Tips for raising a confident dog during a pandemic

Are you worried about how to raise a confident dog during a pandemic? 

As a result of covid restrictions, your dog may not be the life of the party, having never experienced a lot of socialization, but they will be well trained, they’ll know how to focus on you and listen to you and this will help them cope with the real world when things get back to normal. 

Watch my video to learn more

How Covid 19 has affected our dogs

Under normal circumstances, I’d be encouraging you to get out as much as possible to introduce your puppy to people and dogs of all different shapes and sizes.

The more positive interactions they have with people and dogs in their first 4 months, the better. 

This is the time where they decide if life is safe or unsafe, fun or not fun.

But covid has made that tricky. Things are quieter than ever before.

On the plus side, your dog will be loving spending more time with you, but how can you ensure they’ll cope when things get back to ‘normal’?

Train your dog in all the basic commands

Train your puppy to:

‘Sit’ ‘Watch’ ‘Wait’ ‘Leave it, and ‘Come’. 

Teaching your dog these commands, means they’ll learn to focus on you and they’ll know how to respond in the home and also outside the home.

For example, if you teach your dog to come when called, then if you’re at the dog park and things are looking a little tense, you can call your dog back to you.

Or if your dog is feeling anxious with all the new sights, sounds and smells they’re experiencing, you can ask your dog to “Watch” you and that will redirect their attention onto you and away from whatever is causing them anxiety.

You’ll have the best trained dogs in history.

Take your dog for daily walks if you can

Be sure to change up the texture your dog’s walking on because this helps to build up body awareness and confidence.

Take your dog on grass, concrete, rocky paths, shallow water, weave them through trees, get them to crawl under park benches or jump up on to benches or tree stumps.

If your dog’s not fully vaccinated yet, carry them on these walks or drive them to new places, sit in your car with the window down and let them see, smell and hear the world go by.

Prepare them for going to the vet or groomer

Take this opportunity to get your dog comfortable with being handled and groomed. Doing this work now means they’ll be more confident when they go to the vet or groomer.

Look in their ears, mouths, gently pull their tails, pat them everywhere and build up a positive association to grooming tools like brushes, combs and scissors.

Use treats to help them get comfortable.

For example: Touch them with the brush, then give them a treat. 

Do one brush stroke, then treat

Do two brush strokes, then treat, and continue building up their confidence and comfort this way until they’re happy being patted, pulled, and groomed.

Make a lot of noise

Use whatever you have to make noise, then give your dog a treat to help them feel comfortable with that noise.

You can use pots, pans, doorbells, blenders, music, and you could pop balloons.

If you have kids in the house, they’ll love this activity. 

Just be sure to start out quietly and gradually increase the noise and chaos.

The aim is not to freak your dog out, but to gently teach them that when they hear loud noises, it’s no big deal.

If everything is quiet right now but there are noises that your dog will be exposed to when you get out of lockdown, try to find videos on YouTube that replicate those noises. Things like lawnmowers, planes flying, kids playing and buses screeching and breaking.

Play games with them

Keep your puppy entertained and out of mischief by playing games with them. 

Games like Tug, Fetch, and Find It are all great ways to use their minds and bodies.

You can also feed them by scattering their food around the place, or squishing it into a kong or puzzle toy. That way your puppy is working for their food rather than just gobbling it up from a bowl.

For more puppy raising tactics, save your seat in my free masterclass

“3 Simple Tactics for Raising a Well-Behaved Dog”