Social Distancing - Just what our dogs needed!

It was social distancing our dogs needed all along.

​Look, this is not news to training and behavior consultants. It’s just something that has been hard to implement and convince clients of. 

Good training and behavior modification is about working within your dog's comfort zone. Good socializing is about working around people and other dogs, at a distance. Six feet, minimum, sounds perfect! 
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Good training is ...

...having awareness of your surroundings, respect for the social “bubble” of others. Responsibility is on you to not allow your dog to run up to other leashed dogs. There is an ongoing problem in the dog community of the “it’s okay, my dog is friendly!” mentality. There has been a constant question of how to convince people that although your dog may be friendly, my dog may not be receptive. Well, now our less receptive dogs finally get a break.

Puppy raising. There’s a panic about how to raise and socialize a puppy during this pandemic. Want to know my answer? The right way, finally. People need to remain hands off. Your puppy needs to learn that you are their world and people are good. They need to learn that no, they don’t get to greet everyone they see, just because they see them. Well, what about getting them used to being handled by others? That doesn’t matter so much as the fact that you need to create associations from a distance, first. Use this time to do just that. Exposing a puppy doesn’t mean throwing your puppy into a stranger’s arms. It means exposing them to new surfaces, people of different hair types, clothing, mannerisms, sounds, vehicles. It means teaching them that when they see someone or something new, good things will happen for them and if the good things come from you, all the better. 

UPS stopped knocking. We stopped answering the door. If we don’t need to answer the door, we don’t need to try to wrangle our dogs and take the package at the same time. We are more vigilant about our dogs being loose in the yard. Our dogs aren’t going to bombard the UPS or Fedex man when he does come or take down the neighbor trying to get a nice fresh-air break with their dog on a leash-walk. We are walking our dogs more. We are taking the time to consider other enrichment opportunities. Virtual training has taken off and will provide immense opportunity for behavior help now and in the future. 
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I write this on Saturday, March 28, 2020. As of this day, we have a stay-at-home order good through May 4th. That’s 37 days. That’s a whole lot of training opportunity time. Where will you and your dog’s relationship be by then? Use this time as a reset for your dog. Slow down to keep moving forward. 

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