Unless you happen to be one of the rare few whose family comes together in perfect harmony and whose recipes never fail, your feelings surrounding the Holidays are a bit of a mixed bag. There is joy, yes. There can also be sweaty palmed anxiety. “Last time I saw this family member it ended in a drop down, drag out fight” recollections. It’s possible around the Holidays for there to be too many feelings in one room, or too many cooks in the kitchen.
All of this stuff is pretty similar when you’re a dog. For many dogs, the Holidays are a time of intense excitement but also potentially some anxiety as well. The doorbell rings more often. The people who enter are often much-loved and seldomly seen. They might bring punch bowls or toddlers or dishes full of glorious, aromatic turkey. Stimulation is high, and quarters are close.
As Thanksgiving approaches, think about what tools you have at your fingertips to set your dogs up for success. Imagine that when your elderly relation comes in the front door with a walker, your dog settles quietly on his mat. Wouldn’t that be a reason to celebrate?!
Imagine your perfect guest-entry scenario. Where is your dog when the doorbell rings? How do they greet your guests? Once you’ve imagined it, use some of these exercises to bring it to life!
Start training ahead of time! Guests arriving for the first time on the holiday is not the time to start practicing. If you’ve missed the boat for this year, see our management suggestions below!
Skill #1: If your dog barks at guest-at-the-door sounds, do some knock and/or doorbell conditioning:
Start off with your dog in front of you on leash. They do not need to be sitting or lying down at this point.
Knock lightly on the wall next to you. Treat when your dog acknowledges the noise, even just with an ear flick.
Repeat 5 times, or until your dog looks at you expectantly when they hear the knock.
Increase the volume of your knock in small increments until a normal knocking sound cues a check in.
For doorbell conditioning, try using a youtube video of a doorbell on your phone instead of knocking on the wall. Then, work your way up from a phone sound to the real deal. You can have your neighbor help with this because they will inevitably be needing a few eggs or a cup of flour from you in the coming weeks, anyway.
Skill #2: Hand target greeting as a replacement for jumping up.
We want to replace the jumping behavior with a better behavior. Recruit a different neighbor for this. Didn’t they use your generator last year for their in-law’s RV? They owe you one. Or, ask someone else who is pretty unfamiliar to your dog to help out. Having your dog greet a stranger by targeting their hand is not only fun for your dog and a neat trick to show off, but it keeps them lower to the ground during greetings. Interacting with the stranger low to the ground is incompatible with jumping up on them!
First step is teaching a hand target. If you haven’t taught your dog that skill yet, review this video to help out:
Next, apply your hand target skill to a “friendly stranger.”
Warm up your dog's hand target behavior a few times. With your dog on leash, have the friendly stranger approach you and your dog (or you can approach them instead). Ask them to stop just out of reach.
Ask the friend to extend their hand out towards your dog, and cue your dog to "Say Hi" or "Greet." You can also use a verbal "Touch" cue the first few times if that helps your dog understand the game better.
When you dog runs up and targets the hand, mark (click or "Yes!") and feed in front of you as you take a step or two back.
Repeat. Continue to play the game until your dog is touching the friend's hand and returning to you quickly. Mix this game with calm sits or downs at your side to reinforce calm.
Make it more difficult! Start farther away from the friendly stranger (more excitement wind-up time!). Have the friend get more excited. Play with different people. Use strangers as a tool when your dog is ready.
If this hand target greeting is too exciting for your dog to handle calmly right away, start with just some approaching and retreating first without any hand targets.
Practice before the big day.
Choose different distractions and environments that are within your dog's range of success. If you can adjust the distraction level (by adjusting the types of greeters, the distance from the greeter, etc.) you can set your dog up for making the right choice - greeting calmly! The more incrementally you can increase the levels of exciting greeters, the easier it is for your dog, and the faster he will move through them.
Quite literally, don’t try a new recipe on Thanksgiving. Start working on training exercises early, and your chances for success on the big day will go up exponentially. Start with small stimuli and move to larger distractions. Reward what you like and ignore what you don’t. Practice in frequent but short sessions, and reward incremental success.
Don’t Forget Your Management!
One final ingredient – if your dog needs some extra help being successful during the big holiday gatherings, it’s ok to use some management strategies to make that happen. Have lots of stuffed kongs prepared and frozen for longer-lasting fun and distraction from the turkey dinner. Set up a crate safe space in the bedroom or basement for your dog to take crate naps throughout the day. Keep them attached to a leash around your waist so that you know exactly where they are – and can rest assured that they aren’t jumping on guests or cleaning the platters on the dining room table for you.
Remember – your dog’s behaviors are functioning to get reinforcement out of the environment. They can either get that reinforcement in the form of attention for unwanted behavior like jumping up, or a delicious snack from edge of the turkey for counter-surfing. Those are very reinforcing behaviors for your dog! Even if you think “he knows better!” or “she would never do that!”, when you throw in a lot of extra people into the mix of a holiday gathering, expect some abnormal behavior from your dog too! Brush up on some training ahead of time and be ready to manage your dog well during your holiday celebrations to help all of you have a wonderful time together.
