New Year's Eve With a Dog: A Plan for the Whole Night

The way to handle New Year's Eve with a dog is to do the work before dark: a long walk in daylight, tags and microchip details checked, and one interior room set up with a chew and some noise of your own. After that the night is mostly about watching the door.

Below is the order we would do it in, whether the dog stays home or goes to a party with you. None of it needs special gear.

The walk before dark

Make the afternoon walk the long one. Finish it before the first fireworks go off, which in many neighborhoods is well before midnight. Do the last real bathroom trip then, on a leash, and take the same route you always take.

Later trips outside should be short and leashed, even in a fenced yard, and close to the door. A leash clipped on before the door opens costs nothing.

Tags and microchip, checked that afternoon

Do this one in daylight, not at 11 p.m. Read the collar tag and make sure the phone number on it is yours and still readable. Then look up the microchip registration and confirm the number and address are current. Keep a recent photo of your dog on your phone.

For parties, the American Kennel Club puts it this way: "Make sure your dog's information is completely up-to-date, from their collar tags to their microchip." It takes ten minutes.

A closed room with the TV on

Pick an interior room, ideally one without windows. A bathroom or a bedroom with the blinds down works. Put a bed in it, a bowl of water, and whatever chew your dog already likes. Shut the door.

The ASPCA's Fourth of July advice says: "Something as simple as turning on some soft music and moving your pet into an interior room with no windows can be helpful." A TV or radio at an ordinary volume covers the outside sound too.

Set the room up an hour before the first fireworks, not during them.

New Year's Eve with a dog at a party

If you are hosting, give one person the front door. Not the whole house, just the door. People walk in and out all night carrying coats and bottles, and nobody is counting dogs. The American Kennel Club's party advice points at the same gap: "At parties, people are continuously going in and out without realizing a door or gate has been left open."

A baby gate across the entry hall helps.

If the dog is the guest, bring the bed and the bowl and a chew, and ask the host for a back room as soon as you arrive. Keep the leash on near any door. Leave before the countdown crowd gets loud rather than after it.

Drinks, grapes and chocolate

Cups end up on low tables, on the floor by the couch and on the arm of a chair. The ASPCA's fireworks page has a short line on this: "Never leave alcoholic drinks unattended where pets can reach them." Do a lap of the room at ten and again at midnight.

Food is simpler, because the answer is skip it. Grapes on the cheese board and raisins in the trail mix stay on your plate. Chocolate on the dessert table stays up high, and so does anything with a sauce or garlic in it. If you want to hand your dog something at the table, a small plain piece of cheddar is fine, and a chew in the back room is better.

A chew for the countdown

We make treats in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and one of them is air-dried chicken feet. The only ingredient is chicken feet. Each one is about 4 inches long, 2 inches wide and an inch thick, and crunchy all the way through. Shape and color vary a little from foot to foot, and some sharp edges are possible. They come in packs of 6 or 18 and need no refrigeration, so a spare one can sit in a coat pocket or a sitter's kit.

They suit dogs of all sizes. Small dogs should start with a piece rather than a whole foot. Hand it over in the closed room, early, before the noise starts, and stay close. The label says to provide fresh water and supervise while chewing, and to discard small pieces if they present a swallowing hazard. It is a chew treat, not a meal.

If your dog has a special diet or has never had a chew like this, ask your veterinarian before the night, not on it.

If you go out: the sitter note

Leave a written note on the counter, even if the sitter knows the dog. A good note has:

• Which room the dog is in, and that the door stays shut.
• Your cell number and the number for the nearest emergency vet.
• The microchip company and the dog's chip number.
• What time the last walk happened and when the next one is due.
• Where the leash is, and that it goes on before any door opens.
• Which chew is in the room, and that someone stays nearby while it is being chewed.

Add one line about drinks: anything left at dog height gets picked up before bed.

The morning after

Walk the yard yourself before the dog goes out. The American Kennel Club's Fourth of July advice says: "Before letting your dog outside to play in your backyard, look for and remove all fireworks debris, which can be dangerous if ingested." Check the front walk and the curb on the first leashed walk too.

Then the new year starts. If you want something to do with the day, there is a New Year's Day drive in Chester County that works with a dog in the back seat. Our New Year page collects the rest, and the resolutions guide is a good read once the house is quiet.

Questions

Should I take my dog to a New Year's Eve party?

Only if the party has a back room you can use and you are willing to leave early. A loud crowded house with open doors is a lot to manage with a leash in one hand, so for many dogs the closed room at home is the easier night.

Do I leave the TV on all night?

Leave it on until the neighborhood noise has stopped and someone is home. An ordinary volume is plenty. Turn it off in the morning when you take the dog out for the yard check.

What if the collar comes off?

That is why the tag and microchip are checked in the afternoon, and why a leash goes on before any door opens. Keep a current photo on your phone and the microchip number written on the sitter note.

Can my dog have something from the cheese board?

A small plain piece of cheddar is fine. Skip the grapes and raisins, skip chocolate, and skip anything with a sauce or garlic on it. When in doubt, the chew in the back room is the easier answer.

How many chicken feet at once?

One foot, and small dogs start with a piece. Stay near while it is being chewed, give fresh water, and take away any small pieces left over.

Should I take the dog out after the fireworks start?

If it cannot wait, keep the trip short, leashed and right outside the door, and go during a gap in the noise. That is also why the long walk happens in daylight.

Is a closed room the same as a crate?

It can be either. Use what your dog already uses. New Year's Eve is a bad night to introduce a crate for the first time, so a familiar bed in a closed interior room is the better plan.

Read next: the other loud night.