Ahh, holidays.  This festive time of year brings us eggnog, food, family, friends, time off work, decorating the house, and gifts.  Getting into the ’spirit’ of the season often means that our dog’s name ends up on our shopping list too as we try to find that perfect gift to give to Fido on Christmas morning. 

It brings many people great joy to watch their dog pull the wrapping paper off the special gift that was placed under the glittery tree for them.  We’ll take photo’s of Fido ripping the paper and encourage him to unwrap his goodies so he can have something special on Christmas morning too. 

Is all of this harmless?

Some dogs display destructive behaviour, such as pulling apart your child’s toys, ripping apart shoes, shredding newspaper, etc.  This behaviour is unwanted and we discourage, discipline and correct our dogs from engaging in this destruction.  Dogs thrive off of having clear, consistent rules.  If, on Christmas morning, we are allowing, encouraging, and even cheering on our dogs to destroy the wrapping paper, we may be sending out inconsistent messages.

I have a client who called me in to help with her dogs destructive behaviour.  It started out as destruction only of paper.  After talking further, we uncovered the fact that this family always gave their dog a wrapped present on her birthday and on Christmas.  They also would give the dog a wrapped gift on their children’s birthdays too, because, they said, if they didn’t, she would proceed to unwrap the kids gifts.  At first this was funny.  Then it turned into trouble.  The dog-owner hosted a baby shower for a friend and while they were in another room playing a game, the dog helped herself to the gift table and unwrapped everything!  Baby outfits were grimy with slobber and rattles were punctured with teeth marks… so many things were destroyed.  After that, the family resorted to gift bags as the dog seemed to leave those alone.  As with many things that start out ‘funny’, it didn’t take long for this behaviour to spread to other areas of their lives.  If they left a book laying around, if a cheque or dollar bill fell on the floor, if they didn’t collect the mail as soon as it came through the slot, then the dog took it, shredded it, rolled in it, and tossed it around with enthusiasm and great joy.  On a daily basis the family would comb the house, room by room, floor by floor, to ensure that all paper products were clearly hidden or out of reach.  When the dog wanted to play it’s favorite game and couldn’t find a single piece of paper anywhere, she resorted to other objects.  Soon, purses, shoes, furniture, plants, decorations, even baseboards were a target.

Destructive behaviour is often a result of a lack of mental and physical stimulation, however, giving the dog inconsistent messages was also a major contributor to this problem.  Dogs can not discern between the paper that they can chew and the paper that they can’t.  This family was no longer allowed to give the dog a wrapped gift on ’special occasions’.  If they had a gift, they had to give it to her as is.

Before giving your dog a gift to unwrap, please think about the behaviour you will be encouraging.  For some dogs, this will not affect or create negative behaviour, and for these dogs, unwrapping a gift will be the joy we are ideally looking for.

The holidays also bring other concerns to mind. 

Gobbling up party snacks, chocolate, holiday baking, or exploring goodies found in trash bags can lead to a sick puppy!  Vomit and diarrhea are not fun to have to deal with!  You also don’t want to create an annoying begging behaviour, or contribute to obesity.

Watch that your dog doesn’t snack on holiday ribbons, tinsel, ornaments or power cords that can lead to an unscheduled emergency visit to the vet. 

Control your dog at the door when your guests arrive.  A pushy dog trying to get to your guests before you have a chance to say hello is a rude dog who’s showing your guests that he or she has a higher social status in the pack.  Also, while visiting other people’s homes, control your dog right from the beginning when you enter in their home.  Avoid allowing your dog to burst through the door and snoop through the hosts home.

For more tips on these above points, or to read about other ways to help you enjoy the holiday season, read my past blog entry called, “Happy Thanksgiving”!

For those of you looking for great gift ideas for your pooch, Unleashed, www.unleasheddogs.net  has a great selection of Christmas gifts.  Everything from squeaky reindeer, Christmas trees, and snowman plush toys, to soft crinkly candy canes, to gingerbread man and snowflake shaped rope toys.  Of course, there are also Apple Pie natural cookies among many other delicious treats.  If your dog enjoys a raw food diet, you can pick up some turkey necks or turkey meal patties.  So many choices.

From everyone at Clever Canines, Tracie, Joe, Niko and Foster, we wish you a happy, healthy, fun holiday season and all the best in 2008!

Tracie