Creating Calm Canines

 Creating a Calm Christmas Special

Christmas time can be crazy for us humans and our pets! 

• We fill our homes with decorations that might seem unsettling to our dogs, especially the Christmas tree.
• Our schedule or routine often changes with some extra time off work/school plus extra time home with family.
• We are more likely to travel to see family we haven't been able to see since last Christmas.
• We often have people come to stay with us.
• There is extra time spent in stores which adds stress to us all! Christmas shopping, longer than normal lines, bigger crowds, etc. Often our dogs feel this stress in us when we get home!

Fearful, sensitive, and overly-excited and real young dogs tend to struggle with the changes that happen at Christmas more then confident, social dogs that are used to changing routines. Often I take emergency calls from people that have been going to Grandma's (insert any name here) house every year, but now they have a new puppy and either A- Owners don't know where to find a good puppy sitter OR B- Owners think taking their puppy with them will be real easy, then get a rude awakening when it's hard. 

Personally this year, I'm expecting a new puppy to come home very soon and I had the opportunity to bring Adora Belle home just before Thanksgiving or waiting until just after. I decided the chaos of the family travels and time together would be too much for a puppy that was only with me 3 days before the trip.  Then I found I would be re-claiming Roz during the holiday travels as she had too much energy to be successful in her previous SD placement. I spent Thanksgiving in a house with 10 humans and 3 large dogs, and the 2 boy dogs need to be kept separated at this time. This would have been way too much for a new puppy to handle. I'm glad I planned ahead!

Sneak Peak at Adora Belle Chaos!

We will have 4 Christmas promotions this year! The first 3 are totally FREE!

Here in Patreon will be the "12 Top Tips for Creating Calm!" 

On Facebook: "The 12 Days of Christmas Photo Challenge!"

And on my website is "December List of Holidays Activities!" This is a list of 30+ activities to do with dog during the holidays. The list gets posted Dec 1st, then it gets updated with links to photos, videos, or blogs as I work through the list with my dogs. You're encouraged to copy the list and do as many activities as you can!

The last one is super low cost virtual session to help your pup have a peaceful holiday despite all the chaos we often add to our daily routines. I'll be offering 30 minutes for $30 and 60 minutes for $50 available for Zoom sessions and video calls only.

The 12 Top Tips to Creating a Calm Christmas

This is a new and FREE resource that will be offered to Patreon members! 

You can sign up for a free account and get access to this. As a member, you'll get notified each day Dec 1 - 12th when I add the post for that day. I'll be using a mix of training videos, live zooms, and written content to share my tips. 

I'm still working on putting this together but will be including some things that you can train or practice before the big activities happen, some things you can do right be for to set up for success and some things you can do in the moment to help your dog be as calm as possible. Lastly I plan to add in a few extra posts after the 12th to help reduce your dog's stress after the big activities!

One of the problems with lists of this nature is that they often cater to the most common needs that dog trainers experience with their clients. You may find that all 12 tips can easily be implemented into your holiday routine or you might find that only 2 really apply to your dog. Each dog if a unique individual, just like each family is different, each holiday gathering is different. So if you like the Top 12 Tips, but feel like you need a bit more, check out the next discount on Virtual Planning!

Creating a Calm Christmas Virtual Planning Sessions

From December 1st to 15th, I'll be offering a discounted rate on individual sessions based on reviewing the changes that your dog will face during the holidays and creating a plan for success. This might include some training you can do before the craziness happens, some enrichment you can add or other ways to help meet your dog's needs, and tips for making sure all the pets in the house and visiting pets can share space successfully. You can schedule your 30 min Virtual Session for just $30 or your 60 min Virtual Session for $50. (My normal rate with be $75 for any session up to 60 min long.) 

This is one-on-one time to look at your holiday plans and your dog's individual needs and brainstorm ways to meet your dog's needs in an attempt to prevent or reduce the challenging behaviors that happen when your dog becomes stressed.

Don't forget to Follow the Yooper Paws FB Page for the Christmas Photo Contest!

I look forward to hearing about you and your dog plan to spend the holidays with as much peaceful feelings as possible and reducing stress as much as we can for everyone!