I know so many people that get carried away with business during the holidays 🙂 It is time to have fun and be with our family. So if it is time for our family then why do our dogs need to get neglected during the holidays? Our dogs are our family right? Below are some fun tips to keep up with the fun with your dog during the holidays 🙂
1.) If you are having a family get together create some Ziploc bags with kibble or your dog’s treats in them. Give the bags to numerous people that are coming to your house for the get together. Tell them they can give your dog a treat if he/she sits. Also you can show them other tricks that your does: down, target, stay, come, etc. and ask them to give treats for these commands as well.
2.) Do the children in your family love dogs? Have the children create a circle. Each person (one at a time of course) in the circle calls the dog to them. You can also do this with the “target” command.
3.) If you have a large immediate family delegate your dog’s training to each family member. Remember training sessions only need to last 2-5 minutes. If you have 4 people in your family you can assign one person each day. You can also have each family member train every day. Either way the training will get done in very little time 🙂
4.) The big stones are what gets done in life. Delegate training as a priority. You can do it first thing in the morning on your busy days. Don’t save it for last task when you feel you don’t have time to do it.
5.) Hire Four Legged Scholars to do Study Hall with your dog. This works great if you are extremely busy. I will come to your house and train your dog for you. Then I will show what your dog has learned and help the behaviors generalize over to you. Last year my busiest time was during the holiday season. Your dog needs attention and training too and I am here to support you 🙂
6.) Train your dog during his / her normal exercising routine. Train your dog during games such as fetch or during walks, etc.
7.) Create training to be so much fun that there is no way you want to skip it during the holiday season. Allow training your dog to be peaceful and fun. It is a break in your hectic day. A time to be in the moment and to connect 🙂
Happy Holidays Everyone!
With Love,
Johanna Teresi, Professional Trainer and Owner of Four Legged Scholars LLC
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