5 Ways To Maintain Boundaries With Your Dog When The Whole Family Is Self-Isolating
Your dog will be loving having you home at the moment, but when this Corona Virus pandemic is all over, what you don’t want is a dog with major separation anxiety on your hands.
A dog who can’t cope with being left alone and who panics when you leave the house.
Creating a stable environment for your dog is so important.
Sometimes this means acting more like a dog rather than expecting your dog to act as a human.
We’ve bred dogs to form attachments to humans so it’s understandable they hate being alone.
They are pack animals and in their minds packs should stay together.
They worry when you leave and Separation Anxiety is a panic response to being left alone.
Here are 5 ways to maintain good habits and boundaries so you can keep your dog calm and entertained while you’re home and won’t trigger Separation Anxiety when this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic is over and life returns to some normality.
1. Maintain your status as pack leader
Being a pack leader means leading your puppy in a calm and confident way and it’s as simple as initiating all play and cuddle sessions and ending them by walking away when you’re done.
This may seem odd, but this simple technique works really well on dogs.
It helps to remind them that you’re in charge and when you’re in charge, they don’t have to be.
You’re indicating to your dog (using doggie language) that you have everything under control, everything is ok, everyone is calm, all is right with the world and their place in it.
2. Keep up your rules and boundaries
It’s important that all family members agree on the rules and that everyone does the same thing.
You can’t have different family members playing Good Cop/Bad Cop because this will cause your puppy to become confused and unsettled.
So, if prior to covid-19 your dog wasn’t allowed:
On the sofa
On the beds
To jump up on people for attention
To nibble or bite hands
To chase the cat
To eat children’s toys
To eat shoes
To get attention and cuddles for barking, whining and howling
Then don’t allow them to get away with those things now.
3. Exercise with your dog
Take your dog for lots of walks if you’re allowed to leave the house.
The endorphins produced while exercising will be great for you and your dog and will lead to calm, relaxed behaviour inside the home.
You can create your own obstacle course by teaching them to jump up on to park benches or climb under the benches & weaving in and out of trees and other obstacles.
If you’re not allowed off your own property, get creative with your own furniture.
4. Keep your dog entertained and busy
Check out some of my previous posts for ideas to keep your dog entertained inside.
Rainy Day Games To Play With Your Dog
How to Train Your Dog To Wear Clothes
5. Work on your dog training commands.
If your dog needs to work on any training commands, now is the time to do it.
Dog training starts in the home anyway as there are fewer distractions (which means there’s a higher chance of your dog getting it right), so solidify these commands now and you’ll be that much further ahead when you start going out in public again.
Your dog will love learning new things and you’ll get to focus on their joyful fuzzy faces which will help keep yourself calm.
Check out some of my previous posts to learn how to teach specific commands
Watch - how to train your dog to look at you
Wait - how to train your dog to stay still or wait
Leave It - how to train your dog to give things up on request
Come - how to teach your dog to come when called
For more puppy raising tactics, save your seat in my free masterclass
“3 Simple Tactics for Raising a Well-Behaved Dog”
