Holiday Safety with Kids and Dogs

Cathy Reisfeld joins Kim and Michelle to discuss how to plan a safe holiday season with your kids and dog. She discusses safety plans and dog management during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's. Get great tips and tricks for how to manage your pups during the holiday season.

Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to good dog nation, the weekly video podcast that's all about having a good dog hosted by Michelle McCarthy, CDBC CTAC, leading therapy, dog authority and owner of canine homeschooling and Kim merit cofounder of good dog in a box.com good dog pro.com and founder of the URL doctor. This episode is brought to you by good dog in a box.com reward-based dog training and dog bite prevention products for families with kids and dogs and good dog pro.com the online content subscription and community for dog professionals with reward-based dog training products, curriculums and online courses to educate, motivate, and positively impact those that work with dogs and canine. homeschooling.com remote reward based dog training, behavior consulting and therapy dog consulting with Michelle McCarthy. Now let's join good dog nation.

Kim: 1:01

Hi everyone and welcome to good dog nation. I am Kim co, founder of good dog and a box and good Doug pro and I'm here with my cohost Michelle McCarthy of canine homeschooling.com hello Michelle. Hi and our very special guest today for holiday safety with kids and dogs. I have extremely important topic with Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah and new year's all coming up is Kathy rice. Riceville and Kathy has 30 plus years of clinical experience, 18 years of service dog training experience. And she is the owner of dependable dogs, a reward based dog training in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And Cathy is a long time friend and supporter of good dog and a box. And we have had her on several other webinars and she's a fabulous resource or information when it comes to dog safety where kids are concerned. And that's really a lot of the focus of what we're going to talk about today because unfortunately, as Kathy's going to tell us, a lot of dog bites happen during the holidays.

Cathy: 2:08

So Cathy, you know, why, why are the holidays so stressful for our family dog? Well, the, well, it's one reason there's things change and starting with Halloween, um, I was actually walking through target the other day, just looking at the sheer number of decorations there and things that wiggle and make noise and light up. Um, and I know actually a lot of very large children, um, older adults who love Halloween. I mean it just dressing up. Um, we were talking about actually a neighborhood we lived in in Colorado years ago where I, I the de Corps was just drawn jaw-dropping, but you'd walk into their central foyer and the Dale dad of the house would open a coffin, a real coffin, none of this big and deliver treats from there. Which scent was scary about number as small children screaming, you know, from the front door. Um, but you know, then people are out with or without dogs, dogs are in home where, you know, imagine having a door reactive dog and living in a neighborhood where there are lots and lots of kids on Halloween. And so if their doorbell bill is ringing constantly, there's just all of this excitement and activity around the front door, which is way beyond, um, you know, what normal guests coming and going, um, involve and then holiday to get togethers. Um, I know that we tend to have big Thanksgivings, but we've had to think through how we handle our own dogs with those, with guests arriving who may not be comfortable with dogs or have very different ideas about how dogs should be managed. Um, you know, and living with a dog who is a totally unrepentant counter surfer, um, in Michelle has met Keats and I'm a trainer, so it's clearly a failure on my part, but so we have strong management in place, but there's a lot to think about. Um, and as I had mentioned before, we started here last December, I was going to take a lot of time off in between Thanksgiving and the super bowl.

Michelle: 4:34

I had a few dozen family cases where there had been a bite or a lunge snarl snap at a grandchild visiting child. Um, so it just reinforced for me why I keep talking to my clients about being proactive, talking about management strategies and then also talking about firming up training if they're able to do that. Long answer, short question. So maybe, so let's talk about each of the different holidays and what some of the challenges with those may be. So, well, Halloween, let's start with Halloween first. Um, do we go trick or treating with our dog or do we leave the dog at home? I'm a big fan of leaving the dog at home. I've met very few dogs who can handle being out in a busy neighborhood in the dark. I mean, here in Michigan, it's starts to get dark right now around seven by the time how Wayne arrives end of October, it feels like it's dark at four o'clock.

