This is a tough time for all of us, dogs included. Dogs that are cooped up inside all day may begin to develop serious behavior issues if not recognized and corrected soon enough.
Over the past two weeks, I have received an enormous amount of phone calls regarding a sudden change in the owners dogs behavior. Dogs are starting to bark excessively, chew things in the home, and play too rough with the owners and other dogs. Some dogs are also suddenly becoming aggressive.
Dog parks are closed, some doggie daycare are closed, and some people are literally locking their dogs in the house thinking that it’s the best thing for them. For the record, dogs cannot transmit COVID-19 to people, and I have documented this with a blog post using reputable sources.
What do you do?
There are several things you can do to keep your dog balanced while being quarantined with you and your family. Kids can also benefit with my suggestions, and I’ve written about that in another article on my blog from last week.
The goal is to continue creating a balanced dog, as listed on the blog post I wrote months ago, Requirements For Creating A Balanced Dog.
CHECK YOUR STRESS AND ANXIETY:
As most people who own dogs already know, your emotions and feelings can be easily picked up by your dog. If you are stressed, the dog can quickly become stressed. If you have anxiety, the dog can also develop anxiety. So, the first step in managing your dogs behavior is to perform a self check of your negative emotions and make sure the dog is not absorbing them.
EXERCISE:
Get a 20-30 foot long lead and allow the dog to play out back, in your street, or front yard. I’ve posted several videos on my Instagram and Facebook pages showing me and my clients using a long lead with dogs. This will allow the dog to burn off a lot of extra energy and play.
SOCIALIZING:
- Take your dog for a ride in the car, this is actually a form of socializing for dogs.
- Take your dog to a friends house (who is not sick and you can trust) so they are interacting with other people and dogs.
- Take your dog for extra long structured walks, combined with basic obedience while on the walk. Keep your distance, but allow the dog to view dogs and people from a distance and stay relaxed…this is a form of mental stimulation.
MENTAL STIMULATION:
This is the dog obedience training that I teach the dogs and owners: sit, sit-stay, down, sown-stay, recall, leave it, wait, heal, etc. Dogs need this more than ever during stressful, uncertain times like our worlds current situation. If they don’t have this daily, they will likely develop additional stress that leads to serious behavior problems.
I’ve developed an online dog training program that mostly dresses dog behavior problems on a consultative level.
#covid-19 #dogbehavior #dogtraining
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