a new place, they like to explore. “If that person inviting the dog into their home doesn’t have animals, they might not be used to having to animal-proof their home. It’s just like childproofing for people that don’t have kids,” Schramel says.
Walk through your home and note all the things that will be at the dog’s eye level (or tail level). Move breakable things up high. Ditto chewable things like shoes.
Most importantly, keep food off lower tables and countertops. “Try to remember that dogs are scavengers. Even the most well-behaved dog is going to find it hard to resist like grabbing some food off of a low table or just helping themselves to some of the groceries,” Ballantyne says.
Finally, some dogs are able to jump extremely high—higher than you may anticipate. These are so-called counter surfers. If the dog is a known counter surfer, make alternative plans for food storage instead of leaving it on your counters. It’s the dog owner’s responsibility to train their dogs not to counter surf, but if they haven’t and you’re trying to enjoy a holiday meal with your guests, keeping food out of reach is the best course of action.
Keeping food away from the dog is a crucial practice—of course because you worked hard on that meal for your human guests, but even more importantly, many holiday foods contain things that could send dogs to the vet or emergency room. Things like chocolate, grapes, raisins, or currants are extremely toxic to dogs. Onions, garlic, and chives can cause gastrointestinal issues. Consider brushing up on foods that a dog can and cannot have, so you can help your guest ensure their dog is safe throughout their stay (here is an easy reference for holidays foods that dogs can and cannot eat). Always listen to the dog’s person about what is not O.K. for their pet to have. They could be aware of medical issues or training preferences that you don’t know about.
Secure the perimeter
If you have an outdoor space and the weather is accommodating (that is, not too cold, hot, or inclement), you might want to let the dog outside. Before the dog’s arrival is a good time to do a perimeter check of the yard.
“For people who don’t usually have dogs in the home, if they do have a fenced-in yard, just check the perimeter of the yard and make sure that fence is actually secure,” Ballantyne says. “I’ve had patients that have been let out in the yard and either escaped or they got into a fight with the neighbor’s dog, or a whole host of things.”
If you find the fence is not secure and you don’t have time or funds to fix it, it’s O.K. Just make sure the dog is secure on a leash when they go outside, she says.
When two dogs are coming to dinner
Sometimes you get not one, but two (or more!) dogs coming to visit. This certainly complicates the dynamic, but there are steps to take to ensure a safe holiday visit for all. First, you’ll need to make sure that each dog has a space to themselves, Schramel says—one that is secure and inaccessible to the other dog(s). The dogs should not go into a space together unsupervised.
Always feed the dogs separately. “I feel like that’s a good rule for any multi-dog household, but especially if the dogs don’t know each other,” Ballantyne says.
In fact, anything that can be considered a resource—or rather, something the dogs want—is best offered separately.
“When we tend to see trouble between dogs that are sharing the same space, it’s usually in a situation where the dogs are competing over something that they both want,” Ballantyne says. “That could be food or toys or people’s attention. I would say, most commonly, what we see is it’ll be over food. Or at Christmas time or during the winter holidays, people tend to get their pets gifts. It’s like: I got them this new bone and they give it to their one dog and then the other dog in the household is like, well, I want that too—and that can start a fight.”
You can avoid that fight by giving dogs their food and their treats in their separate spaces.
Likewise, introductions are a crucial part of the visit. If the dogs do not know each other, their guardians may want to designate a time and a place to introduce them. How you go about this is different depending on the dog. Sometimes a dog is more selective, that is, they like some dogs a lot, and like others less. Here is a guide that will help you get familiar with how to introduce dogs to each other (but know that it can take a little time and patience).
Sometimes there’s just not enough time to ensure two dogs will get along. In those cases, Schramel recommends a practice called “crate and rotate,” where one dog is allowed out of their space at a time, and they switch off throughout their time together.
Again, the dog’s person is probably going to spearhead those introductions and/or “crate and rotate,” but it’s helpful for the host to allow space and time for them to manage this soft landing, so the rest of the holiday can progress without incident.
It’s true what they say: Let sleeping dogs lie
This one is good to know yourself, and to make sure your loved ones know: leave a resting dog be.
“My soapbox is always: Don’t approach dogs when they’re resting,” Ballantyne says. “Make sure you’re giving dogs space. And if you want to interact with a dog in your home, give them a choice by inviting them over for the interaction rather than just going up to them—even if the pet owner doesn’t mention it.”
This is something, too, that all the sure children in the household should know. “We’ll find out about kids who live with one dog in the house that is super tolerant and interactions are allowed with that dog that probably aren’t great, but it’s been fine. Then you have a new dog coming into the house that is not OK with [those interactions],” she says.
When in doubt, give a dog space. Ballantyne adds, “Everyone would be so much happier.”
