Pandemic pups - some of the common behaviour problems arising.

A new generation of dogs are coming to training now that have been raised during the many COVID lockdowns that we have faced. Being a pandemic pup has come with a number of issues owners have faced. We haven’t been able to do group training classes, so many pups haven’t learned in group class settings. Often it’s thought that puppy school means socialisation and that socialisation means play so many owners have tried to replicate this with lots of social play at parks with their new pups. This isn’t the case though, and many pups that have gone to dog parks to compensate for missing puppy school have instead learned to get too over excited around other dogs as it’s meant play, play, play!!! In puppy schools, we focus socialisation on learning to be calm around other dogs. To be able to see other dogs but instead learn that they’re pretty boring most of the time and to actually focus on their human guardians instead. This is a crucial life skill and one that’s under trained in our dogs. Yes there is play time in class too but it’s between well matched dogs, small groups at a time, in a controlled setting, and regularly broken up to calm back down again before being released to go play. It’s not free-for-all long durations of play with large groups of dogs. To teach your dog now to be calm around other dogs, you may benefit from going to parks and instead of taking balls for high arousal running or letting them go play with other dogs the whole time, do a training session or just chill out on a park bench nearby and give your dog a chew treat or simply reinforce calm behaviour like laying down and watching the world go by. We don’t want our dogs to learn that the presence of other dogs means to be excited all of the time and that they get to meet them all. Instead just see them and walk on by or chill out.

Another common behaviour concern is a fear of visitors to the home. Puppies raised during lockdown didn’t get visitors coming to the home. For many dogs this has meant that they’re now scared of people coming into their space. Even if your pup got to see some people out on walks, it’s quite different having them in their home. Now that we’re starting to have visitors over, if your pup is fearful or just over excited by guests, management is key! Have your dog on lead or in a pen to ensure they can’t access people at the front door to bark at them or jump all over them. Reinforce the behaviours you like such as being calm and sitting next to you looking at you or laying on a mat for example. Treat them heavily for doing any behaviour you like! Allow calm, brief (of only a second or two) introductions on lead once your dog is calm then call them back to you to settle again. If your pup is nervous, get visitors to toss them some treats but just ignore them until they’re ready to come up and say hello. If your dog is more than just a touch nervous or showing any aggression at all, reach our for professional help from an experienced and qualified behaviour consultant near you!

Separation stress is third prominent behaviour problem presenting itself for dogs recently. Our pups have had us working from home for two years now and many aren’t adjusting to us returning to work and the kids to school. Some may be benefiting from the return to work, especially some dogs that have needed more rest time and have struggled by having kids at home all day and getting limited rest. Most though are finding the adjustment difficult. Even if we are working from home it’s important to do some separation work with our dogs. Have them in a play pen or outside with some enrichment toys such as Kongs, Toppl’s, snuffle mats or anything they enjoy. Teaching them that the fun and tasty stuff happens away from us is so important. It also helps them learn to settle away from us and not need us present in order to feel safe and relaxed. All puppies need to learn this from a young age. Dogs are a very social species, we have selected them for this many years of domestication and then we have them in our busy lives and it’s all of a sudden not ideal for them to want to be snuggled up to us all day long. We need to teach our dogs to gradually be able to be independent and hang out alone, it takes time and it’s totally normal for young dogs to struggle with this. Again, if your dog is really struggling with this then please seek professional support. If your dog finds it too hard to be far away from you like outside, make sure you start with what they are able to cope with. This might be simply behind a baby gate while you sit on the other side of it giving them some treats for laying down. You may even need to keep the gate open to begin with, go at your dog’s pace and don’t create greater stress pushing them to do more than they are ready to cope with.

Training opportunities will be opening up again in the new year so if you’re needing help getting your dog through the challenges they’ve faced over the pandemic, reach out to a local trainer that’s force free and uses positive reinforcement focussed methods of training.
Good luck!!