‘Tis the Season for Christmas Bites to help get you and your dog ready for the Howlidays 
Calm & comfortable canine behaviour doesn’t happen by Christmas magic…it happens with sensible management, realistic expectations & meeting your dog’s needs.
We can all find the Season stressful & overwhelming, including our dogs. As part of planning for the celebrations, incorporate ways to manage your dog’s behavioural health.
The festivities bring lots of hazards including forbidden foods & other dangerous ingestibles, lots of changes, novelty, guests & activity, lots of comings & goings, on top of disrupted routines & distracted humans.
That means we need to step up management, provide more distance & relief, and meeting your dog’s needs.
All this stress & chaos leads to lowering of behavioural inhibitions so your dog is less well able to resist temptation. That means they be more likely to grab a tasty morsel, more likely to ingest and/or guard access to valuable stuff, and more care with supervision of dogs + kids and guests.
Realign your expectations with reality…the reality of the preparation you’ve provided, the stressors your dog is experiencing & the conditions on the day.
Take the pressure off yourself too! When you feel under stress, you might be shorter with your dog. Realign your expectations with reality & ask, “does my dog need to take part in this, right now?”.
Check out our Christmas Bites program to help bust the Seasonal stress, support you & your dog & keep everyone safe.
Safety First
Disrupted routines and distracted humans means that accidents can happen quite easily, particularly as there are so many harmful hazards all around during the festivities.
More about…
Festive Foods
Chocolate
More cases of chocolate toxicity are presented to veterinary hospitals during December, than any other time of year (Noble et al, 2017).
The Christmas Season is full of chocolate and dogs will be able to sniff out our hidden gifts and chew through containers. Dogs might hunt down chocolate in bars, boxes, Advent Calendars, decorations, toy components, and in parcels or wrapped gifts.
Chocolate often accompanies other dangerous foods such as raisins.
Chocolate contains the methylxanthines theobromine and caffeine, that can cause CNS stimulation when ingested by dogs. The greater the cocoa solids in the chocolate, the greater the risk of toxicity, with smaller amounts ingested (Bates 2015).
Even though theobromine toxicity is not a risk with white chocolate, VPIS, 2019, warn that with its high fat content ingesting white chocolate may lead to pancreatitis.
Check out this helpful Chocolate Toxicity Calculator from Vets Now.
In Noble, 2017, most dogs were presented at the veterinary clinic 1-6 hours after ingestion with vomiting, increased heart rate, agitation, and restlessness.
Spotting chocolate toxicity can be tricky. Many dogs will eat the evidence, chocolate and wrappers, so keen observation of your dog’s behaviour may contribute to getting timely help.
Beyond Chocolate
There are plenty of other festive foods that our pets might access accidentally or be fed unknowingly.
Cooked bones and fatty leftovers will be sought after by dogs and cats alike. But with our usual routines disrupted, left over foods may be discarded in unusual places, meaning easier and unsupervised access by pets of all species.
With an abundance of food, waste bins and compost bins may be overflowing, and many pets will seek out mouldy and spoiled foods which may leave them susceptible to Mycotoxins and similar.
Coffee, alcohols, and other psychoactive substances are readily associated with party-time and may become easily available to our pets via half-empty glasses left within reach, spills, in desserts and rising bread dough that may be left unattended or discarded.
Seasonal nuts, such as macadamias, and dried fruits such as grapes and dried grapes, e.g., raisins, currents, sultanas, are dangerous and may be in lots of foods like cakes, pudding, mince pies, stuffings & fillings.
Avocado, raw potatoes, fruit pits/seeds, fruit plant parts, and Allum species such as onions and garlic can be dangerous too.
Christmas brings many changes to family life and households including routine and physical disruptions, such as moving furniture and setting up spare rooms. These changes may increase risk of ingestion of human or pet medications; remember, dogs may chew through “child-proof” lids and containers with ease. Medications that people might believe are relatively benign, such as cold and ‘flu preparations, will feature in most homes at this time of year so take care!
While we humans may choose to gorge on high fat, high salt, and high sugar snacks and treats, these are not safe for pets of all kinds.
And be aware that “sugar free” foods may contain xylitol, which is poisonous to dogs, and probably other pets too.
Winter Hazards
Beyond foodstuffs, the same seasonal disruptions may contribute to increased risks relating to environmental hazards.
Christmas trees, decorations, wires, lights, candles, oils, ribbons and wrapping paper and packaging can be irresistible to pets who explore and even ingest these novelties.
Putting decorations and seasonal plants, like holly, mistletoe and poinsettia, out of reach may not reduce risks to cats particularly.
Winter hazards like rodenticides, anti-freeze and carbon monoxide poisoning may be more dangerous given the distractions of the celebrations and often inadequate supervision of pets.
The extra excitement and background increased stress of the run-up to the celebrations lowers behaviour inhibitions, meaning your dog may do behaviours they wouldn’t normally. They may be more likely to ‘steal’, grab, ingest, guard, jump up, bark, and so on.
Disrupted routines, distracted humans, doors opening and closing, lots of activity and excitement, can leave pets unsupervised and unattended more than usual. It’s on us to step up our management game to keep our pets safe this Season!
Include your dog
While it’s important to prevent our dogs getting forbidden and dangerous festive foods, we can include our dogs in our celebrations with safe and suitable foods too.
Know your dog! Some dogs can tolerate certain extras better than others – if that’s not your dog, stick to their regular diet and make it interesting by incorporating food puzzles and fun food games instead.
Adding small amounts of fresh food extras can be a great way to boost palatability and nutrition. Our dogs should find pleasure in their food, just like we do.
Consider adding lean components so as not to upset their tummies with extra fat and to keep calorie content under control. Account for extras by carefully adjusting the amount of their regular diet, to maintain balance.
Feed the rainbow! Consider the addition of safe and suitably prepared fruits and vegetables in an array of colours to capture the benefits of a range of phytochemicals that act as pigments in plants.
You might even bake special Seasonal cookies or treats for your dog. There are lots of recipes online often incorporating banana, oat flours, peanut butter and other dog-safe ingredients.
Our human celebrations generally incorporate food; we share food with loved ones, and are sharing love in doing so. Of course we want to include our dogs, whom we love as part of our families. Of course, keep them safe and away from harmful foods, but make sure to look at ways to share the celebrations with them, and share the love!
AniEd Ireland 