Prepare Your Dog For Halloween
“It’s up to you to make Halloween fun and keep it safe for them!”
Prepare Your Dog For Halloween
Halloween can be scary & dangerous for your dog so it’s very important to prepare your dog for Halloween! It is up to you to make it fun and keep it safe for them!
Here are several tips to help you better prepare your dog for Halloween, the trick-or-treaters and all of the scary sights and sounds of the season.
TIP #1: Prepare Your Home
If your dog is “reactive” (barks every time the door bell rings or someone knocks on your door) you may want to consider keeping him/her in an area where you can control the amount of exposure it gets. I’ve used a lower level office area and turned up a TV or stereo to muffle the sound of the bell / door knocking.
If your dog can’t handle this, you may want to get a lawn or deck chair, take the candy bowl out on your porch and greet your visitors outside. After all, it’s only a few hours and this is how you can set your dog up for success. You should NEVER put your dog through more stress than it can handle. Pushing your dog “over threshold” can cause behavior issues such as social regression or even fear aggression.
TIP #2: Teach the Place/Settle Command
If your dog is OK with the door bell and kids knocking, and you will be giving it access to the area around the door just make sure it has a great grasp of the Place / Settle command.
You may want to start practicing it several times everyday right now in order to get it fresh in your dog’s mind before the big night comes! Working on it now will yield great payoffs when the night comes.
If your dog doesn’t already know the behavior please understand that you may not be where you need to be by this Halloween. In this case you may want to limit access to the door by using a baby gate or choose to completely remove the dog from the area as mentioned above. (Keep up the training though! That way you’ll be ready for next Halloween).
If you need help with this training, there is still time. Just contact me and I’ll get over to help you asap.
TIP #3: Work On a Strong “Leave It” Command Response
Hopefully, your dog already knows the “Leave It” command and is good with it. (If not, you can contact me and I’ll help you teach it).
If your dog is OK with the door bell / knocking, use the “Leave It” command to make sure that it doesn’t pick up anything that might be dropped on the ground.
Chocolate, small toys, candy wrappers and items like sucker w/ sticks in them (slow-pokes, bomb-pops etc) can cause serious injuries if they fall on the ground and your dog gets a hold of them.
You should already be practicing the “Leave It” command with your dog. If not, start again right away to make sure that it will leave these kinds of items alone until you can pick them up!
REMEMBER:
The most important part of training your dog is setting them up for success.
That isn’t the dog’s job. It’s yours! If that means no access to the door at all, then that’s what you need to do!
