Halloween and Your Anxious Dog: A Guide to Keeping Them Calm
Halloween and Your Anxious Dog: A Guide to Keeping Them Calm
Written by Lauren Tsao, MS, CDBC, CPDT-KA
It's the best time of year again - you wake up to the leaves changing colors and the crisp morning air on your face, and Halloween is just around the corner. For many of us, Halloween is a fun and festive time. But for our dogs, it can be a very stressful holiday from the constant stream of strangers coming to your door to the spooky noises (and movements!) of Halloween decorations. If your dog is anxious about strangers knocking on the door or the novelty that Halloween brings, here are a few steps you can take to help them feel more at ease.
Preparing Ahead Of Time With Desensitization And Counter-Conditioning
One of the best things you can do to help your dog with their anxiety during Halloween is to start preparing ahead of time with desensitization and counter-conditioning exercises. This means exposing them to Halloween decor, costumes, and people knocking on the door (or ringing the doorbell) in a gradual and controlled manner so that they can get used to it.
Start with just putting up some Halloween decorations around the house and letting your dog sniff them and investigate them at their own pace. Curious interaction with these Halloween items should be reinforced with high-value treats and praise too. If your dog is too scared to interact with the decor, try showing them the item from afar and tossing them a treat whenever the “scary” item is visible to them.
Then you can move on to Halloween costumes, knocks on the door, doorbell ringing, and other stimuli associated with Trick Or Treating in the same manner. Give your dog treats when they see the decorations or hear the knocking so that they associate these things with something positive. Finally, on Halloween night, you can open the door and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters with your dog. By slowly introducing them to these stimuli in a positive way, you can help them associate Halloween with something good instead of something scary.
Door Dashing Management
“Door dashing” is a term dog trainers use for the behavior some dogs present of running out of open doors. With the door open and closing often on Trick or Treat nights, it is better to be safe than sorry and work to prevent this behavior ahead of time. Make sure to keep your dog on a leash when answering the door on Halloween night or to set up a pet gate that prevents your dog from accessing the door, so that they don't dash out and get lost in all the commotion. You should also make sure your dog’s microchip and ID tags are up-to-date before the big night.
If your dog is extremely anxious about people at the door, you may need to keep them in another room or crate train them ahead of time so they're comfortable in their own safe space. If possible, have another family member or friend help hand out candy so you can focus on keeping your dog calm.
Knowing When To Put Your Dog Away For The Evening
Sometimes even when we take all the necessary precautions, our dogs can still get too stressed or overwhelmed during Halloween. If this happens, it's important to know when to put them away for the evening so that they don't get too worked up. Signs that your dog is too stressed include panting, pacing back and forth, trembling or shaking, hiding or trying to escape, whining or barking excessively, vomiting, or having diarrhea. If you see any of these signs in your dog, it's best to remove them from the situation and put them in a quiet room where they can't see or hear what's going on outside.
Some dog owners even prepare signs to put on their front doors which ask trick or treaters to not knock or ring the doorbell or they just put out a bowl of candy for trick or treaters to take from themselves. This will help your dog feel more at ease until the holiday is over.
Halloween can be a very stressful holiday for dogs - but there is hope! If you and your dog want to prepare in advance, join our upcoming virtual group dog training class, Trick And Treat, over Zoom, which will be taught by a certified professional dog trainer with live feedback for you and your dog’s situation. The class will cover the very training covered in this article and more. By preparing ahead of time with desensitization and counter conditioning exercises, practicing door dashing management, and knowing when to put your dog away for the evening if they get too stressed or overwhelmed, you can help your furry friend enjoy the spooky season just as much as you do!