6. Keep pets on their regular diet (aka give the goodies to Santa)
As with our previous tip (about no food under the tree), this is a simple one that is sometimes hard to implement with all the holiday hubbub.
And of course, those pleading eyes…”I am SUCH a good girl! Just one little bite. I promise I’ll stop begging if you give me just a taste…”
Liar, liar, pants on fire. Begging pets are opportunists of the first order, so if you give in just once, they redouble their efforts because now you are (rightly) tagged as the “pushover.”
As strange as it may sound, the easiest approach to begging pets is 100% abstinence. That avoids the whole decision making “should-I-or-shouldn’t-I” with each bite. I find it easier to not succumb to the begging by mentally stepping back and seeing how funny they are in their feigned desperation.
“Not a chance buddy! Try all you want. This is MINE!”
One of my clients relates a story where her family was visiting their grandmother for the big holiday feast. Unbeknownst to the family, their miniature dachshund (a notorious beggar) had been in the kitchen “helping” grandma put away the food….and got WAY too many chunks of fat.
The family discovered this the hard way when on the drive home, the dachsie threw up all over her mom’s lap in the car. Luckily that was the end of the crisis as she got rid of all the fat before it could cause life-threatening problems…but it certainly made for a memorable and infamous holiday trip!
Have you found a way to avoid/ignore the tractor beam of pleading eyes, drooling mouths, batting paws and the like? Share your best tips in the comments!
