The crawfish boil and the dog: backyard party manners

Crawfish season gets going in February and runs into May, and in this part of Texas that means a backyard boil almost every weekend. Forty pounds of crawfish, a propane burner, a table covered in newspaper, coolers on the patio, twenty people and their kids. It is one of the best things about living here. For most dogs it is also the biggest party they will attend all year, and the party is full of food on the ground.

The problems a boil creates

• Shells and heads on the ground everywhere, for hours, and a dog that eats them.
• The burner and a pot of boiling water at dog height, on a patio the dog runs across.
• The gate. Somebody leaves it open, every time.
• Guests who feed the dog corn, sausage and potatoes under the table.
• A dog that jumps on every arrival, for three hours.

None of these are solved on the day. They are solved in the two weeks before, and every one of them comes down to three commands: place, leave it and a wait at the gate.

The routine we use

Set a raised place bed on the patio in a spot where the dog can see the whole party and nobody has to step over it. Two weeks out, start feeding meals on that bed. One week out, send the dog to place while you cook dinner and hold it for the length of the meal, with people walking past and dropping things. Three days out, invite two friends over, put the dog on place, and let them arrive, sit, eat and leave. On the day, the dog is on place before the first guest walks in, with a bone, and you release it for a walk around the yard once an hour on leash.

Leave it is taught at the same time, indoors, with a piece of kibble on the floor and a foot ready to cover it. By the day of the boil, a dropped crawfish head should get a glance and nothing else. If it does not, the dog spends the peak of the party inside on place, and that is fine.

The gate and the greeting

The wait at the door is the same skill at the back gate. The dog sits, the gate opens, the dog holds until released. Practice it every time the dog goes into the yard for the two weeks before, and tell every guest on arrival that the dog waits at the gate. For jumping, the rule is simple and it applies to guests too: nobody touches the dog until four paws are on the ground. Most families find that the guests are harder to train than the dog.

A party dog in two weeks

Place, leave it, door boundaries and impulse control are the core of the two week Gold stay at $2,500, with a go-home session that we can run on your patio if you want the place bed set in the spot it will live. If the dog already knows the commands and just needs a tune up, a $220 in-home lesson the week before the boil is enough. Either way, the dog belongs at the party. It just belongs on its bed.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team