Cathy: 5:43

Yeah. So it's very dark. I live in a neighborhood that is not well lit and there are dogs in my current neighborhood who are a little and reactive to other dogs and kids on their best, normal middle of the day scenarios. So now at costumes and a lot of kids consuming a fair amount of sugar. Um, and then all of the floaty things that had come with a lot of costumes and I think it really adds a lot of stress for dogs. Um, and what, what is, um, I know part of, part of the fun for trick or treating for some families is dressing up the dog. Yes. So what are both of you are professional dog trainers? What are your boat, both of your opinions on dressing up your dog for Halloween? I'll let you go first, Michelle, because wow. You know, I'm personally, when my, when my kids were younger, you know, they thought it was fun to do something and I'd always say you can do something very simple, but you obviously cannot cover their face. You cannot put it on their head. You can't make it so restrictive that they feel uncomfortable or worried. So they would do things like they had a costume, it was a Jersey and it said golden re or uh, I don't know, something re retriever, um, instead of receiver. And so, you know, we would do some silly basic, I think the funniest costume they ever had was they put their dad's boxer shorts on the dog and put them out on the front lawn. I mean, that, you know. Okay. That was kind of funny. Um, but I'm just not personally a big fan of dressing my dogs up in costumes because if I put something on them and I really truly watch my dog, they're not really that comfortable. Sometimes it's sort of the freeze and stand there. Like, what is this? Why am I, why is this on me? Or they're just really insistently trying to get it off. Um, I've had of course over the years, the very easygoing Labrador who a, I didn't really care and they'd walk around with something on the, but truthfully that's not the norm. And so I personally just, I haven't done it because I haven't met many dogs who really, truly love it as much as their human loves seeing it on them. That's just my own opinion. And I would share that. Um, I've had dogs that I worked with, personal dogs in therapy work who have after a long time with desensitization and training to wear a cute little collar or a hat or a bow tie or a big shirt. But they very clear that not all dogs like or tolerate wearing this gear. And I think what happens with a lot of, um, family dog owners, pet owners is they don't really think about it until Halloween. And they pull out the costume, slap it on the dog, and the dog has no idea why they're suddenly wearing all of these bodysuits got body suit and a hat and things that may make noise or ring. Um, and, and so much of it's done for the photo opportunity. Um, and, and if you look very closely at the dog, the dogs just not having a very good time. Um, and then if we're taking that dog who was uncomfortable in costume out into the neighborhood, right? You just compound the stress. Right. Um, you know, that said there are, again, I spent way too much time in target the other day, these adorable little costumes and, and I will see clients who said, I just bought this, is that, you know, it's a banana, it's a hot dog. It's whatever. And we talk about just introducing it to the dog to see, you know, we have a month. Maybe they like it, maybe like parts of it, maybe they don't. But I think we need to listen to the dog and look at their comfort level before we force a costume on them. And a lot of the main reason being, because we don't want the dog to bite somebody. One of the kids have a negative experience during the course of them being dressed up. Right. That and also, um, even if the dog isn't dressed up, um, long conversation with a fairly well known trainers several years ago whose children had acquired this pretty fantastic werewolf mask. And so everyone in the family took turns wearing the mask and growling and snarling at the dog who was terrified. And this went on for a few hours until it finally dawned on the trainer, who shall remain nameless? What am I doing? Why? Because w, you know, there's this video phenomena in the media that, that you get views by scaring animals for ratings and YouTube views that it's really unfortunate. Um, and if you then, as exactly as as you said, um, pull out the masks the next time and the dog decides to take their own proactive position to bite you before you terrify them again. Right? You've actually created this, right? Right. So, so how about we, we were talking about the trick or treating and kids going to the neighbor's house and you know, all this craziness going on inside to get their candy. How do we manage our dogs with the doorbell ringing nonstop? Someone, and I'm trying to remember who came up with the phrase said no trick or treater greeters. Um, so that if you're answering the, your dog should probably be somewhere else just because you don't know if your dog may be frightened by whoever is coming to the door. And even if they're lovely children from next door that your dog sees all the time, they look different when they're in costume and there's often a level of excitement and the pitch of the kids' voices is up on dark FUM dogs. Take it as an opportunity to grab what is ever in your hand to steal. And if you're handing out chocolate, you've got a problem with your dog, possibly ingesting candy. Um, but also if your dog is frightened and decides to bolt, you don't want a loose and lost dog on Halloween. So I'm a big favor fan of our dogs pretty much if it's just during the day. FedEx, ups, um, the doorbell rings and they come to us or they go to their crate. But with Halloween night where the doorbell may ring 20 plus times, that's too much. So my personal dogs are in a crate or behind a gate or in another room at