Dogs might start feeling separation anxiety as owners go back to work
Graeme Hall, better known as TV’s The Dogfather, talks to MARION McMULLEN about his new podcast and discusses the effects lockdown may have had on our four-legged friends
What can you tell us about your new podcast Talking Dogs?
I HOPE it will answer a lot of concerns from people and help a lot of people all at once.
Since the TV shows, I had lots and lots of enquiries from owners wanting help with their pets. There’s just one of me and I could never reply to everyone, but the podcast is great. I can look at what people have sent in and work on answers to their problems.
A lot of them are quite common – pulling on a lead, barking all the time, aggressive behaviour. Once the podcasts go out they are there for a long time. With the “new normal” as well, it’s a terrible cliché, but people have been working from home and dogs have been popping up in the background on Zoom or barking.
Dogs might start feeling separation anxiety as well now as people start to return to offices and work. Dogs are clever and they do pick up on body language. You can go out for a walk, come back and make a cup of tea and then sit at the desk and open the laptop and the dog looks at the laptop and goes ‘Ok, I’ll go for a nap.’
Lots of people now have lockdown puppies. What can they expect?
(LAUGHS) Dogs go through a teenage stage and a lot of people who bought a puppy at the start of lockdown will soon be discovering that.
They might have been really good as a puppy, but at five or six months old they will notice a change.
All the good things they have been doing, their dog suddenly goes ‘nah, not doing that any more’.
You say sit and it is ‘I don’t think so’. They are just rebellious and you just have to stick to your guns.
It’s a phase they go though, but they do come through it.
You’ve worked with more than 5,000 dogs and have helped a lot of celebrity owners. Any memorable moments?
DENISE VAN OUTEN and her partner Eddie appeared on Celebrity Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly and wanted help with French Bulldog Tilly.
Tilly would get out and run off and there was a busy road outside and we knew we had to fix this.
They kind of knew that they had spoiled her quite badly, and as soon as I walked into the house there was an oil painting of the French Bulldog dressed as a princess.
Denise was absolutely lovely over it and knew there was a problem, and that is what we have to do but there was a moment in the TV show when I just burst out laughing on camera.
You’re known as The Dogfather. When did you get your first dog?
MUM and dad both worked when I was growing up and had the view it was too much to have a dog and they didn’t have the time – as a lot of families find. Then, when I was older, I was too busy myself and I only got my first dog in my 40s.
I had two Rotties – Axel and Gordon. I went from no dogs to two juvenile Rottweilers. That’s why I started dog training. I threw myself into it and my hobby is now my work. Sadly Axel and Gordon are gone now, but I have Lily, who is a lovely Labrador Boxer Cross.
Is Lily the best-trained dog in the world?
(LAUGHS) Lily was rehomed and I’ve known lots of dogs who pull on the lead, but she pulled on the lead like you wouldn’t believe. Lily could pull the 9.30am train to Euston in the morning.
When I first got her from the rehoming place I took her to some common land and thought ‘let’s pop out and I’ll walk her around on a lead for a bit’. I stopped and tried to close the tailgate and she nearly pulled my arm off. But I’m happy to report all is fine now.
What are your plans for the future?
I’M writing a book and I can’t wait to get shooting the new series of Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly again.
When filming, you have the TV crew and the dog owners and it is all about how we can do this in a safe way. I’ve worked with dogs from Jersey to Aberdeenshire and
I want to stroke every dog I see, but I can’t do that now.
You have to think about even picking up a lead and handing it back to the owner. It might mean using two leads. But I’m lucky. I live in the Cotswolds now. I walk out my door and I’m in the countryside within minutes.