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Via mikem@thecolumbiastar.com | November 11, 2021

Train behavior or use management to prevent your dog from stealing your holiday food. A dog is an opportunist-if you put tempting food within his reach, you will not be angry with him.

The big family holiday is coming soon. In addition to meal plans, gift purchases, and decorations, consider preparing your dog for these exciting moments, let him retrain or start training skills useful during the holidays from now on.

Looking at the holidays from your dog's perspective, you will realize what tips you might need to teach him. Holidays usually mean that he can eat a sumptuous and attractive meal, whether the food is prepared in the kitchen or already on the table (for him to enjoy). Dogs are opportunists, and holiday food smells good. Reaching for any food he can reach is a natural behavior of a dog, and if he can, he might do so.

During the holidays, visitors may increase, especially now that people can be vaccinated against COVID-19. Due to social distancing in 2020, some of our dogs who have been family members since COVID-19 have not encountered holiday visitors. Holiday parties and visitors can be very exciting or overwhelming for our dog. Your dog may be very excited, and he wants to jump on visitors to greet them.

Teaching reliable keeping tips helps keep your dog away from obstacles during the holiday season.

(Please note: If your dog exhibits food protection, aggressiveness towards people in the family, or fear of people, and you have serious behavioral problems, you should contact a qualified and active trainer. These problems will not be corrected soon. )

There are several specific skills that can help you manage your dog during the holiday season. The first is to leave it. Leaving means that your dog can touch something, but you don't want him to do it. This can be helpful if your dog starts to grab food from the counter or table. If your dog tries to grab gifts, socks, decorations, or any other prohibited items, you can use it. But remember, you must be present to provide tips. If your dog eats food or prohibited items alone, this is fair game for him. This is when managing the situation is important. If you cannot care for your dog, it should be boxed, tied or locked in another room. Baby gates can be used to block attractive areas.

During the holidays, stealing food will not only cause trouble for the dog. Max of Brenda Hall was attracted by the decorations on the Christmas tree. If you cannot look after your dog, please prevent him from touching decorations and gifts to prevent him from getting into trouble.

There are many ways to actively teach to leave it. This is one way:

• Leash your dog on a seat belt or flat collar.

• Ask your assistant to put interesting objects or dog biscuits on the floor out of your dog's reach, or throw objects away from your dog.

• When you hold the leash, keep your dog close to the item and keep interested in it, but don't get too close to it (or reach out with its paw).

• Say once, hold your dog close to objects. Don't pull your dog away from objects. If you pull him away, you are doing his homework for him, and he hasn't learned anything.

• When your dog does anything other than staring at something attractive (he may hear the noise and look up, or look at other people in the house, it doesn’t matter why he doesn’t look at this thing), use a Yes, take a few steps back, reward a few very good treats at a time, always praise.

Teach your dog not to jump on the guests to start, and don’t pet him when he jumps on you. If you do, he will be rewarded for jumping and will continue to do so. Instead, teach him to sit and stroke politely.

• Repeat this operation until he immediately reacts to the "leave" prompt and moves towards you to receive his reward.

• Use many different objects and foods to practice this in all locations inside and outside the house. In order for behavior to be reliable, it must be practiced in many different places.

• Once he reacts with the belt, remove the belt during practice and place a hard biscuit on the floor near your feet. Say leave. If he responds, great! Reward him generously. If he goes to eat biscuits, be prepared to cover your feet and practice more. Never let a dog own the items you let him leave alone.

• Leaving it, and coming when called, are behaviors that must be strengthened regularly throughout your dog's life to maintain the reliability of the behavior.

Another behavior you may want to address is not to skip the visitor. It is best to train well before the holidays, and you should keep the dog on a leash while you are training. This article does not have enough space to review every step of training without jumping. But in order to help your dog learn not to jump on people, when your dog jumps on people, no one should touch it, even the dog-loving Uncle Joe! Pushing your dog, yelling at your dog, or kneeling your dog is actually rewarding them for jumping. Dogs will jump up to attract attention, they don't care whether it is negative attention.

Consider teaching to settle down on a mat or place so your dog can rest comfortably near guests, but don’t get in the way when you visit or eat. Reliable holding tips help keep your dog away from preparing dinner or sitting to prevent jumping when visitors approach.

If you don't have time to teach your dog new skills, you can manage his environment at any time to prevent him from practicing unnecessary holiday behaviors. When you are accompanied by someone, put your friendly dog ​​in the box until the initial excitement is over, then take it out with a leash to prevent it from jumping up. If he is not calm, tie him aside, put him in another room, or put him in a box with a toy stuffed with food to keep him busy and happy. This management strategy will also prevent him from stealing food.

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