the other end of the house with music playing with the Kong, um, which we've worked, that they're comfortable being there, that I only have the door to manage and not two to three large dogs at the door at the same time. Well, and I as a suggestion, uh, when my children were little and we did this not so much for our dog, we had a Newfoundland when the kids were growing up who was not luckily, thank goodness at her size. She was not bothered by the doorbell bringing, but our house was, you had to go up about 10, probably about 10 steps from the sidewalk to get to our front door. So we would always, uh, be on the porch or actually down on the sidewalk because of all the steps to greet everybody in to hand out the candy. So the doorbell was never rung. So that may be an option for families as well, that you can actually stand outside and greet the trick or treaters and get out candy so that they never have to ring your doorbell, thereby not causing a lot of that doorbell problem for reactive docks. And I had shared with you, I can hold this up because I'm, I don't even remember where I'd found this, but I share this with some, um, no trick or treaters. It says the dog is a Halloween nightmare every time the door bell rings. Whoop. There you go. Yup. There we go. And with clients that we know have very doorbell reactive dogs, we sometimes will laminate this hanging up over the doorbell, and then someone is either sitting just inside the door or they're on the porch, or conversely, the BA, the bowl of candy is just outside of the board porch. And the human interaction is just skipped. But if you have a tricky entrance, I mean, I'm just thinking small stoop, multiple steps down to the street or sidewalk. We also don't need anyone tumbling down those steps. Right. It just, it eliminated a whole lot of grief for everybody to just have all of the, the greeting and the candy giving away at the, at the sidewalk as a PA. and then nobody, nobody was on our steps. Our porch doorbell wasn't wrong. That was just really easy. Yes. So, so Cathy, you know, I recently had a client share with me that this housing is going to be just the best opportunity to socialize their new puppy. And I know I can, I can hear you cringing through my headphones. Um, because can you see my face? You know, fortunately, you know, I had a heads up with what they were planning to do and I had the opportunity to explain to them, you know, why that's really not a good idea. Um, but why don't you elaborate on why that would be a very, um, poor decision to make with, uh, with a young puppy of all the ages of dogs, especially a young puppy. I just had a conversation with a new client who has an eight week old puppy about just this this morning actually. And it's the concept of just what are we gradually introducing a young puppy too over time, paying very careful attention to how they respond to it, whether they approach it, whether they're retreating, looking at the puppies body language compared to just completely overwhelming the puppy, frightening them. And particularly if they're frightened by young, excitable children. And if you have a puppy who is a strong one event learner, yeah. Um, that there is a squealing four or five, six year old wearing a Cape or something around their neck. Um, what happens to the puppy then with approaching a child who looks similarly to that or is moving quickly a radically every other time? Um, I think what happens is everybody gets very excited. There was a period of time three years ago where it seems that everybody I knew had a golden retriever puppy, so everyone was going to dress the dog up as Doug from up. And I'm talking about just taking it slow and we're trying to build the puppy's trust and comfort level in the world that this probably wouldn't be contributing to any of that. Um, I tend to, I, I give my clients a lot of information, handouts, checklists, booklet on how to safely and appropriately socialize. But we talk about not flooding an overwhelming, because sometimes these same puppy owners will have children that find just the whole trick or treating party phenomena too much. Yeah. That 20 to 30 minutes into it, the child is overwhelmed, has eaten too much candy and it's just too much day, too much event, and they're ready to go home. Right. And they have a broader fund of knowledge set of experiences and frame of reference than a young puppy does with all of this. So we tend to do, we, you know, as the parents here, we tend to get excited and they're so cute and we want those photo opportunities and we want all of our friends and neighbors to see this adorable puppy that we have. But you know, we have this critical window of time when there were puppies to do a lot of wonderful socialization or to do some significant damage that something yes can be repaired. Um, and so it is very important. Yeah, it's, it's a big deal yet one of my golden puppies from a few years ago, um, because they really, really wanted the puppy to meet trick or treaters. We identified which neighbor children would take great direction coming to the door. They called and texted ahead of time that they were coming up the driveway into the door. The puppy was held in arms, Oh, here, you know, costumes, masks, et cetera. Came off. Puppy was given a co and it was not quite one and done, but just like, Oh, here's an exposure to a nice, calm, safe interaction with unknown child who, you know, wasn't jumping up and down on the front porch and, and it, and I think the difficulty is often working with parents who really, really want this. They want the picture, you know, how do we handle that to make it less stressful for the puppy and still meet their needs too, right? Sometimes tricky. Yeah. Sometimes it's just a family photo, right? A very calm family photo. When I socialize my own puppies, I have a closet