by Claire Anderson
Does this sound familiar? It’s a global pandemic and you find yourself stuck in your home with hours of free time and the thought starts to cross your mind: I have always wanted a puppy but I’ve never had the time! At this point, it doesn’t seem like there is an end to your quarantine in sight, so you start researching and find the “perfect” puppy. He comes home with you and your world is instantly brighter! You work through all the potty training, biting, and indoor manners and every day is more joyful than the last. It’s not easy by any means, but it’s wonderful. You have a deep, meaningful bond with this puppy that you never thought was possible.
Fast-forward to Spring 2021: the world begins to open back up and you, your friends, and your family get vaccinated. But anxiety sets in when your friends invite you out to dinner. You’ve never left your puppy before. Will he be okay? Will YOU be okay? After lots of thought and emotional preparation, you decide: he will have to be okay because I need this. I need a social life. (And it’s true. You do.)
So you do all the right things for your puppy: a long walk, a trip to the park, you prepare the tastiest kong, you buy the yummiest bone, you leave the TV on so he’s not lonely. After you walk out the door, you hear it: he’s whining and crying. Your heart breaks, but you decide that he’ll settle and that it’ll be fine.
After worrying most of the night you arrive home hours later to find your sweet puppy dancing in a puddle of pee, treats untouched, screaming and throwing himself against his crate door with excitement to see you again. You let him out and he slams into you with the energy of a thousand puppies, covering you with pee and the contents of his kong. You feel the crushing anxiety of wondering if you’ll ever be able to leave your house again.
If this sounds like something you can relate to, you’re not alone! I know for a fact that this is a common experience. I have been contacted by hundreds of clients with a version of this same story: you spend over a year building an incredibly intense bond, spending every minute of the day together with your new dog or puppy, and then your environment and routine changes and you both have to learn how to navigate a new world outside your home again.
Now, in the Summer of 2021, the “pandemic puppies” are showing us exactly what they need. We need to listen and help them acclimate to brand new territory and information with patience, love, and empathy. This process can be scary, stressful, and sometimes dangerous but it can also be fun and exciting and build your relationship with this puppy even deeper than it was before.
Here are the three major issues in adolescent dogs who were born during or just before the pandemic:
separation anxiety-related behaviors
fearfulness or reactivity
over-arousal and lack of attention when in public spaces
Separation Anxiety in Pandemic Puppies
Separation and isolation anxiety-related behavior is probably the most common struggle as we gradually come out of quarantine. Many people who weren’t working or were working from home during the pandemic are now beginning to re-enter their offices, many of which are not dog-friendly. So, for the entirety of Buddy’s life, his family has been with him all day, taking him out on walks and letting him hang out with them while they work or make bread. Now, he may need to be away from his guardian(s) for 40+ hours per week, and much of that time will be left home alone. He has never experienced that before! This is a massive adjustment for him and we need to recognize that, first and foremost.
What you can do:
Start slow. It would be cruel to leave Buddy in his home alone for many hours when we have never taught him about that before. Start with a few minutes at a time, and pair it with a yummy, safe chew. Build up gradually as he can handle it. If you see signs of stress, contact an experienced trainer to help you.
Play games that will help build his independence. Scent/nose work is a really good one for this, as well as crate games and matwork.
Give structured time away from you each day, even just behind a closed door or baby gate with a yummy chew. (Filling a Westpaw Toppl with his meal and freezing it is a great way to do ths.)
Set up dog care if you need to go back to work before they’re ready.. You could find a reputable dog daycare, call friends who could hang out with Buddy, or hire a trustworthy in-home caregiver.
Exercise! Now, more than ever before, appropriate exercise is a MUST. You may need to wake up a lot earlier so you can enjoy a full hour of outdoor play or walking. If you cannot provide this, find someone who can help.
Some of these cases will likely be full-fledged separation anxiety. If you believe this to be the case, I highly recommend hiring a qualified trainer or a veterinary behaviorist to help. Separation anxiety is serious and takes a committed guardian with a consistent training plan. It will not magically get better on its own or as Buddy “gets used to it.” Instead it will become worse because you will be continually putting your dog in a truly anxiety-inducing situation, where he does not have the tools to cope.
Fear and Reactivity in Pandemic Puppies
An under-socialized dog is apt to develop wide-ranging fears of people, vehicles, loud noises, different surfaces, and other animals, just to name a few. They will likely deal with anxiety for the rest of their lives. To prevent or reduce fear and anxiety in a dog the absolute most important thing is positive, patient, and abundant socialization when they are a puppy. And I will go to my grave saying that.
Let me be clear: the parents/guardians of pandemic puppies at NOT to be blamed for lack of socialization. We were in a global pandemic, after all, and the only thing we were certain about was that it was not safe to socialize. So hundreds of thousands of puppies weren’t given the appropriate socialization they needed and now here we are. Those hundreds of thousands of pandemic puppies are now teenagers with wide-ranging fears, living in a world with triggering stimuli they are unused to around every corner.
