Tips to socialize an older dog or puppy during COVID-19

Christine Doucet, a dog trainer and owner of Pawsitive Training NL in Corner Brook, suggests people do anything they can during COVID-19 to expose their puppies and dogs to things that would be different from day-to-day life at home.

She said find the right place or environment where a dog or puppy can be exposed to sights and sounds in a way that’s not scary and teach them that it’s not scary.

Doucet suggests taking them to a park where they can see people. If people want to interact with the dog, she said to tie its leash to a tree and step back to allow the social distance and for the other person to say hello to the dog.

Get the dog to do some tricks and give the other person some treats they can give the dog as a reward. That way the dog has to chance to become familiar with different people, but in a way that’s safe for the human.

At home pull out your Halloween costumes. Put on the funny hat, put on the mask, things they haven’t seen before and provide them with treats for good behaviour.

Put different textures, paper, grates, on the floor to provide sensory experiences, and reward them when they walk on it.

Use recordings of thunderstorms and fireworks. Start out at low volume and gradually turn it up. Doucet does this in her puppy classes while the dogs are playing, and they don’t even notice it playing in the background. She said it helps to desensitize them to make them think there are also good things that happen, like playing and getting treats, when they hear those sounds.

Same thing with knocking on a door. When she does it in class, Doucet will knock softly on a table and half the dogs will bark. She’ll wait till they calm down and repeat the knocking, when nobody barks the dogs get rewarded. Instead of the knock being a signal for this huge high energy experience it means the dog will get a treat.