full of hats and wigs and beards and all kinds of goofy stuff. But those puppies are seeing me in it and they know me and it's done very calmly as opposed to running them out into the street and having a meal to a stranger who looks different. So, yeah. And I think it's being aware of that, that, you know, winter in Michigan it gets very cold pretty quickly. And then everybody comes out with some parka thing with big fur and puppies. It's as if they're human has been devoured. Buy a fur lined parka. Yeah. And people call me often very upset. It's like what did they do? It's like what? You look very different. Right. Bigger and Hey, you're all covered up. Yeah. How about Halloween decorations? What do we need to keep in mind about? Cause I, I know and I'm a huge offender of this. My house will look like Halloween exploded inside, outside, all around. But what do people, what do our families with dogs really need to keep in mind when they put up Halloween decorations? Well, a lot of the decorative gourds, um, can be toxic. They're adorable. Um, I've been using the painted film covered. You can see the little purple and in the back, but my dog would chew this if he had access to it because it looks like a funny ball with a STEM. Um, where are you putting things? Are they down and accessible to the dog? I become a real fan of treat buckets recently that I don't have to put the bowl on a low table or on the floor for Halloween with trick or treaters. I can hang it on a coat hook near the door. So that's out of the dog's reach. Um, a number of families with young children, when I was growing up, you carve the pumpkin, you put the candle in the middle of it, you set it out. And after, um, particular we lived in Colorado during a drought when things were very, very dry, people having issues with just fire if the pumpkin rolled off the front porch, um, through these great little led candles reflectors we can take some of the fire risks away if we're into just carving, um, the pumpkin. But what can your dog get to and if they end up picking it up and walking away and ingesting it, is it safe? Um, bits of costumes for children that are dangly that every now and then I think parents can be surprised at just how quickly those bits rip off and can be swallowed. Exactly. I just want to share a couple of facts that, that Kathy, you sent us ahead of time, just kind of capping our discussion of Halloween. So half of all children bitten by dogs or under the age of 12 most dogs bite. Most dog bites are by the family dog or a dog that is known to the person. Most dog bites are preventable. And from the national canine research council, if we can see ourselves from our dog's perspective, we can prevent more dog bites, which is all very relevant to the discussion about Halloween. So shall we move it to the next holiday? How about Thanksgiving? What do we need to keep in mind with our dogs and Thanksgiving coming up? Cause that's a different type of holiday. Well it, a couple of things is just, I mean I personally love Thanksgiving at a certain point, you know, it's just, it's just food and dinner and, and gratitude. No cards, no gifts, you know, just, but, and, and we um, get very involved with dinner preparations and the whole food items list with Thanksgiving, running through the December holidays tend to be very rich. They tend to be things that we often don't eat. And we are often putting out this spread to reflect abundance and forgetting what the dog can get into maybe what the dog shouldn't be eating. Um, there may be more alcohol involved that the dog could get into or that our dinner guests may be ingesting that we don't, that changes their behavior in terms of how they're interacting with our dogs. Um, so I think it presents a whole set of challenges. Um, you know, just people not thinking going well the dog really likes Turkey skin says, Oh, what's one drumstick? Uh, without thinking exactly what GI damage we could be doing to our dogs, uh, people who were into baking. There are a lot more yeasted breads and pastries and just an array of foods that aren't commonly in most of our homes. Um, so when I'm thinking about Thanksgiving, because often the big get together is at my house. I have to really think about who's coming and whether they've spent some time with my dogs, know them, also know what our household routines and rules are. And if the dogs can be part of the group or if they have to be crated in a back bedroom for, you know, significant portion of the get together. Um, and, and we've had Thanksgivings that have run both ways and we've also had, um, guests who have come, who have been friends of our adult children that I've had to ask very directly. Are you comfortable with dogs, you know, or how do you feel about being, have you ever been bitten by a dog? Um, or if they say they're just fine. Um, kind of explaining how our house works and how we handle our dogs. Um, so that people are not doing inappropriate things with the dog if they feel that the dog is misbehaving. Um, I don't need anybody jabbing my dog in the neck or rolling them or, you know, so that we can be more consistent for them so that the dogs are comfortable and safe, but also so that all the guests are safe. Um, do you suggest the dog participant, your family dog participating in Thanksgiving and it being allowed to be out in room around during dinner when everybody's there or do you suggest the dog has created, put in another room? I'm going to give you the dog trainers responds to that, which is, it depends. Um, it depends upon the dog. Um, the dogs who share my home full time right now, one of them just find at large gatherings, the other removes the napkins from every dinner. Guests lap is just sort of Ninja thing. And while it is crazy, um, it's inappropriate and it's a pain and so he is always crated.

