We are now approaching the time of year that puts dogs (and other family pets) under more stress that at any other. Halloween, Bonfire night and then the run up to Christmas.
For Bonfire night and the period of firework displays around it. You will hopefully already have a system in place to keep your dog safe and as relaxed as possible while all the noise is going on. If not, perhaps you’d better arrange a consultation with a dog listener before next year. Of course that is not going to help your dog now. If your dog is not concerned with the noise then that’s fine, just carry on as normal. If your dog sees you unconcerned he’ll be relaxed. Under no circumstances comfort your dog. you will give him the signal that you are terrified too and he is right to be frightened. If he does show signs of fright or stress just take him by the collar and hold him at your side with no speech or eye contact. He will at first continue to shake or bark. Ignore it until he relaxes. How long will this take? Who knows? Every dog is different but relax he will. You can then silently release him. It may be that shortly after there is another loud bang and your dog gets stressed again. Repeat as above. Each time you hold him by your side the time it takes for him to relax will decrease.
The upside of this, probably as a result of the credit crunch, is that here we are in late October and I’ve yet to hear my first firework. It won’t last of course so stay calm.
Halloween, that wondrous time of the year when gangs of small, and not so small children travel from house to house demanding protection money. “OK old woman! What’s it going to be, the sweets or your front window?”
The temptation is to go to the door with your dog. Bad move and potentially very dangerous for the dog. He doesn’t know it’s Halloween and when he goes to the door with you and is confronted by loud, squealing, strangely dressed creatures, he may well fall back into defence drive. All your dog, any dog knows, is how to be a dog. When a dog is threatened, angry, frightened or just hacked off; they don’t call their lawyers they bite. It’s called survival.
If your dog bites, or even has a near miss with a child on your doorstep, even if the callers are at fault. You will be looking at a lot of grief and potential fatal consequences for your dog who after all only did what he thought was right.
When you answer the door at anytime, but particularly at times like this. It’s a good idea to put your dog in another room first. After all it’s not your dogs job to decide who can or can’t come into the house is it? Play safe and nothing can go wrong for you, your visitors or your best friend.
Which only leaves Christmas, another stressful time. So much to do, so little time and it’s started already. Money is in short supply, tempers get frayed. By the time the big day arrives in some homes it’s a war zone. Rowing parents, unwanted relatives, spoilt children and burnt turkey. it can be bad for the humans and we know what’s going on. The poor old dog just wants to be left alone. Give him a bit of peace if you can, somewhere he can just go and chill out.
I wish I had read this before Christmas and unwittingly put my dog in a stressful situation.
But it did mean we called out Robin in February and things will now improve. Robin showed us that we had to take the leadership responsibility from the dog back to ourselves. Its only Day 3 but te family are less worried, more structured, are singing off the same hymn sheet. And Rory, a retired grey hound from The Dogs Trust, lay for 4 hours mesmerised by Robin without his trademark growl and seems to have a renewed spring in his step. It will take more time to see if we can achieve a relaxed, non threatening dog. But so far not one growl.. ..phew. Thank you so much Robin. I will keep you posted.