Christmas is upon us. It's the time of goodwill, bonhomie and... visitors.
This is the time to demonstrate your leadership credentials. Ask your visitors to ignore your dog unless and until he/she approaches them. Having someone invade your space and thrust themselves upon you is not good dog etiquette.
To a dog it's a sign of disrespect and in a confined space can trigger trouble. If your visitors won't respect your dog then place the dog in his crate or room where he can at least be left alone.
Chocolate is deadly to dogs so make sure no one is slipping your dog inappropriate treats. You will already know how easily a dog's stomach can be upset by slight changes in his diet. Imagine the cleaning up required if he eats cakes and pies.
No one, and I mean no one, should give a dog alcohol under any circumstances. It's not clever or funny and anyone encouraging a dog to drink alcohol should be placed in a wheelie bin and rolled around the street in shame.
If you want to show your dog some real Christmas joy take him for an extra-special walk in the country where he can relax and simply enjoy the fresh air and scenery. Keep everything as normal for him as you can. Dogs are creatures of habit so he will appreciate having a Leader who understands him.
If he has to wear a Santa hat for a photo do it quickly don't ask him to walk round all day dressed as an elf or a reindeer. It's humiliating and disrespectful.
Keep the house rules the same, don't suddenly change them at Christmas it will only confuse him. In the dog world there are no shades of grey only black and white. He is either allowed to dosomething or he isn't. He won't understand a sudden change.
Don't let your dog get away with unruly behaviour just because it's Christmas respect works both ways.
We will be back training on December 29th, why not join us?