Michelle: 27:22

Um, but there are dogs who, and I have a lot of conversations with clients about this, that if they're hosting and people are then staying at their home for a few days and they kind of know in advance that maybe their house guests aren't the easiest house guest leaving the dog out of it. Is there a friend that the dog can go spend time at their house because they're having a smaller gathering? Can the dog be boarded? Is, you know, if the dog is comfortable being created in a way, in another room already, that's great, but you probably shouldn't plunk them in there Thursday mornings, say, see after dinner and just hope it works out. You know? Um, there are dogs that I have had and my clients have who make really nice choices about, okay, this is enough for me. I'm removing myself to another room where I have a bed and a space to be and know that everyone will leave them alone.

Cathy: 28:30

Um, and there are other dogs who need more assistance to be a part or just not be in the home at all. Um, not every family get together or set of guests. It's always easy and often, um, people are, who were hosting an event like Thanksgiving. There could be a lot of pressure, particularly if they haven't done it before. Um, and, and sometimes the dog is almost like this afterthought of like, Oh, what are we going to wait now? What are we going to do with you? Right. Um, right. And the JD door's usually a little too late to go looking for boarding. Right. Right, right. Yeah, that's it. You know, the one thing over the years that I had seen consistently over the holidays is if you have a dog who is a resource garter, yeah. Holidays can be one of the most dangerous times in your home because what is worse than having all of these extremely high value foods at your disposal and your guests may not know your dog struggles with? Well, if that drumstick falls on the ground, you know Fido's going to have a real problem given that up. And so there's a, there's a significant danger for dogs who already struggle with guarding behavior when you throw in all of these high value foods, strangers who don't know your dog, the stress of a party. So you know, those are the kinds of things that unfortunately people don't realize until the right in the middle of it. Well, and particularly with young children though, your dog may not necessarily resource guard from adult humans. When we have young children who are already moving and your kid has, your dog hasn't spent a lot of time with children who were moving in erratic, quick, impulsive ways. Who may be chasing a jog. I mean I get a lot of holiday calls where it's either been the family has visited the grandparents and the grandparents dog has bitten lunch, snarled snapped, they've taken their dog and it's just too much. And often what's happened is the dog has attempted to get away, gone under the dining room table, kitchen table, coffee table, and there's um, kind of a full tilt toddler or preschooler behind them. Ducky, ducky, don't you don't eat okay and getting right up in their face. And that's when the bite occurs. So it's a combination. Sometimes it's the perfect storm of triggers that have stacked. So I tend to ask retroactively going, so tell me how many people were at your house. Was any one person I suggest in family parties like this, whether it is Halloween party, Thanksgiving, Christmas, super bowl party, you're having children come and dogs there. There is one person assigned to watch each dog. That's their only job for the day when the dog, if the dog is away and comes out to be walked through the event and out, that person is responsible for the dog. And how they interact with everyone else, but also for kids, that there is one person if possible, assigned to each baby, toddler, preschooler, where are they? What are they doing, what are they into, what are they climbing on, what are they potentially eating? Um, and then that those people are actually that excused from prep and cleanup work, but they're able to provide more one-to-one monitoring supervision. And it sounds like it's a greater level of vigilance than may be needed. But what we all know is that bites don't come out of the blue. There are things that happened that pre-seed different bites and people just aren't seeing it because they're not knowing what to look for. And they're also distracted. They're the game, they're getting more pie. They're, you know, they're busy arguing politics with whoever, you know, it's there at the table, which they shouldn't do, but they kind of lose the dogs and the kids in the middle of all this.

