Raising a puppy during the Covid-19 lockdown
It sure is crazy times at the moment. People are needing to stay at home to curb the spread of a deadly virus pandemic the world has found itself in the midst of. It’s also a time that a lot of families are introducing a beloved new puppy addition to their family and wondering how can we go about still giving our puppy the best start in life.
The majority of puppy issues all families find themselves experiencing remain the same. Toilet training is the same, mouthing and teething issues, the need for enrichment to keep their minds occupied away from destruction, the need to teach your puppy to be independent, the need for socialisation and new experiences, it’s all the same. There are however a few that are significantly impacted upon by the need for us to stay at home.
The main changes that are impacted at this time are direct socialisation to new people and other dogs due to social distancing measures, and independence training as many of us are now working from home. It doesn’t mean that we can’t do it or that we can’t do it successfully and still raise happy, well adjusted puppies for the future.
So what can we do to give our puppies the best chance through all of this?
Independence training if you’re working from home: If you find yourself working from home or even sadly now not having the amount of work you had before the pandemic hit, we still need to try to keep our routines as similar as possible to what it’ll look like in the future to our puppy. Teaching our puppy to be ok alone is vital. Make sure you have a puppy pen or some baby gates set up so that you can pop your puppy away for some alone time away from you. Fill this space with loads of puppy safe enrichment toys to make this a positive space to be, a space where it feels good to be away from you, and a space where they won’t then chew or destroy other household items in that space while they’re exploring with their mouths. Pop a comfy bed in there too so that they can rest in a snuggly spot and feel safe. Some great toys are ones from the Kong range.
Setting up a safe place to spend some alone time.
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/puppies/the-first-week-with-a-new-puppy/
Socialisation: This does not need to mean direct interaction. Socialisation merely means exposure to. Even with social distancing we can do a lot of exposure work with our puppies to novel things they will be exposed to throughout their lives. You can pop them in the car and turn on the engine and just drive up and down your street. You can dress up in different clothes, carry an umbrella, get a skateboard and helmet and ride it up and down while tossing some yummy treats to your puppy, you can go into your driveway and watch the postie and traffic go by and pair those with yummy treats and much more. Sound recordings of construction noise, train boom gate signals, and much more are available on youtube or the Sound Proof Puppy App which can be downloaded onto your phone and played to your puppy while they enjoy a Kong or other treat. When out walking you will still see other dogs out walking at a distance. When your puppy notices another dog you can give them a treat to teach them yes seeing other dogs out on walks will be normal and treats happen when you see them. This is even better social learning for your puppy than learning to directly interact with dogs they see on lead. You’ll have a better behaved puppy for it! The only limit is that direct puppy-puppy play they may get in an in-person puppy school program. Your puppy doesn’t have to play directly with heaps of puppies to learn social skills, in fact that will likely just teach your pup to be too excited by other dogs. If you don’t have any family members or friends with puppy social dogs that you could do an introduction too, perhaps contact a local dog walker or professional service such as a trainer or daycare that may have opportunities to link you in for introductions to friendly dogs that could meet your puppy whilst still adhering to the requirements of social distancing.
Here is one of my favourite socialisation checklists that I provide new puppy parents. As you can see from it’s contents it has so many things in it that are still possible to be done even with what we’re going through at the moment. Direct interactions with other people and animals is such a small part of it. You can still expose from a distance though and build just as much confidence as you would from closer contact: https://drsophiayin.com/app/uploads/2015/12/Socialization_Checklist.pdf
There are a lot of wonderful trainers offering virtual puppy classes at the moment. These are ones that can be undertaken as part of a group of other families online or individual one on one online consultations which I am also offering at the moment. Trainers are still there to help you along this path with your new puppy. I highly recommend seeking the help of a member of the Pet Professional Guild Australia to be guaranteed professional help that is also focused on fear free and force free methods: https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/page-1862190
If you have any questions or concerns about raising a puppy through this time, please reach out for help. There is help available and we can still raise well adjusted and confident members of the doggy community if we put our minds to it and think outside the box!
Laura