The menu’s planned, the guests are invited, and you’ve gone all Martha Stewart this year and mapped out your food preparation schedule for the annual Thanksgiving feast.  You’re ready but is Sadie?

Does she shadow your every move when you cook, waiting to scarf down stray crumbs that fall to the floor? Is she an expert at stealing food from tables and countertops? Does she beg relentlessly when you’re eating? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time for a crash course in holiday petiquette. Sadie won’t know to behave any differently on Thanksgiving day unless you train her to behave politely around human food starting now.

Dogs by nature are highly impulsive opportunistic scavengers. As Jean Donaldson, the founder of the SF SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers writes in her excellent book The Culture Clash, dogs’ approach to life can be summed up like this: “If it’s food, eat it now!” So what’s a dog to do when that sausage cornbread stuffing is sitting on the kitchen counter like a beacon calling her name? 

Make life easier on yourself and your dog and keep her out of the kitchen while you’re cooking. Keep food well out of her reach so temptation and opportunity don’t present themselves. Train her to stay on a mat away from the action or in a crate during marathon cooking sessions.

If your dog begs during human mealtimes, stop feeding her when you eat. No exceptions. This goes for everyone in the family as well as guests in your home. Scoring human food is extremely rewarding for most dogs. If you’ve ever given your dog even the tiniest morsel of human food while you’re eating a meal, she’ll surely remember that and do everything she can to make it happen again. She may paw at you, whine, bark, nuzzle you, and put on the cutest most forlorn look she can muster. Whatever she does, ignore her completely and don’t feed her while you’re eating.

Aside from ignoring the begging, you can train her to do a down stay somewhere away from the table during human mealtimes.   If you don’t have time to train your dog to do a long stay while you’re cooking or eating, put her in another room with a safe long-lasting chewie or a food puzzle toy filled with treats. That will keep her occupied and make the experience a positive one so she won’t feel like she’s been banished.

Last but definitely not least, don’t skimp on doggy exercise on the big day. Ideally, set aside some time before your guests arrive to exercise your dog.  I don’t mean a walk around the block. I’m talking aerobic exercise -- playtime with other dogs, a spirited session of fetch or frisbee, a run at the beach, a long brisk hike.

If you’re feeling pressed for time, remind yourself that doggy exercise time is an investment in your sanity and your dog’s too! Dogs have tremendous reserves of energy when hunting for food. They need daily acceptable outlets for that energy, otherwise they’re likely to funnel it into activities you probably won’t appreciate.

A tired dog is always a better-behaved dog. The more energy your dog burns, the less she’ll have for impolite behavior in your home -- on Thanksgiving and every other day of the year.

Photo Credit: Blazingstar, LisaM

Posted: November 11, 2008