(Don’t Bring Me) Home for the Holidays

Hi, my name is Noel and I am a former Christmas puppy. My first mom and dad gave in to the demands of their kids and bought me at a local pet store the week before Christmas, just in time for me to be put under the tree for Christmas morning. I was so excited to be taken home and just couldn’t wait to get to know my new family. I thought everything would be great. Boy, was I wrong! 

I now realize that the holidays were really not a good time to join a family. Now, it’s a couple of years (human ones, not dog ones) later and I speak with the wisdom of perspective. I now live in a great second home, with a loving human family, and I am very happy, but it was a ‘tough chewie’ to get here, believe me! Let me share with you some insights on why it’s not a good idea to bring a dog home for the holidays.

• Harried Holidays – The hustle and bustle of the holidays is tough time for a dog to join the family. Households at the holidays are very busy places. Lots of people coming and going, parties, kids and stuff everywhere. Humans have so much going on that us dogs quickly get relegated to third or even fourth place on the priority scale. Just when we need you to show us the ropes and patiently and consistently teach us household rules regarding where we can go to the bathroom, what we can and cannot eat or chew, etc. you are too busy to do so. Additionally, all the noise, extra people and kids running everywhere scares and confuses us. We would prefer to come into our new home during a quieter time of the year, when you have the time and energy to devote to helping us get acclimated.

• Puppy Potties – Take it from me, the wintertime is no time to have to learn about potty training! First of all, young pups have to go potties frequently...which means lots of trips outside in the early morning, late at night and during the day. Also, while we learn, it usually takes us a while to figure out why we are outside, to sniff all the new and exciting smells and then to find the perfect spot to go. This time of year, with its short, chilly days and long, cold nights, is no time to be learning the business of ‘doing your business’...for either dogs or the humans who have to stand shivering with them. 

• Training Time – The first several months of a puppy’s life are a critical time for training. It is easier to learn proper behavior and socialization skills right the first time. Take it from me, I speak from experience! My first family didn’t have much time for me after the holidays were over. I didn’t get to go to puppy school (dad said it was too cold and dark and the roads were icy), nor did I get to spend time with other dogs (mom said it was too cold and snowy for play dates). I wasn’t leash trained (the kids said it was too cold to go for walks). So, by the time the summer came, I was already past the prime puppy learning time (three to six months) and had picked up lots of bad habits. I didn’t know how to sit or stay. I kept jumping up on everyone I met. I thought chewing on my human’s things showed them I loved them. Since I hadn’t been around other dogs, I had no clue about dog body language or behavior. Being with other dogs was scary, so I would bark and bark and try to run away from them. All of these things made my first family very unhappy with me...and made me an unhappy canine! 

• Child Care – My first pet parents got me for the kids. They thought caring for a dog would be a great way to teach the kids responsibility. Unfortunately, as so often happens, after the first few weeks, the novelty of caring for a puppy wore off. Sometimes the kids would forget to take me out before they left for school and I would do potties in my crate, which made mom and dad mad – at me! Other times, the kids would forget to feed me. Then I would get in trouble for begging at the dinner table, or eating something I wasn’t supposed to eat. Pretty soon, both the kids and the parents were resentful of me and my needs. My advice is not to get a dog for your kids if you aren’t prepared to be the main care giver, as you can’t expect kids to reliably take on the full care and training needs of a dog, especially a puppy.

• Gift Fatigue – Little did I know at the time, but there is actually a psychological phenomenon that surrounds the gifts kids get at the holidays. Basically, the holiday is so hyped and the gifts are so many that by the end of the holiday, the kids quickly tire of their new toys (and puppies).

• Bad Breeders – Most good breeders will not intentionally have or sell ‘Christmas puppies’. They understand all of the reasons why it is not a good idea to bring a puppy into the house at the holidays, as well as the problem of giving a puppy as an impulse gift to someone who may or may not want it. For these reasons, many of the puppies available at the holidays are supplied by unscrupulous breeders who are just out to make money. These ‘Christmas pups’ are often overbred and have health issues that can lead to expensive and ongoing vet bills. As for buying a puppy at a pet store, don’t even think about it! I speak from experience! Like 99 percent of the puppies available for sale at pet stores, I came from a puppy mill. Puppy mills are horrible places where dogs are kept in terrible conditions and just bred and bred until they can’t do it anymore; then they are euthanized. The dogs in puppy mills are bred with no care as to how closely they are related or to the presence of genetic or hereditary illnesses. There is often little or no vet care and no human socialization. The puppies, like me, are taken from their moms at a very young age and shipped off in big trucks to pet stores thoughout the country. We are scared, often sick, and always confused and lonely. Then, when we arrive at the pet store that is going to sell us, we get put in small cages in rooms full of other scared and lonely puppies, where we stay on display until someone buys us. I can’t tell you how awful it was for me. When I arrived at the pet store, I had a bad cough and red, runny eyes. Turns out I had kennel cough and conjunctivitis. Many of the other puppies in the store also had health issues. I was lucky, though; at least my health issues were seen and treated! I have seen some of the other pet store pups at the dog park since then and they tell me stories of painful surgeries to correct hip dysplasia and other genetic illnesses common to poorly-bred dogs from puppy mills. For more information about why is not a good idea to buy a puppy from a pet store – at any time of the year, click here. 

As you can tell from the above comments, I feel very strongly about the whole Christmas puppy thing. I, like many other Christmas pups, found myself without a home when I was just over a year old. I wasn’t ‘cute’ any more, and since I had had no proper training or socialization, I was a ‘bad’ pup, with bad habits. 

My first family brought me to their local animal shelter just before Thanksgiving the following year. I was just over a year old at the time. Fortunately, the nice people at the shelter saw through my bad behavior and realized that I just needed some time and training to become a model canine citizen. I was one of the lucky ones. I’m a quick learner, too. I picked up ‘stay’ and ‘down’ in no time. Soon, I was walking calmly on a leash. After a little while, I found out that spending time with other dogs could be fun, not scary, and I learned to play with them for the first time. The shelter also treated me for a long-term ear infection and soon I was a ‘new dog!’

I went home with my new family right after the holidays. (My shelter, like many, doesn’t think adopting out dogs over the holidays is a good idea...). Now, I’m happy, healthy and well-behaved. My new family and I get along great. In fact, my pet parents refer to me as their fur-son! My human siblings are a lot of fun to play with and they are very good about helping mom and dad to care for me. All in all, I would have to say I now have a ‘dog’s life’!