Michelle: 32:54

So is there anything different we wanna think about with the Christmas Hanukkah, new year's end of the year parties over and about Thanksgiving. I mean the food and the fan. And the gatherings that all applies, decorations like we put out for Halloween would apply to Christmas. But is there anything different about Christmas and Hanukkah that, that we should keep in mind? Christmas, Hanukkah, new year's are inevitably involve more candles. I mean, so you're looking at what a dog or child can get to and possibly knock over. And then there is always the dilemma of the Christmas tree. And we talked about a photo that I had sent to each of you. Um, we had a friend who used to decorate and host parties that we used to jokingly suggest that she was hosting the Martha Stewart invitational every year. Um, and then she had children and then added a cat and then at a dogs.

Cathy: 33:52

And this is the photo below what life looked like because everybody was pulling things off of the tree. Um, you know, the Katz a memorable story, just watch themselves from the, landing down, a set of steps onto the tree and knock the whole thing down. Um, that happens in everything that's generally on a tree like this can really harm a pet or a child if they're ingesting. And tinsel, uh, these beautiful old glass ornaments. Um, it's just not safe and it may not be the most attractive thing in the world to put your Christmas tree inside an X pen. But I've done that more than one year. Um, we've gated the dog out of the room that the tree is been in because the prevailing, um, agenda is to keep everyone safe. Um, so yeah, the, the whole decor just presents a lot of different challenges, uh, jogs.

Michelle: 34:57

But I think we have to factor cats into, there's just more yes. Stuff. Yes. So any final, uh, summary of top couple of things that are dog owners, families with dogs and kids want to keep in mind with the holidays coming up? I think that the biggest thing, um, I tell people is be proactive. Think about the dog who lives in your house, um, and where you think the holiday may present some challenges for them so that you're not in the middle of it and going, Oh, you know, my joke to parents is that we do a, we expect we often get our, or the number 47, so we need a couple of plans of if the dog can't tolerate being, say crated in the back room, can they be gated off where they can still see what's going on? Be part of it, but not actively engaged in the activity.

Cathy: 35:58

Um, but I think also knowing that a number of dog owners struggle with these same issues, what I hear a lot from my parents is they feel like they're the only one who has a dog was a problem and pointing out where the resources are for them in the form of trainers. Um, I know you've got a lot of great stuff available available through good dog in a box dog. Crazy has really nice checklists and resources. Um, family paws has different, um, blogs. So there's information that's really good information out there to help families get through this and that. If you need to do something different that wasn't quite in your vision of how it was supposed to be, the dog really should maybe go bored for a couple of days where you need to bring in someone else to help just with Rover for a day or two. It's okay. I mean, it's better that than having something else happen. Right. Exactly, and wonderful, wonderful advice. Kathy, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for being on. Thank you everybody for watching. We'll see you next week. Bye bye. I

Announcer: 37:19

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