'Tis the Season

Thanksgiving is almost here, which means that the Christmas season started last week. The holiday season is awash with opportunities for training your guide dog pup, but it is also rife with potential problems. Here are just a few:

Decorations. Your pup has walked through your neighborhood a hundred times without any problems. So why is he freaking out all of a sudden? Consider how the landscape has changed now that everyone has holiday decorations up. Dogs, especially the herding breeds, are really good at noticing what is different about a familiar location. So the addition of lights and decorations could potentially cause a dog to start showing caution or even fear in his own neighborhood. Things that might be most likely to cause concern are those figures that light up and move. You know, the deer that dip their heads or the snowman that waves. If your pup is showing concern, let him approach the object to investigate. It often helps if you go up and touch the object first. Remember not to coddle the dog. Coddling will come across as praising the dog for being fearful. If the dog won't approach all the way, don't force it. Let him get comfortable at his distance and then come back another day. And of course, you need to be very watchful with your indoor decorations. Dog-proof areas that the dog is allowed in and teach your dog that the tree that has suddenly sprouted in the living room is not a magical dog toy tree, nor is it for his busy-busy convenience. Be careful that the dog does not have opportunity to chew on extension cords for all the tree and window lights (the place looks fabulous, by the way).

Holiday plants - please see the previous post on this topic.

Visitors. You may have lots of visitors at your house during the holidays. Be sure to enforce proper guide dog behavior with your guests. No, that's not a typo. Be watchful of those folks who love dogs, but don't quite understand why we don't slip the dogs people food or let them jump on us or snuggle on the couch when no one's watching. These well-meaning folks can ruin months of work. And be extra vigilant with all the comings and goings of people that your pup doesn't bolt out an open door. And yes, I do actually like people who aren't puppy raisers. Mostly. Sometimes.

Even with all these cautions, we certainly don't want to Scrooge-ify the holidays. Put on the jingle bell collar, pose with Santa, slap reindeer antlers on the dog and take a picture. Enjoy!