It's the most woofable time of the year!

The holiday season is unchallenged as the best and most exciting time of the year! The hustle and bustle. The shopping. The food. The family gatherings. Did I mention the shopping? Sometimes though, we forget to prioritize our pups and their safety. Some of us even stress a little about the holidays because we worry about our dogs getting into the food or knocking over great aunt Patricia as soon as she comes through the door.

I'd like to offer some tips for you for the holiday season from a safety standpoint and a training standpoint for your dogs! I'll start off with training.

My first and most important tip is to enforce your rules for your dog and don't let anyone sabotage that! For example, if your dogs get overly excited when someone comes in, put them on place and ask your guests not to pet them or talk to them. Yes, that means no high-pitched squealing hello or WHOSA GOOD BOY. This is assuming you've taught them place. We've got about 2 weeks until Christmas so with enough practice and consistency, you still have time to teach it! But if you have taught it and your relatives go over and bother them or get them riled up, the consistency is out the door. Another big one is if you don't want your dog jumping on people, don't let anyone encourage them to jump on them.

My next tip is if you're worried about counter surfing or wild behavior, put your dog in a crate or in another room. Give them some form of enrichment whether that be a frozen kong or a buffalo horn. It's perfectly fine to have them hang out somewhere where they can't get themselves into trouble. This is also great for when people are coming in and out of the house. It eliminates the worry of your dog slipping past someone at the door and dashing through the snow.

Lastly, if you can find the time, exercise your dog both physically and mentally BEFORE the festivities begin. This will help with overall hyper behaviors. Go for a walk or run and make sure you do something to mentally stimulate them as well such as a quick obedience training session, puzzle toys, etc. You can run most dogs for 6 miles and they still won't be fully tired unless you do something engaging with them.

Now let's move on to some safety tips.

First things first... NO RAWHIDES OR DEER ANTLERS! Rawhides are known to cause blockages and deer antlers can and will damage your pups teeth! Great substitues for these are collagen sticks, buffalo horns, and elk antlers.

Holiday foods that your dog CANNOT eat are: chocolate (obvious...I shouldn't have to list this at this point), onions, garlic, dried fruits, ham, anything with xylitol, cooked bones, alcohol, eggnog, bread dough, mashed potatoes and gravy, nuts, pumpkin pie, stuffing.

Especially for younger dogs, be mindful of cords and decorations with your dogs. Keep an eye on them and don't allow them to chew on cords, decor, gifts or anything that they could accidently consume and cause a blockage.

As I mentioned in the training tips, the best way to ensure your dogs safety over the holidays is to crate them as needed.

That's about it for this one! I hope this helps someone out and make sure you share with your friends and family! You never know who might be looking for these answers! I hope all of you have a fun and safe holiday! Give your pups a snoot smooch from me!