Can Dogs Eat Thanksgiving Food? A Safe-Foods Guide

Why Dogs Beg at the Thanksgiving Table

Dogs love watching people eat, and Thanksgiving is the longest, slowest, most fragrant meal of the year. It is also how begging habits get built. A dog who is fed from the table once on a holiday has learned that the table sometimes pays, and a behavior that pays occasionally is the hardest kind to undo.

If you want your dog in the room, give him a job. A settled down-stay on a bed at the edge of the dining room, rewarded quietly, is worth more to you than any single scrap. It also gives guests something clear to follow, which matters more than you would think when eight people all want to be the one who slips him something.

What Can Dogs Eat on Thanksgiving

Plenty of families give the dog his own holiday plate, and we do the same for the dogs boarding with us over the holiday. If you are going to do it, know what is actually safe first.

Foods that are generally fine for dogs in small amounts:

• Plain white turkey meat, skin removed, no gravy, butter, or drippings
• Plain chicken, an easier choice than turkey for a lot of dogs
• Plain pumpkin

Foods to leave off the plate entirely:

• Grapes or raisins
• Chocolate, in any dessert
• Alcohol
• Gravy, butter, and drippings

People ask about those last four every single year, so it is worth saying plainly: none of them belong in the bowl. Keep portions small and keep them separate from the table, so the food arrives as his meal rather than as a reward for hovering nearby. If your dog has a sensitive stomach or a medical condition, check with your veterinarian before adding anything new on a day when the emergency clinic is short-staffed.

Is Thanksgiving Too Much for My Dog

The best part of the day for most dogs is simply that everyone is home at the same time. New faces, kids on the floor, people relaxing and talking. Some families use the afternoon to get outside and throw a ball, which is a good instinct on a day when the dog is otherwise absorbing a lot of stimulation with nowhere to put it.

Be honest about whether your dog actually wants this. A dog who is uneasy around strangers, or who guards the room, is not having a nice time just because everyone else is. If that sounds like your dog, our training for dogs reactive to strangers is built for exactly this situation, and it is worth starting well before the next gathering, not the morning of. On the day itself, give that dog a quiet room or a crate away from the traffic, with the door managed so a well-meaning guest does not go in to say hello.

For some dogs the kinder answer is not being home at all. DayCamp, our structured day program for dogs who find crowds and new people genuinely hard, starts with a PD360 assessment so we know what your dog needs. From there, a day at DayCamp means your dog is supervised, worked, and tired out while you get the whole afternoon with the rest of the family. Watch the front door either way. A house where the door opens twenty times is a house where a dog gets out.

Giving Your Dog the Best Part of the Day

The rest of it is decoration. What your dog is actually celebrating is that you are there, unhurried, for a whole day. That does not have to be elaborate. Cuddle on the floor. Run through a few minutes of obedience, which most dogs enjoy far more than owners expect. Take a hike before the house fills up, one of the best things you can do for a dog who is going to spend the afternoon holding it together.

Time is the part he wants. Everything else is turkey.

If you would rather your dog spend the holiday somewhere supervised, we run two campuses for exactly that, one in Scottsdale near Shea Boulevard and the 101, and one in Cave Creek.