What you can do:
Daily self-care for YOU. First, I cannot overstate the importance of being gentle and caring with yourself as the guardian of a stressed-out pup. I am not being “hippy-dippy” here: dogs are very good at reading your anxiety level and I would argue that a dog who has been by your side day and night for a year and a half is an expert at it. Your dog will pick up on your frustration and stress, so it’s important for you yourself to find your happy place and destress as best you can. Secondly, if you are living in a constant state of chronic stress, you simply do not have space in your mind to be as thoughtful as you need to be to work with your fearful dog. So take that yoga class, eat that ice cream, enjoy time with loved ones, take a long bubble bath, go for a swim, read your favorite book, dance.
Avoid overwhelming your pandemic puppy (who is now a dog) with too many new experiences all at once. Every dog is different, but it’s important to read your dog’s body language and avoid overwhelming or “flooding” them with too many scary (or unfamiliar) things. When a dog is starting to feel uncertain, you’ll see signs in their body language like panting, averting eye contact, sniffing the ground, licking their lips, yawning, shaking or scratching, urinating excessively, and more. When you see these signs, it’s your job to offer support. Your dog may need you to talk to him, give him a pet, give him a treat, or simply to help him move away from what is triggering the anxiety. A trick that works almost universally:
Offer verbal support (“it’s okay buddy, good, you are so brave”).
Redirect his attention by tossing a treat on the ground away from the scary thing.
Move with him to a distance he feels more comfortable.
The above suggestion is great because, with three simple steps, you are addressing your dogs needs: 1. letting him know he is not facing this alone, 2. reminding him that looking away is okay, and 3. giving him an escape so he doesn’t feel forced into a situation that freaks him out. Added bonus: by offering a food reward, you are counter conditioning, beginning the process of changing his emotional response.
Here’s an example: instead of throwing a party at your house with a ton of people and their pets, invite one friend or two friends over instead. Begin with a walk around the block before they enter your home, and coach them not to overwhelm your dog with attention and to toss him treats every now and then instead. When you are inside and you feel comfortable that your dog is happy and calm, you can let him off-leash to explore his new friends on his own. However, if he is not yet comfortable, keep him on a leash near you, giving him lots of support and yummy snacks, or give him a break in the bedroom with a yummy chew.
As a fellow human living in a post-pandemic world: if you’re out and you see another human and their dog, please give them space. This is hugely important. You have no idea how the dog will feel about a stranger entering their space, so it is best to respect that space. This is true whether or not you have your own dog and whether or not “dogs love you.”
Be gentle and respectful. If you see a guardian struggling to calm down their nervous pup, do not judge them and definitely do not try to offer advice. This will only add to both of their anxiety at that moment. They are working through something very difficult together. Allow them the space they deserve and maybe shoot them a loving smile as you pass (at a distance.)
Overarousal and Lack of Focus in Pandemic Puppies
Well, this one is fairly obvious, isn’t it? Your dog has been living in a very predictable world for her whole life, experiencing the same people, sounds, smells, animals, and environment. She knows these things well and maybe she’s even a bit bored with them. Now all of a sudden mom is bringing her to lunch on a patio, friends’ houses, and even to work! Each new environment is packed with novel smells, sounds, textures, people, etc. Holy cow, what fun!
You were such a great guardian while the two of you were stuck at home and you taught her many tricks, all of which she is a superstar at...at home. Now, when you want to show off her skills to your friends in their backyard, she will not do any of them, instead obsessively sniffing the yard and completely ignoring you. When you finally do get her attention, she bolts over, jumping on you and knocking your drink from your hand. You’re embarrassed, of course. But please remember, it is not your dog’s fault! She is not being “stubborn” or ignoring you. She is just overwhelmed and simply cannot focus.
What you can do:
Find a positive reinforcement-based group class where your pup can learn how to focus in a new environment.
Think of training in levels: level one is at home, inside. Level two might be your backyard. Level three is the sidewalk in front of your house. Level four is the park. Train each behavior fully in each level before asking for the behavior in the next level.
Work on your dog’s arousal or stimulation control. I love Dr. Ian Dunbar’s “Jazz Up and Settle Down” for adolescent dogs. Also, look for signs that your dog is starting to get over-aroused (biting at you, zooming, etc) and use this opportunity to take a break or toss a treat on the ground, cueing a “find it!”
Remember to make it fun for your dog to pay attention to you! If you are a drill sergeant or frustrated, she will likely decide to keep her distance.
Capture any time your dog pays attention to you (even if you didn’t ask for it!) with a “yes” or “good” and treat her!
Adopting a puppy during a global pandemic is a wonderful thing! But now that we are venturing beyond the confines of our homes, it’s time to take a moment and consider from your dog’s perspective how these new changes might feel for them. The good thing is you absolutely have the ability to make the transition bearable and maybe even fun for your dog! It’s our hope that this article and information helps! But if you ever find you need more guidance, our trainers do both in-person and online sessions to help with issues like fear and anxiety as it stems from lack of socialization and so much more.
Here are some related articles: