Enjoying your puppy’s first Christmas

Christmas is an exciting time. We decorate the house, eat all the exciting Christmas food, have lots of visitors to the house and, of course, open presents. But all those fun traditions can suddenly become stressful with a puppy in the house. If you’ve never done Christmas with a dog before then there are a lot of extra things to consider to make sure everyone stays safe and has a wonderful festive season.

Yes this looks cute, but keep fairy lights out of your puppy reach so they can’t chew them

Keeping your puppy safe at Christmas

There are a lot of extra risks for your puppy at Christmas. Many Christmas foods are toxic to dogs because they contain chocolate, macadamia nuts, grapes, raisins, onions or garlic. Make sure you keep these foods well out of your puppy’s reach and make sure your family and any visitors understand that they could make your dog seriously ill.

Christmas decorations are also potential hazards. Puppies can chew fairy lights, swallow pine needles and knock over Christmas trees. Again, try to keep everything out of your puppy’s reach. If you’ve got a small puppy then putting your tree on a table can keep them safe. If your puppy is bigger, you can put a puppy pen around the tree (and the presents on Christmas Day) to stop them playing with it. If you have decorations your puppy can reach, only let them in that room when you’re with them to supervise and close the door to keep them out when you’re not. If you’ve got valuable, breakable or highly sentimental decorations then it’s worth not putting them out this year. It’s much better to wait until next Christmas rather than having your puppy break something and injure themselves or destroy something that’s really special to you.

Helping your puppy relax around visitors

Most people have visitors come over sometime over the Christmas period. You might be having a big Christmas party or having family over on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. If your puppy’s not used to people coming to their house this can be very stressful for them and you. Give your puppy somewhere they can go to get away from all the noise if they need space - and tell everyone that if your puppy goes there to leave them alone. If you can, put this in a room people won’t be in so your puppy can have a proper break and maybe some sleep. Make this space nice and cosy, put their bed down and give them some toys and chews to occupy themselves.

A cosy spot will give your puppy somewhere to hide if they’re worried by your visitors.

Visitors often like to give dogs food so make sure they understand what is poisonous for your puppy. It can be easier to put out some bowls of dog treats that your visitors can give to your dog without having to check with you - they can spoil your puppy without risking making them ill. Don’t stress too much about people rewarding your puppy with food or attention for behaviours you don’t like - it’s only one day and you can go back to your training plan after Christmas.

Enjoying Christmas Day with your puppy

Your routine on Christmas Day is probably completely different to any other day. This can be confusing for your puppy but it can also be hard to fit them in around all the traditions. If you can, have someone take your puppy out for a walk (or just to your garden for a play and training session) while everyone’s busy cooking Christmas dinner. This means you don’t have to worry about your puppy begging the person cooking for attention while they’re stressing about getting dinner right. And hopefully this should tire out your puppy so they chill out while you eat and you can enjoy your meal. You can also give your puppy some of your Christmas dinner once it’s cool if you want to give them a treat. They can eat plain turkey, chicken, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and broccoli.

Skip those expensive doggy Christmas dinners in tins, and just give your puppy some of yours…

Puppy’s often get excited when people are opening presents and want to get involved - which isn’t always ideal. And they might be desperate for entertainment in the afternoon when you just want to flop in front of the TV in a food coma. If you prepare early you can entertain your dog without having to put in a lot of effort on the day. Have treats and chews in the room you’re opening presents so you can reward your puppy for being good and distract them from all the excitement. It’s best to put your puppy on a lead so they don’t decide to open some of the presents for themselves. Then move everything out of their reach once the presents have been opened.

You don’t have to buy your dog an expensive present - they don’t know it’s Christmas. But if you want to treat them, a small toy or chew is a good idea because they’ve got something new to keep them busy on Christmas Day. You can wrap their present in newspaper (just scrunch it - no need for tape) so they can enjoy opening their gift. You can also use your recycling to give your dog something to entertain them while you’re eating dinner or watching TV. I love using toilet roll inner tubes because everyone has them. Just fold over one end, fill with dry food and treats from the pet shop or small chews and fold over the other end. Make your puppy 5 or 6 and they’ve got their own free presents. Get these ready a few days before Christmas so you can just grab them when your puppy’s getting bored. You can find more easy ways you can use stuff you already have to keep your puppy busy this Christmas in my Enriching Your Dog’s Life e-book.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter