If your puppy is brand new and very young, then he needs to be protected - as you would protect any baby - and keep his routine as near as possible to how it usually is.
If your puppy is older, more excitable, boisterous - or perhaps nervous around strangers - then a slightly different approach is indicated.
Either way it’s important that you are on the ball and can give your puppy the attention and care he needs, regardless of how busy your schedule may be.
In general, Christmas is a time of upheaval for dogs.
Upheaval = stress
Stress for your dog = stress for you, and for your guests!
So what can you do to minimise the stress?
Very young puppy up to 15 weeks old
Let’s look at the brand new puppy first.
This is a vital time for your puppy’s socialisation - which can only effectively happen between the ages of 3 and 15 weeks.
As ever, ALL experiences must be positive!
So this means you are on duty the whole time your puppy is awake and there are visitors and new activities taking place. As this young a puppy should be sleeping at least seventeen hours a day, this really isn’t hard!
For a puppy who’s still a bit leaky, greet your visitors outside, then it won’t matter if the excitement causes damp patches on the pavement.
It’s important that you maintain his usual schedule, in terms of sleeping, eating (should still be on 3 or 4 meals a day), and housetraining. You’ll have a cosy, quiet, place for him to do all of this, and you need to ensure that your puplet won’t be disturbed by anyone, especially over-excited children!
If you haven’t already got a cosy nest, make one now - set it up in a quiet room whose door you can lock - and start using it straight away! Consider soft lighting, half-covering the crate, soft music (classical, Mozart, is best - but you can also find stuff on Youtube). The music will not only soothe and calm your dog, but also muffle some of the sounds of the household.
The older puppy, over 15 weeks
Your older puppy is well past the socialisation period, but you have hopefully been introducing him to new experiences - happily - ever since.
The more novelty your young dog enjoys, the better he’ll be able to cope with novelty in the future.
You’ll be following the same guidance as for the very young puppy, but he’ll be sleeping an hour or so less. And depending on how much he’s learned of the outside world, you may need to do some counterconditioning work to help him cope with visitors invading his usually quiet home!
We can show you how to do this in detail in the Brilliant Family Dog Academy, but what counterconditioning means is gradually acclimatising your dog to something new - firstly in a very dilute form (I.e. at a great distance) and slowly nearer, always with lots of tasty treats. How do you know how to get nearer? When your dog shows little more than curious interest at the sight of the thing that previously worried him.
Remember he’s still very young, and very impressionable!
And remember too that lasting damage can be done if you fail to protect his burgeoning personality, his confidence.
Not to mention the damage that can be done to squawking children or furniture if your puppy is allowed to get overstressed and exhausted!
You’ll find more ideas in our free e-course with eight lessons here.