Prevention is the BEST action plan
Halloween maybe isn’t as fun for dogs as it is for us. Or, more specifically, maybe trick or treat isn’t as fun for dogs as it is for us. Is it even possible to have a stress-free dog Halloween night? Have you ever noticed your dog acting stressed during trick-or-treat activities?
What about keeping a new dog stress-free Halloween night. Or a foster dog. A dog you just adopted that you don’t yet know too well. How can you have a stress-free dog on Halloween?
Stress is a problem for dogs
Indeed, stress is a problem for dogs.
To clarify, I am not talking about a momentary startle response followed by a rather quick recovery. Instead, I am talking about a prolonged stress event like a long evening of rapid-fire costume-wearing trick-or-treaters knocking at your door. Oh, the mayhem! Scary walking and talking creatures of all sizes at the door. Yikes!
Stress can even hang around for a few days after an event, markedly increasing the chance of behavioral mis-steps, digestive upset or even elopement.
Read more about the stress hormone cortisol and how stress can affect your dog.
There's This Thing Called Trigger Stacking
I’ll save my explanation and instead load up a great graphic that explains this concept. Although the information is focused on horses, it absolutely applies to dogs.(and us!)
Bottom line, stress events can stack up – even well after an event. So, when we are managing foster dogs, we have to be super-cognizant of the roll stress plays on their day-to-day mental status.
The Temptation to "roll with it."
You have no idea how your foster dog deals with Halloween sights and sounds and the temptation might be to go into the evening sans plans and see how your foster dog rolls with it.
Don’t do that.
Likewise, don’t expect your zen, unflappable dog to transfer by osmosis coping skills to your new foster dog. It doesn’t work that way, and that approach sometimes backfires.
Instead, make a plan to facilitate a stress-free dog on Halloween night.
Have a Stress-Free Dog Halloween Night - Do THIS!
Provide distance.
too simple? too ambiguous? Ok – let’s break it down.
Halloween Stressors
- Noise
- So. Many. Friends. At. The. Door
- Unusual sightings – scary costumed beings that walk and talk and squeal and laugh (or cry)!
Use Distance to Prevent Stress Halloween Night
Increase Distance from Stressful Noise
- Turn off the doorbell, or station yourself on the porch so that little ding-dong button isn’t pushed.
- Decide how you are going to greet your little ghosts and goblins. Think about how your foster dog might respond to your voice if you start sounding loud and squeaky. Consider being soft and excited and maybe use the opportunity to provide the children some education on why you are talking so softly. They won’t remember that you weren’t loudly clapping your hands at their costume! They’ll remember if you gave them chocolate or a peppermint.
- Open your door with care and ease. Try not to make a loud sound when you close the door.
- Offer a competing, pleasant noise. Music, TV are normal sounds your dogs hear during the day, maybe? The more normal their evening, the better.
- Offer distractions such as puzzle toys or treat-dispensing toys. I pre-fill and freeze my Kong toys for events such as this.
Increase Distance from Visuals that Excite or Frighten
I’ve cared for Boston Terriers nearly my whole life. One comment I have about this breed is this: they truly believe that every human being standing at the door has come to visit and interact with them and them only! Therefore, training is needed to teach them to not jump, squeal, and paw at guests as they enter the house. I can only imagine how tough it is to manage an untrained big dog when greeting guests at the door! Yikes!
On Halloween, I don’t ask my dogs to practice their manners by greeting every trick-or-treater at the door. And I probably haven’t had time to proof the behavior yet with my foster dogs. It’s fair to say that Halloween isn’t the time to conduct a training session unless your dog is fairly advanced in remaining calm and in place.
Here are ways I restrict what my dogs can and cannot see on Halloween
- Put them in a different room, away from the activity at the front door. If you are lucky enough to have a family member who doesn’t want to hand out candy, great! Have the dogs hang out with this human. My den is at the other end of the house, my dogs hang out there.
- Making this unusual evening as normal as possible can help keep your dog’s stress level down.
- This is one of those times when having your dog crate-trained is a good thing. You may need to use crates.
- Alternately, a baby gate or other barrier is an option. The goal here is to keep your dog from seeing scary, costumed creatures who walk and talk! Place your barrier well away and around the corner from your front door. If you have a barrier jumper, stack one baby gate on top of the other.
- Draw the blinds or curtains. Don’t have blinds or curtains? Tape paper to the window panes or nail a blanket over the entire window. A sheet usually doesn’t work because they are too thin. Moving shadows can be just as frightening.
Increase Distance From the Event Altogether
Seriously – if your intuition or current knowledge of your foster dog is to get them totally away from the stress of Halloween, step away from the event.
- Choose to not participate in trick or treat. Turn the porch light off and don’t light the jack-o-lantern. This may not be an option if you have little children who participate.
- Decide to board your foster dog for the evening. Seriously! If you have a dog that is highly arousable, (is that a word?) that stress bucket can fill fast and stay full for days afterward. You only have a limited time with your foster dog. Make every moment count. Your rescue agency should foot this bill.
- Take your dogs for a car ride while someone stays home to feed the ghosts and goblins.
Other do's
- If needed, consider medication. Talk with your veterinarian about anti-anxiety medication.
- Have on hand other calming tools like Adaptil‘s pheromone products.
- Try noise-canceling headphones for dogs! They make those now! Hint: I understand they can help with other noise phobias like storms and fireworks.
- Exercise your dogs well before the first little goblins make their way to the sidewalks. Remember, those little ghouls are eager and hungry for candy, so they may be out and about earlier than you’d think.
- Finally, do not forget! Your foster dog can have residual stress responses for a few days after Halloween. Be vigilant, maybe back off of certain stress-inducing activities and maintain safety.
AFFILIATE STATEMENT:
Other Don'ts
- Don’t don’t don’t dont DO NOT take your foster dog to one of those parking lot “trunk or treat” events and have them just hang out in the car. It’s a really bad idea.
