Getting into the Christmas spirit with your puppy is always a fun experience! Magic is in the air, and you want to give your puppy everything he wants…and then some! In addition to merely giving presents, making the Christmas season a special one for your puppy can be a wonderful bonding experience, making memories for years to come.
Your puppy will feel the holiday cheer more than ever this Christmas season when you start these 11 ideas for new holiday traditions with your puppy.
Make Your Puppy’s Christmas Special with These 11 Traditions
Around Christmas time, there are so many ways to make your puppy feel extra special. The most important tradition should be spending quality time with your furry companion.
No matter how you decide to make them feel loved at Christmas, one thing is certain – including your pup in holiday celebrations means a whole lot of joy and cheer for everyone! Here are 11 ideas to form new holiday traditions with your puppy.
1. A visit to Santa Paws
Many shops and organizations offer a chance for a photo on Santa’s lap. No matter how much of a stinker your puppy can be, we all know they have overall been a very good boy or girl! Many Christmas photo opportunities for puppies are sponsored by animal-friendly organizations, so you know your dollars are going to help support dogs. Don’t forget to take a photo to capture that magical holiday moment!
2. Open a puppy-themed advent calendar
An advent calendar just for puppies offers little windows filled with a selection of the best puppy toys and nutritious puppy treats to open each day Dec. 1 leading up to Christmas Eve. Receiving the daily calendar offering is a fantastic way to work on basic puppy commands.
3. Take a Christmas puppy photoshoot
After you get an iconic Santa Paws photo, you may want to take the holiday theme to the next level with a Christmas photoshoot for puppies. Whether you take photos yourself or get a professional photographer, you can explore these ideas:
- A staged shoot with puppy-safe holiday props
- On-site at a Christmas tree lot or snowy winter wonderland
- Take the photo from their perspective
- Include your family in some of the shots
- Choose good lighting
- Use treats to capture their attention
- Be patient! The right shot will happen
- Turn the pictures into beautiful canvases, art, ornaments, or cards
4. Cozy Christmas cuddles with a holiday movie marathon
Buy a dog-themed Christmas blanket, make some pupcorn, and snuggle in to watch your favorite family-friendly dog Christmas movies the whole family can enjoy featuring puppies with holiday spirit. You may even hold a conversation debating with your puppy whether or not Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie!
Here is a list of 10 Christmas dog movies featuring special dog characters you may enjoy watching with your puppy:
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- The 12 Dogs of Christmas
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Project: Puppies For Christmas
- Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure
- Lady and the Tramp
- A Golden Christmas: A Tale of Puppy Love
- A Puppy For Christmas
5. Host a doggy holiday gift exchange party
Have you ever played a version of a White Elephant or Dirty Santa type of game where you exchange unknown presents and steal them back until the rounds are over? Using the same concept for a puppy gift exchange can be a lot of fun!
Throw a doggy holiday gift exchange party! Have your doggy friends come over, serve some of those beautiful holiday dog treats you made, and exchange surprise Christmas or Hanukkah presents for your puppies.
6. Pick out a special puppy ornament
A cute way to document your puppy’s growth and yearly memories is to have an ornament featuring their picture from the past year along with the current year. You can make an ornament from a plaster paw impression or a handmade one depicting your puppy out of clay or other materials.
7. Go caroling with your puppy
We know your dog can’t quite sing, but don’t tell that to a Siberian Husky puppy or Basset Hound puppy! If you’re wondering why dogs howl to music, singing and howling are ways your dog communicates and bonds with you and his pack in a happy manner. It’s said that dog breeds closest to their wolf ancestors and hunting dogs are breeds most likely to howl along to lyrics like “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Collies” or “Dachsund Through the Snow.”
8. Donate to other puppies in need
There's nothing more heartwarming than spreading Christmas cheer with donations to local animal organizations. Help those puppies less fortunate that may not have a stuffed stocking or presents under the tree. Start a supply drive in your neighborhood, social groups, or workplace to provide much-needed supplies to puppies this holiday season.
9. Buy your puppy festive holiday outfits and accessories
Get into the holiday spirit with some cute Christmas outfits and accessories for your puppy! Buying these for your puppy has become a tradition for many people. You can even get matching Christmas jammies with your puppy! Whether you buy them a puppy elf costume, a new Christmas dog collar, or a personalized Hanukkah dog bandana, your pup is sure to be dapper this holiday season.
Daschund Blow Up Yard Decoration from Amazon
10. Look at the lights together
Whether you drive around a Christmas light exhibition, follow a neighborhood or town map of the best Christmas light displays, or take a stroll around your neighborhood, opportunities to enjoy Christmas lights will always put a twinkle in your puppy’s eye.
If you walk around, it’s a great chance for your puppy to be exposed to all the fun holiday inflatables in people’s yards – and the motor noises and breeze swaying that come with them. Before you know it, your pup may be making friends with a 4-ft. blow-up gnome or an 8-ft. tall Santa riding a T-rex. They may even encounter a display that looks just like them!
11. Make dog-friendly Christmas treats
While buying puppy treats is fun, it’s a special bonding time when you make homemade Christmas dog treats in your own kitchen. Put on your holiday apron and include your puppy by thinking of its favorite flavor and cookie shapes that represent your puppy’s interests.
You can use all sorts of non-toxic ingredients that are safe for dogs when considering your Christmas treat menu. Present them on a beautifully arranged platter and serve them to your puppy!
Your pup will love this festive platter of Cranberry Holiday Dog Treats and other treats courtesy of Kiki Kane from Rover
Cranberry Holiday Dog TreatsPrep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Yield: 1 Tray Ingredients
Instructions
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Start Your Own Traditions With a Puppy From Pawrade
We love celebrating our puppies at Christmas time and during the holiday season! Search our puppies for sale to lavish with gifts and form new traditions. We’re ready to help you bring home some Christmas cheer!
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