The Pandemic Puppy Party Is Over
Tips For Teaching Your Newest Family Member How To Be A Good Canine
By Margot K. Vahrenwald, DVM, CVJ
There was a pandemic puppy party, but now news and anecdotal reports show that the party is over. It was a bit inevitable. To be able to focus on the positive, bring joy during scary days and have the unconditional love of animal was wonderful when many were locked down in their homes for both work and school. The shelters and rescues literally ran out of dogs.
But now as life returns to a new normal and many are no longer able to work and school from home, shelters and rescue groups are seeing a rapidly rising level of relinquishment of pets who suddenly are no longer the perfect match. For some, it is for financial and/or housing concerns – something that cannot be addressed in this month’s article but will be in the future.
But for many, the shine has worn off that puppy that was purchased or adopted during the pandemic because of behavior. That is the sad part because much could have been done to socialize and train their new family member. Behaviors that were cute in the young puppy are no longer cute or tolerable in the adult pet.
The most common reason for relinquishment of dogs has always been behavior – problematic behaviors that stem from lack of training, lack of socialization, and sometimes breed temperament is in the mix too. Most of us have experienced that puppy who barks and jumps on everyone, or is terrified around other dogs. Both are abnormal behaviors needing intervention.
Socialization is the key to a dog knowing how to dog, how to interact with other dogs, how to interact with humans and how to react in novel situations through repeated exposure. For puppies, that socialization window is most critical between the ages of 8 to 24 weeks but also continues through their entire first year. Socialization also goes hand-in-hand with training – a puppy, no matter their size, needs to know the rules and commands that make them a good canine citizen.
Here are a few tips if you have newly acquired a puppy:
1. Work on socialization from the beginning. That doesn’t mean going immediately out to a dog park, but rather acclimating your new pup to brief walks in your neighborhood and play time with other puppies via a puppy kindergarten, socialization classes or friend’s healthy dogs.
2. Sign up for an obedience class after puppy kindergarten and work daily with your puppy to practice all commands. Don’t train sporadically – it’s like not practicing the piano, the skills don’t become rooted without lots of repetition.
3. Use “learn to earn” to help reinforce good manners — sit to receive meals, get hooked up to leash, be let outdoors or simply to get a treat.
4. Don’t overuse commands. Don’t get in the habit of repetitively saying a command. Rather, get your dog’s attention, then give the command. The American Kennel Club coined the name “command nagging” for the repeating of a command such as come by saying “Come, come, come, come on, come….” causing the pet to either not respond or conditioning them to only respond to the multiples.
5. Noise proof your puppy with acclimation to lots of different noises – such as thunderstorms, lightening, fireworks, loud trucks, sirens, etc. Use your cell phone, starting with low volume and working up.
Make your pandemic puppy have a positive experience with boundaries, training and socialization to give them proper manners.
Dr. Margot Vahrenwald is the owner of Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center at 2255 Oneida St. For more information, visit www.parkhillvet.com.