Who doesn’t love the holiday season filled with family, friends, yummy treats, and joyful memories? It can be a fun time of year, but creating a dog friendly holiday home is important when you’re a dog parent.
Of course, the holidays can create more stress for dogs. There are so many new smells, noises, decorations, people, and often a different schedule for our furry friends.
Thankfully, with just a few steps, your home will be merry and safe for your buddy. Even better, your pup will be calm and your holidays can be merrier. I love knowing my dog, Henry, is calm and safe in our pet friendly holiday home. Let’s dig in and unwrap the easy steps you can do the same for your pup.
Budget tip:
It doesn't take any extra money to make your holiday home dog friendly and your pup is calm over the seasn. But when you take these steps, it can make your holidays much easier and possibly even avoid unexpected vet bills or worse. That’s a major win-win for you and your buddy!
What we love for a dog friendly holiday home
Cuddle bed - Henry loves his cuddle dog beds. He has a few.
Heartbeat toy - I’m still shocked this gadget works so well.
Dog ebook - This is my first ebook and it features Henry.
Crate - Henry loves his crate and seeks it out as his retreat.
Customized dog treat - Who wouldn’t love a cookie with their favorite flavors?
Dog Friendly Holiday Home Care Ideas
Safe retreat – Provide a quiet spot for your furry friend to retreat with a dog bed (or crate), toys, heartbeat toy, and water.
Dog-proof decor – Place breakable ornaments high, avoid dangling cords, and skip edible decorations (like popcorn) that can entice a tree dive from your pup. Also, make sure to place snowglobes well out of reach of your furry kids. The contents are fatally toxic to pets (unless you make it at home in pet friendly manner without ethylene glycol, antifreeze, or windshield fluid).
Safe scents and sniffs – A lot of essential oils and even potpourri smells are toxic to dogs. Stick to dog-safe candles or natural scents. Remember, your dog’s nose is 100,000 times stronger than your nose. That means what might be a nice scent to you might be toxic to your pup.
Include your pup – Let your buddy unwrap a holiday toy or treat as you enjoy opening your gifts. You may even enjoy reading this fun Advent holiday ebook to your pup and doing the daily activities.
Holiday treats are yummy – Even your furry friend will love a special treat during the holidays. While you can buy a festive dog treat, you can make one with your pup’s favorite flavors with this free tool.
Holiday Tip: Try rotating your dog’s toys during the holiday season. It will keep your pup engaged in toy play and away from the tree. If your dog doesn’t like toys, then try keeping your dog’s mind engaged with a frozen treat, daycare, or sniff game. If your dog is insistent on being under or in the tree, then try a baby gate to keep your buddy out of the tree.
Managing Stress for Dogs During Holidays
Holidays can overwhelm even the calmest pup. Creating a dog friendly place, even with different sniffs, more people, different noises, shiny things, and lots of decorations, is easy. We all could use a bit of calm during the holidays. But for your pup, think about the following:
Schedules are important. Stick to your pup’s normal feeding and walking schedule. You may need help with your daily dog walk routine.
Keep minds engaged. Try using enrichment toys or puzzle feeders. They can be amazing for keeping your pup entertained. You can even give your canine companion a DIY toy.
Exercise is essential. Exercise your pup before guests arrive, you depart for a party, or shopping trip. If you don’t have the time, then ask a friend, family member, or call a dog walker.
Rejoice in retreats. Let your pup retreat from the noise in a quiet, safe spot with a bed (crate), toys, and water. Henry has a few safe zones and uses each of them depending on what he’s trying to escape.
Gadgets can be great. A heartbeat toy is amazingly effective for Henry. I have been surprised by how this gadget can almost immediately calm him.
Crates are calming. For Henry, a covered crate has also been a game-changer. It gives him a spot where he knows he’s safe and blocks out some of the scary noises or sights.
Calm dog treats can be effective. I use these mushroom calm treats as my first level of calming when I know Henry will be stressed (Mushroom Relax Calm Chews and get 10% with Code: LaylasWoof). They are amazing for him!
Holiday Hack: When I know something will be stressful for Henry like fireworks, I proactively give him a calm treat, cover his crate (which is in a quiet spot), and turn on his heartbeat toy. If he starts to pant, I’ll also put a cooling vest on him. Amazingly, with this combo of tricks he settles down rather quickly as if nothing is going on at all.
How do dog holiday safety tips save me money?
