COVID Pups

20 Apr COVID Pups

Did you add a puppy to your family during quarantine? Well, you’re not alone! Approximately 12.6 million households took in pets between March and December, according to the American Pet Products Association. Dog trainers are in high demand due to the boom of new pups that have been added to families. With families spending more time at home, adding a pet to their household just seemed to make sense during this time.  Humans and their pets have been given more time together at home, that they wouldn’t normally experience outside of a pandemic.  However, all that time together is leading to a tricky transition for our pets as things begin to go back to “normal.” Separation anxiety and overall lack of training for these COVID puppies has awakened the dog training world. As the world was on lockdown, so were our pups.

Puppy Problems

The normal access to socialization was simply not an option, and now owners are left with a mountain of behavioral problems. Don’t worry though, you still have time and other options! More important than having your pup meet other dogs, let them interact with people. Various family members of all ages, neighbors, the mailman, or anyone you met on a walk are great decoys to helping with socialization. Never force your pup to engage with strangers, if they are not interested, move on. We strongly discourage allowing your pup to engage or play with another dog while on leash. Leashes change the dynamic and can result in negative outcomes, leading to serious issues down the road. Off-leash and in neutral grounds is the best way to socialize your pup to new dogs.

Separation Anxiety

All that bonding time was great, but now what? Owners and their pups have spent so much time together during the COVID lockdown, that now time apart is causing various levels of separation anxiety. Here are a few tips we suggest:

• Begin leaving your dog for short periods of time (30min max), go run an errand! Extend the time of your absence gradually.
• Don’t say “good-bye” when leaving the house, just leave without making a scene.  Same when you return, do not make it an excitable event.
• Provide your dog with a long lasting, safe chew or frozen filled Kong toy when you leave. We also suggest turning on soft, soothing music as well.