Taking your dog to Christmas Parades and preparations for New Year’s Eve

Christmas parades are fun and can be very entertaining for the family. So why not share the experience with your dog? Do dogs perceive the parades also as a fun and entertaining experience? Well, that in all honesty depends on your dog’s personality. Some dogs are super chill in any situation, some dogs are quickly overstimulated by large crowds and noise.
But there’s a way to ease your dog into going to a Christmas parade. One way of doing so of course includes obedience training, working with your dog in loud and crowded places to desensitize your dog. The parade itself can be a good environment for some obedience training under distractions. For very young dogs and puppies, the parade environment can be a good opportunity to for some environmental socialization training. Simply load up on a truck load of training food, make sure to skip the puppy’s regular meal, pick a good and quiet spot where you and the pup can see the parade but aren’t in the middle of the crowds and have your puppy observe the parade. Whenever the pup gets a bit too stimulated, redirect the pup’s attention back to you and reward with some food. Once the pup is chill and easily redirects it’s attention to you, then you can get a bit closer the parade crowds. Definitely keep an eye on your pup to notice signs of getting too overwhelmed with the situation, you have to use our intuition for that combined with your observation. Behaviors to look out for are: frequent yawning, scratching, restlessness which wasn’t there before, lunging and/or barking, jumping up on you, excessive pulling on the leash which wasn’t there before.
If you experience any of these stress signs, it is time to head home.
Speaking of stressful situation: New Year’s Eve is coming up.
If you know your dog is struggling with the fireworks and all the noise, now is the time to consult your veterinarian for some calming medications or even find a rural boarding place that is quiet during this time. Just be aware of, not every dog is affected by these medications the same way. It would be smart to have a trial run first before settling on one medication. Time is running out, be a smart dog owner and be prepared.