These tips are all easy and doable to help pets enjoy the holidays. They keep your pup safe and bills down. As a dog owner, consider the following for a moment.
| Issue | Estimated Cost |
| Pet poisoning | $200 – 550 |
| Choking on small items | $3,000 – 7,500 |
| Lost dog | $25 – 8,000+ |
| Happy and healthy holidays with your pup | PRICELESS!!! |
Related articles:
- Hidden Pet Poisons
- Holiday Dog Hazards to Avoid
- Dog Holiday Travel Dilemmas Solutions
- How to Calm a Dog Effectively
- Simple Way to Create a Dog Retreat
- How to Find a Great Dog Walker
- DIY Gifts for Dog Lovers
- Free Dog Cookie Creator Tool
- Benefits of a Dog Crate
- Fun Holiday Dog eBook
- Why Your Dog Will Love a Heartbeat Toy
Happy Holiday Homes are Pawsome
A dog friendly holiday home isn’t costly. Heck, it doesn’t usually cost me anything. Pet friendly homes are easy, even for a novice pet owner. I love to include Henry in the festive holidays and make sure he’s calm and safe. Seeing him enjoying the holiday at my side makes me happy. Most dog lovers wouldn’t think of celebrating the holidays without their furry buddies. I’m certain my Henry would say that when the holidays are furry, they are the best. I agree!
Great advice for dogs at holiday time! It’s easy to dismiss the fact that even at home without guests, holiday decor, treats, and even all those holiday scents can upset pets and even be toxic. Thanks for sharing!
It really easy to overlook some of these with the hustle and bustle of the season. Thanks for your support, Cathy!
Fantastic tips. Nothing puts a damper on all that fun like worrying about our pets’ safety. My biggest concern is people coming and going and we know it takes a second for a pet to slip out. I prefer to keep them in a separate room with everything they need and check on them often. I feel much more relaxed. If I want them to join us I would bring them out for short periods and keep the dogs on a leash.
Great idea, Hindy to keep your pup safe during the holidays and you more at ease. I love it!
Another important safety tip – keep snow globes well out of reach of pets. The liquid inside is deadly to pets. I shared a story last year about two dogs who died because a snowglobe broke and they licked just a bit of it before it was cleaned up. 🙁
Just updated with this addition. Thanks, Andrea for that reminder. Somehow I completely overlooked snow globes.
This is the perfect list for making the holiday safe and peaceful for dogs. You covered it all.
We never had any issues because our holidays have always been calm. But I can see how things can get overwhelming.
The advice on exercising the dog before any potential stressful situation is priceless. With excess energy drained, the calm sets in, allowing a dog to cope more easily.
And our dogs always loved unwrapping presents. Even with the gifts meant for them, they seemed to enjoy unwrapping more than the contents. And after the unwrapping, we had “wrapping destruction” fun, ending up with shredded pieces everywhere.
I love the wrapping destruction fun! I bet everyone howls at it every time. Thanks for sharing!
People forget that getting ready for Christmas makes every pet stressed. Noise, wrapping, decorations! It can be a nightmare if people forget to keep their pet ‘in the loop’ and well cared for.
I especially liked the calming treats concept. Something so natural and tasty is a real winner.
Fantastic post as if they are calm we can relax also, the calming treats are the best and I use them often having a pup in the house. Thanks for all the ideas as I will keep them in mind.
All excellent tips. It’s so important to monitor our own stress levels as our dogs pick up that! I love the heartbeat toy idea. Reminds me of when we used to wrap a little wind-up clock in a blanket or towel and lay it near our dogs for the ticking sound. <3
I know whenever I had holiday parties, my five Huskies enjoyed peace and quiet out on our covered back deck lounging on their beds in the cold air (their fave!) When anyone came, and they always were eager to greet/meet people as much as my guests wanted to greet them, but folks had to go out on the deck and meet/greet them in their comfort zone. Then, after everyone settled down, they would come in and hang out with us all by the tree!
I was always so vigilant about safety…one time I was having an in-home chocolate party, (I bet you're already going, "Oh, no…") so I knew my dogs needed to be kept away. I had them baby-gated in the kitchen and all was going fine…until…the (*&%$!) lady went and put a bowl with a little chocolate on it on a kitchen counter without my knowing it (she had to climb a baby gate to do this). The bowl fell and we all heard it crash. She said she would get to it to clean up after I closed the party – Um, NO. My dogs come first! By this time – which was only seconds – my Gibson was licking it, along with tiny shards of glass. Chocolate AND glass? I almost had a stroke. I moved Gibson and cleaned up his bleeding tongue and made sure he was okay…thankfully, there really wasn't much chocolate, but by now I was freaking out as his tongue was bleeding. While I'm tending to him, the demonstrator had the nerve to call me to close out the party. No way! My dog came first (and an extra scare was he was epileptic). I made her wait, and I wasn't pleasant about it. Thankfully, Gibson was absolutely fine. My heart still races at the memory. I was so worried, then just mad…I never spoke to, or bought from her (or that brand) again.
Oh, and that pic of Henry in his Santa hat is just so adorable!
This will be our two youngest pup’s first time around a decorated Christmas tree! After this week, I should have enough time and energy to keep them occupied and decorate it slowly and safely. I’m glad I don’t have any snow globes- I always forget how dangerous they can be for dogs!