Christmas is a wonderful time of year full of celebrations, great food, and time with family. It is a nice break from our otherwise busy lives and gives us a good chance to relax. Of course, you also want to involve your dog in the festivities, as they are an important part of your family.
This is especially true if you have a Goldendoodle, as they are people, pleasers and love, to spend time with those they love. But how can you go about successfully celebrating Christmas and spending quality time with your Goldendoodle throughout the holiday season?
With that in mind, this blog post is going to cover five different ways for you to celebrate Christmas with your Goldendoodles.
Involve Them in Your Holiday Traditions
First and foremost, you want to be sure to get your pet involved in your holiday traditions. If you leave them off on the sidelines, they may begin to act out and misbehave as these dogs want to be involved in everything going on with their family. Do your best to bring them along and make them feel like part of the family.
Bring them with you when you pick out a tree, when you go for a walk when you go check out Christmas lights in your neighborhood, and even have them around when decorating your home. As mentioned earlier, these are very loyal dogs and this time together is crucial for helping them be happy and on their best behavior. Of course, if you have this mixed breed or are thinking about getting one, be sure to check out more information on their temperament, to learn about the best ways to ensure they are a good boy or girl.
Get Them Some Gifts
Of course, a big part of Christmas is giving and receiving gifts from friends and family. These gifts are to show your appreciation for another person and show them you care. You don’t want your dog to feel left out, so be sure to give them some gifts as well.
There are plenty of amazing gifts for dogs that your pup will be very excited to not only play with/eat, but also open. This could be a new treat, a new toy, some dog clothes, a new collar, a new dog dish, and anything else you think they will enjoy. These can be found in many different stores, and there is no shortage of great sites and online stores out there to help, either.
Dogs can get a little excited when gifts like treats and new toys are around, so try to ensure the dog is calm before giving its gift. Giving them gifts when they are jumping around and barking can reinforce bad behaviors, so do your best to avoid that.
Give Them a Place to Relax
With the holidays being a busy time, it can sometimes be full of noise, commotion, and new lights and sounds. All of this can tend to be a little, especially if you are hosting Christmas and there are always people around.
While dogs like to be social, they can also get overwhelmed and want some quiet time and some time to themselves. As a result, be sure to dedicate a certain room or part of your home to be the dog’s quiet place where they can go and relax and take a break from the commotion. This could involve moving their bed into your room for quiet time, to the basement, or even making them a little fort with pillows and blankets to help them feel safe.
Sure, they may not spend a ton of time here, but it is good to provide them with the option just in case things get a little too hectic for them.
Try to Keep Their Normal Routines
Dogs like a routine and they are important in keeping your pooch happy and healthy. They like to eat at a certain time, go outside at a certain time, go for a walk at the same time, and things like that. You want to remain as consistent as possible when you do things like this throughout the holiday season. If you begin to screw up their routine, it can confuse them and potentially lead them to act out.
This also goes for the amount of food you feed them. Christmas time is often when many of us throw our diets out the window, to eat delicious food and not need to worry for a while. But it is important that you do not do this with your dog. Continue feeding them the same amount that they need, no matter how much they might beg for your table scraps. If you overfeed your doodle and don’t increase their exercise to match, you will quickly see them become overweight.
Not only can this make them uncomfortable, but it can also increase their risk of obesity-related diseases and illnesses common in dogs.
Be Aware of Potential Dangers
While celebrating with your dog can be a ton of fun, Christmas can introduce some potential dangers that you need to keep in mind. If you’re not careful during these times, your dog could become hurt. In addition to the overfeeding we mentioned earlier, there are many other potential hazards and dangers to keep an eye out for.
They could burn themselves on candles, eat toxic floral arrangements, or even get a shock from chewing on an electrical cord. There are also many string lights, ribbons, and other things that could potentially strangle your dog if they get caught up in it.
There is also a lot of chocolate laying around during the holidays, and this can be potentially toxic for dogs. Keep all chocolate high up and in places they cannot reach or climb up to.
In conclusion, we hope that this blog post has been able to help you come up with some amazing ways to celebrate Christmas with your Goldendoodle.
