Dogfather says help your pandemic pup... by heading to the pub
DOGFATHER Graeme Hall is urging new puppy owners to start socialising their pets – by taking them to the pub.
As the hospitality industry reopens and pet parents worry about how their pooches will adapt, the TV favourite says time in the beer garden is the answer.
A record 3.2 million people bought pets in lockdown and the dog population has shot up from 9.5 million to 12 million in a year.
With pubs and restaurants losing £200million a day from March 2020, according to UK Hospitality, Dogs Behaving Very Badly star Graeme, 55, hopes the “hound pound” will help venues recover.
He says: “We should take advantage of the way things are now to get out and about.
“You know, just do little and often to start with. So if you need an excuse to pop down to the pub, here it is!
“And then off you go after 20 minutes. The message to your dog is, ‘We go out, we sit down, I’m nice and chilled, you’re nice and
chilled, all is well with the world.’ And the more little experiences you can build up, the better. Then in a couple of weeks, when we are inside the pub, it’s just an extension of the experience.
“Also, take them for a walk first, then pop to the pub or cafe on the way back so just when he’s thinking of having a nap, you’re sitting outside and they’re fine.”
On his Channel 5 show, Graeme tackles unwanted behaviour from mutts each week and having had two “nightmare” Rottweilers himself, the
Yorkshireman relates to their struggles. Working out how to teach his own pets led to him becoming a dog trainer after two decades working in a Weetabix factory and in the past five years he’s become a household name.
Rather than let problems escalate, we need to reward dogs more.
Graeme explains: “When a dog is lying down doing nothing, usually they fall off our radar, and ironically, we never give them a stroke or a pat for being good. If you don’t praise them or let them know when they’re good, how do they know?
“If you’re saying, ‘Good dog,’ their little doggy brain is thinking, ‘So you
like it when I just lie down and do nothing? Well, I’ll just do nothing then!’”
Graeme says new owners should try to get out with their dogs as much as they can and even take pups to festivals.
He’ll share training tips at the 5 On The Farm festival on August bank holiday weekend at Cannon Hall Farm, near Barnsley, home of Channel 5’sthisweek Onthe Farm.
Graeme says: “When you go to a festival you meet all kinds of people, all kinds of dogs and all shapes and sizes.
“It’s great. Your dog enjoys themselves and so do you. Everyone is a lover of dogs and there’s lots for them to do.”