Hosting a Thanksgiving meal?

Here are some quick tips to keep your pup busy and safe during your feast!

Days like this are about the management, not the training. Hosting a meal or guests can be stressful enough. Use the day of to apply good management techniques and worry about changing any problem behaviors on another day

• Have a leash on your dog so you can easily manage any jumping on people, counters, or other attention-seeking behaviors without unintentionally reinforcing it
• If your dog is a beggar, have him in the crate, behind a gate, or tethered to you during dinner so your well-meaning family members don't encourage this behavior
• Have your dog in another room when people first arrive. It's much easier to introduce your dog to people once they're already settled in than when they're trying to get in the door
• Prepare a Kong or other stuffable toy in advance and put it in the freezer so your pup has his own feast to enjoy when everyone sits down to eat
• If your dog knows down, stay, or bed - intentionally work on this multiple times before anyone comes over. This may come in handy but if it doesn't work, don't stress! You can use management now and focus on that later
• If your dog is nervous of people, this is not the time to try to socialize him! Use management. Exercise him before everyone arrives, then have him in another room that family members can't access with a delicious stuffed toy, white noise, and a plan to work on this another time.

Watch for body language cues like YAWNING, AVOIDANCE, or SUDDEN STILLNESS as signs of stress

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

If you find that you had a difficult day and your hindsight kicks in, I invite you to join the Homeschooler Academy where you can train your dog from the comfort of your home, in your jammies and on your own schedule

Here are a few of my favorite stuff-able or treat dispensing toys (affiliate links)