I am a huge lover of Christmas time and have been all my life – anyone that knows me knows that I usually get very excited during the festive time of year!
Making plans and hearing about other people’s plans between Christmas and New Year, seeing different Christmas lights as I’m driving from work especially coming home in the dark, the dogs in training classes showing their different sweaters & jumpers with Christmas patterns and especially now the prospect of winding down and having that time off over Christmas where I can spend more time focused on my family including poultry members.
For the majority of us with pet dogs, there are so many options to help include them in festivities; dog toys with all kinds of Christmas themes such as toys shaped as a crackers or gingerbread man, special edition dog treats and foods with Turkey cranberry etc in the ingredients, blankets with snowflakes on, collars, leads and harnesses with Christmas trees on. In fact it’s a pretty long list and it means we can include our dogs so many aspects around Christmas.
There are also now more places you could visit during Christmas and from pet friendly cafés to outdoor events with tree light displays and decorations and the ever growing popular photo sessions! Photo sessions with our dogs can be great fun and we can choose for the focus to be just our dogs or for us to be included as well. If you’ve never done a photo session with your dog at Christmas or otherwise what generally happens is you turn up to a studio or an outdoor setting and there might be props if it’s a Christmas shoot. Generally there’ll be a few types of poses or types of pictures that a photographer had in mind because they know how they’re going to likely turn out and they might be the dog sitting on a chair with the Christmas blanket on it or they might have a backdrop of a really nice fireplace and put up Christmas trees or have a pile of presents for the dogs to lay behind or in front of. And then generally owners have a chance to prepare their dogs in their own poses or with their own props, etc.. I always enjoy doing them with my dogs both myself and with professional photographers and as a dog trainer I have prepared my dogs for posing for the camera.
However, I would like to take a moment to consider things from our Dogs’ perspectives as Christmas is a time of year that can be stressful for us people and so it stands to reason it can be stressful for some of our dogs. But it’s not always obvious and the signs our dogs give us sometimes can be extremely subtle. As I said before, I love Christmas. I don’t want to put a negative spin on Christmas but I would like to try and help dogs enjoy it as much as they can.
So why do some dogs find Christmas time stressful? They don’t have to worry about who is sitting next to who during Christmas dinner, or have we got that gift for aunty or uncle we needed to get or how do we complete all of the chores that we will be doing – really our dogs should have it pretty easy by comparison!
So, here are some areas we should consider for our dogs :
- Routine changes – we get closer to Christmas certainly over Christmas often our own household routines can change where we have visitors coming to see us, we may be out for Christmas shopping, dropping presents off, out to the nativity play and pantomime, Christmas meals etc. So although though we’re not neglecting our dogs and they’re still having their meals and their walks, etc, it might mean things are different to how they are used to and this for some dogs can become quite stressful when they don’t know when something is going to happen, if it’s going to happen – they may miss out on a afternoon nap that they normally have which makes a difference to their energy levels and ways of thinking clearly and routine change for dogs is just often quite stressful for them in general.
2. Decorations and new items around the home – no matter how we decorate our home for Christmas whether it’s minimal and classy or we go to town with tinsel, flashing lights and paper chains hanging from the ceiling, it’s still something different for our dogs to navigate. For dogs any new stimulus can take them a little while to investigate and adjust to which includes anything that sounds different, visually is different, has a different scent perhaps feels different when they walk or lay on it like a new mat. So here comes December and suddenly there’s a host of new items around the house. Some items make a new noise such as jingly decorations, jumpers with bells on and even playing Christmas music often has got lots of bells in the background. The sounds might not be obvious to us but things like tinsel create a different rustling sound particularly if there’s any sort of breeze, wrapping Christmas presents suddenly that the sound of Sellotape and the sound of the paper being unrolled and cut through and there’s potentially ribbons being moved around and all the things that go with decorating presents including occasionally the odd strict word when the present doesn’t wrap properly!
3. Seasonal scents – during the Christmas period there are lots of new scents in the home in the form of candles, pot pourri, incense sticks, room sprays etc. Artificial scent can be difficult on a dog’s system all year round but even people who don’t use plug in air fresheners etc usually may go for festive aromas! The introduction of various new smells can be overwhelming for dogs and you may find they go into a usually favourite room less due to the candles that have been lit or may be drinking more then usual or itching their face when they usually don’t and this will be how they are managing with the sensory overload.
Aside from the strong scents affecting dogs, many festive fragrances contain chemicals that can cause health issues to our pets. Big bags of cheap scented candles often contain paraffin plus the wick base may be zinc or lead and these all can release harmful chemicals when the candle is lit. Plug in air fresheners can contain Volatile Organic Compounds as well as some chemicals in the artificial scent itself. Some compounds have been known to cause cancer in pets. The ingredients in cheaper candles and air fresheners can cause health issues in dogs such as coughing, breathing difficulties, throat irritation, vomiting, discharge from the eyes or nose or lethargy.
I’m not saying never use scented items but consider how much stronger dog’s’ olfactory systems are and how strong all smells are to them. Maybe keep a room free of artificial fragrances like plug ins, sprays etc so your dog has a choice or try to choose more natural ways to enjoy Christmas scent such as flowers, fruits like citrus, cinnamon sticks or vegan candles with natural oils.
4. Build Up over several days – have you ever heard the term ‘Trigger Stacking’? Often this is applied to fireworks fears or when a dog is reactive to other dogs on walks; a dog shows a response to something but then the situation happens again in the same day or the very next day so the dog doesn’t have a chance to process what happened or calm back to a ‘normal’ state.
