Thriving in a Pandemic
The past year and a half of pandemic living has been a perfect storm for creating issues with our dogs. We are seeing a lot of all around anxiety as people and their households struggled to adjust to the massive changes that resulted. Whether you are home more often, not providing crate time, or stopped frequent dog walks out of worry of social distancing, it is time to go back to the basics to strengthen your leadership and brush up your dog’s polite manners and great behaviour.
Did you get a pandemic puppy? Are you worried that they weren’t properly socialized due to the isolation we have collectively been through? Not sure where to start with training?
A training program built around rules, boundaries, structure and accountability are the keys to successfully training your dog to be polite, calm and non-reactive.
Separation anxiety is a common problem during this pandemic. We are seeing requests for help at record numbers. Nip this in the bud by crate training puppies and dogs from day 1 and maintaining a consistent and lifelong crating routine for your dog so they can practice spending independent time calmly by themselves.
Anxious moments are often reinforced and further enabled through affection, treats, lack of structure and permissiveness rather than learning healthier coping skills like the structure of holding commands and learning how to relax while also being alone in the crate. There is an old saying that goes ‘you get what you pet’ which means if you are petting, soothing, feeding, etc. (these are all forms of reinforcement) a dog while he’s feeling anxious then you are reinforcing anxiety, not diminishing it.
Do you think you should take your dog to the dog parks to socialize them?
We do not encourage the use of dog parks because, simply put - it can lead them right back to their behavioural issues you are trying to correct with your training. Unknown and possibly unfriendly dogs can cause a bad experience for your trained dog, especially for dogs that are working on dog reactivity or aggression. Another reason for avoiding dog parks is due to the risk of disease and infections from the environment and other dogs, such as kennel cough and leptospirosis.
Want to get out and do some training with your dog?
Take your dog for a drive to check in on their car etiquette! Checking in at the thresholds, holding the Down command, no whining, no jumping around or other anxious behaviours, no overexcitement in the coffee drive thru - a car ride has it all!
Do you have another dog handler in your home? Even better! One of you can drive and the other one can focus their attention on correcting unwanted behaviours and helping your dog maintain a calm and anxiety free Down position!
Although we are generally avoiding big crowds and may have to isolate away from friends and family, we can still use our daily structured leash walk as an outlet for our physical exercise, as well as the mental exercise that we and our dogs need. Maintaining the heel command, even when faced with former triggers, is a lot of work for your dog and very rewarding for the handler!
Pandemic or not, every owner can prevent separation anxiety, and behavioural issues with their ‘pandemic puppies’ by crate training and following a consistent crating schedule (order a crate to your door!), teaching their dog to walk on prong collar (watch the how-to videos!) so that you can get out in the world to ‘socialize’ by practicing coexistence (while respecting social distancing rules!), and by setting and uphold boundaries and rules for puppies/dogs in the home and the yard.