Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Advice from Animal Expert Dr. Grey Stafford
 With the holidays in full swing, many of you may be planning to welcome friends and family over to your home. No doubt this will require a little extra cleaning and decorating around the house in preparation for company. Whether your guests plan to come just for dinner or to stay the winter, take some time to prepare your pets for the occasion, too.
If your pets are unaccustomed to having even a few neighbors in the home, imagine what a holiday party with a whole house full of strangers might do to them. Throw in some loud music, small children and the occasional dropped cheese and crackers on the floor and you are bound to have an upset animal, behaviorally and gastro-intestinally!
Before the big day
Since you know your animal better than anybody else does, take a moment to honestly assess what your pet can and can’t reasonably handle. Before your guests arrive, consider things like the total number of people invading your animal's space as well as the length of time the invaders will be staying over. Whether you expect a few people or a few hundred, be sure to coach your guests as they arrive on the best ways to interact (or not interact!) with your pet.
Party Etiquette
Once they arrive, urge guests, especially eager children, to progress slowly to give your pet ample opportunity to “warm up” to them. Everyone should allow your pet the freedom to engage or avoid contact as its comfort level allows. This means preventing guests from cornering animals (i.e. prevent an escape route) in an attempt to make friends. Plus, guests are not doing you a favor by feeding people food to your pet. Many holiday foods are toxic or in the very least may lead to an upset tummy.
Give your pet a break
Cooperative guests can be a great way to socialize your pet. But, if all of this seems like a bit too much to expect from your guests or your pet, then there’s nothing wrong with admitting that maybe a loud party isn’t setting anybody up for success.
If you are going to be too busy to supervise things all night long, it is best to make the human-pet interactions fun, safe and above all, brief for everyone. Then you can gently whisk your pet away to a spare bedroom along with its favorite blankie, treat and chew toy to enjoy the rest of the evening in peace and quiet. It is a good idea to check in on them throughout the evening while they are calm and quiet. So, don’t wait until they whine/bark, get fidgety, bored or have to go out before you check in on them. Instead, plan to provide them with periodic rewards for a job well done (e.g. sleeping and playing alone) as doorbells ring and guests come and go. As with every situation we discuss in this column, you always want to pay attention to pets for their good behaviors, not for their failures. Problems are best prevented not corrected.
I wish you and your pet a great holiday season!
~Dr. Grey
Learn more about Dr. Grey Stafford
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