So during Christmas there’s the build up with decorations appearing, furniture being moved to fit the tree in, different music playing with bells etc in the background, shopping coming into the home including festive gifts with scent, perfume, bath sets etc, our routine changes and then Christmas Day arrives, our dog is already finding all the changes harder to manage and then we have people wearing Christmas hats indoors, eating cake for breakfast, opening presents by tearing paper, phones ringing more and the doorbell going more too.
I feel stressed just thinking about all of that, and I know what’s happening! Just as dogs might be needing a proper break from the changes of Christmas it’s then Boxing Day and the ‘in between’ time and there’s new items in the house making noises, people spraying their new perfume, visitors arriving or we are off to visit someone else etc! So with a level of stress or anxiety already dogs are then trying to navigate more and more over several days and it’s really hard!
Just as a dog who finds everything exciting can also find the holidays hard work physically and mentally as the excitement felt from their family will cause a dog to be more active. Then visitors, video calls, wrapping paper, kids toys, more food smells than usual etc and when they are over tired and over stimulated in the building up we suddenly face Christmas Day and ‘twixmas’ to add to the big feelings!
Plus New Year’s Eve is likely to bring more Fireworks again which can be extremely scary for dogs and worse when a dog is already feeling stressed.
These are just a few ways Christmas can be overwhelming for dogs. Many dogs are completely fine; my dogs live in my everyday chaos with odd routines, animals making noises, zoom calls to clients etc and are comfortable around Christmas, but there are ways to check our dogs and also ways to help them.
Is my dog overwhelmed?
Dogs display ‘calming signals’ when they are in a situation they are worried about. These signals help a dog to de-stress and ground themselves as we all communicating to other animals and people that they are worried and need something to change to help them in that moment. This could be a lip lick, poke the tongue out, yawning, itching suddenly or even getting up and leaving the room!!
Dogs may also show they are worried by changing usual patterns such as sleeping more, taking themselves to another room they usually never go in, staying in the garden instead of inside the home or loosing interest in play / stealing items to encourage play!!
How can we help our dogs?
- Give them a break!!! Ensure you have spaces they can go to where it’s quiet and away from people walking about – ideally not in a hallway! Set up a crate, pen or space under a table or in a cupboard with blankets, toy, chew etc and ensure family and visitors know that is the dog’s safe space so leave them be if they are in there.
Try to maintain some of your dog’s usual routines. This might be feeding them in their usual spot instead of having a Christmas decoration there, wrapping presents in another room away from where your dog is trying to nap or ensuring you still go outside in the garden when they go toilet if that’s what you usually do.- Provide activities your dog finds fun to help with reducing anxiety. This might be interactive toys with treats or meals inside. You can sit with your dog to help them too! Snuffle mats can be filled with treats etc, or hiding treats or toys for your dogs to find can be fun too! Giving your dog a chew, natural treat or something designed for chewing can help give your dog something they like as well as encouraging the chewing which helps lower stress. Licky mats with paste on provide another way dogs can self soothe.
Offer something to support your dog like Pet Remedy or Rescue Remedy. This can be sprayed on to a tissue and placed near your dog so they can move away if not needed or too strong or some are safe to be given on a treat such as rescue remedy for pets. There are also plug in diffusers with Pet Remedy or DAP (Pheromones) which release the aroma slowly. These need to be in the room your dog is in most, switched on and kept topped up.
Try to consider if your dog wants to do something – do they really enjoy this or is it more for us and we really want our dogs to join in? My older dog Merlin loves posing – taught initially but now he sees somewhere like a box or tree stump and he’s got his front paws on it and is showing a relaxed face and nice body language waiting for me to take a photo then tell him he’s my bestest boy and giving him treats! However my youngest dog Pepper loves racing about to investigate things, sniff about if somewhere new, greet visitors etc so if I then try to ask her to go and pose on a box she won’t be having the same experience as Merlin. I’d get a photo eventually but will have caused Pepper some level of stress needing to stop her enjoyment to do something for her. However if I let her do her thing she will then come over and offer these poses so we get more natural tricks and a Happier Pepper.
Does your dog want to be pet by your visiting cousins from out of town? Does your dog like new people trying to sit close to them? Would your dog find Christmas Crackers being pulled fun or noisy? Do they want to tear open their presents or would they rather have space and you unwrap for them a little later?
6. Plan activities to have breaks in between. Taking your dog to the garden centre to meet Santa, then the next day taking your dog to visit your grandparents while your brother and sister are there with their children and then the next day you have your parents and aunts round for Christmas dinner adds up to a lot of stimulus in a short time! Could you visit grandparents a couple of days before Christmas and not take your dog to the garden centre, so there are rest days between events and less events happening in the same week.
In summary; our dogs can like Christmas very much but some dogs will find some elements too much and this can result in changes to behaviour or to their physical health. Provide space for rest, try to include some usual routine and watch your dog for calming signals and you will help your dog have a Yappy Woofmas too!
If you need help supporting your dog in the future reach out for help. We are here via online sessions and in person at our Ardleigh training venue, we have several wonderful referrals for dog behaviour and we can also help advise finding someone in your local area too.
If your dog needs support with fireworks our Fireworks Preparation and Management Blog and talk will be useful and found here:
Webinar: https://fb.watch/gvct1S27-h/
Blog 2: https://dogtrainingessex-suffolk.co.uk/preparing-dogs-and-puppies-for-fireworks-season/
Thankyou for reading!
