Post-Covid, What Does The Dog World Look Like?
A lot of people got dogs during lockdown and the months following. Where did these dogs come from? What’s happening now people have gone back to work and what are the other effects, hidden and seen, of this surge in demand?
The lockdown effect
Some good has come from covid. It has allowed many people to have the opportunity to spend more time with their dogs. That’s a huge positive. Many people have got a dog for the first time and are now enjoying the benefits of that canine companionship.
But of course, there have been downsides too.
Puppy prices went through the roof in 2020 following the first lockdown. Partly driven by people being at home and wanting a dog for company, and partly because of all the people who had been thinking about getting a dog but hadn’t because they previously weren’t at home enough. I saw this rise in prices for myself when I took on a new client. One of her Shar-Peis had recently had a litter. When I asked her how much she would be selling the puppies for she said they were £3000 each. I couldn’t believe it and said so. Her response blew me away. She explained that if she sold the puppies for any less they might be bought by dealers posing as owners who would then sell them on and she would lose all control over where they went. I hadn’t even imagined a second-hand market for puppies. Unbelievable.
An unavoidable consequence of a rise in puppy prices is an increase in dog theft. There has always been dog theft. A little bit of stealing-to-order for more exotic breeds, or highly trained dogs like gundogs but before covid this was generally exceptional. There has also always been the despicable trade in stolen dogs for illegal dog fighting. This has also generally been targeted at particular breeds. What we saw with the rise in puppy prices was a value given to lots of different breeds which then caused all sorts of low-level pretty criminals to try their hand and the numbers shot up.
Another shocking but not surprising trend connected to the puppy price was a rise in puppy farms and illegally imported puppies from Eastern Europe and Ireland.
There are other knock-on effects from a rise in the value of dogs, things that might not be visible to the naked eye.
What’s happened to dog behaviour?
I have seen a definite up-tick in the behavioural effect, and some of that comes down to breeding. A pedigree puppy with a strong lineage and Kennel Club registration before lockdown would cost something in the region of £900, depending on the breed. As a breeder, once you have paid to have a litter of puppies fed, microchipped, wormed and vaccinated there isn’t a lot of money left as profit. It’s something people do because they are passionate about a breed, it certainly isn’t a get rich quick scheme. But during Covid these fixed costs didn’t rise when the puppy price spiked to £3000, and sadly, a lot of people saw the opportunity to rake in some free money.
Getting dogs to breed is easy. Breeding good dogs is hard, that is to say genetically sound dogs, and it’s best left to the professionals, or at least the inspired amateurs. There’s a lot to think about; the health of the parents, do they have good joints? Did their ancestors suffer from any hereditary diseases known to affect the breed? These are critical questions that good breeders consider when they’re choosing which dogs to breed from. A good breeder will also think about the temperament of the parents. These are the questions like: For working dogs, what are the working drives of the parents? And most importantly for the average dog owner, if a breeder is breeding dogs to be house pets are the parents easy-going dogs, good with children and other dogs, or are they a handful with a bite history?
Unfortunately, when it became clear that any Tom, Dick or Harry with an unspayed bitch could make a few pounds, they got her sired without giving any thought to the well-being of the puppies, or their suitability for the homes they would be sold into. It is these knock-on effects that I’ve been coming across. When I see dogs under three years old and I ask about where they came from there is definitely a pattern emerging.
When you buy a puppy it’s important to research the breeder, and buy the best puppy you can find. But what if you find a puppy with an unscrupulous breeder? That might not be the best puppy, but what will become of it if you don’t take it? I’ve heard of many people who found themselves in this ethical quandary and I don’t think there’s a wrong answer. You need to do what is right for your circumstances.
What do you do if your puppy is one of those bred during the lockdown boom and there are now some issues popping up? Don’t worry. Everything is fixable. The journey might have a few twists and turns you weren’t expecting, but that’s ok. Back yourself. Watch some videos online. Get some professional help if you need to. All things can be overcome given time, patience and understanding.
Separation anxiety; the obvious outcome
There is another more obvious consequence of lockdown. If your dog is used to having you around, working from home, then when the day comes that you need to go back to the office your dog is going to find that hard to deal with. Dogs are social creatures so unless they are trained to be comfortable being left alone, we can expect them to struggle with it. I’ve written about separation anxiety and how to overcome it before – coping with Separation Anxiety – Well Behaved Dogs – but for completeness, here it is again.
Separation anxiety is a catch-all term. It can be caused by anxiety but more often it doesn’t have a fear element, the barking, whining or other behaviour is really just the dog calling back the rest of the pack or trying to be reunited. If this is the case it is normally quite straightforward to fix. You need to build a strong association with a command such as “stay” and your returning to the dog. For example, once the dog has been well exercised and is tired take him to water to make sure he isn’t thirsty, then to his bed. Wait until he is lying down and settled, then standing next to him use a command that the dog isn’t familiar with, let’s use “stay”, and take a few steps back. Without pausing return to the dog and give some very calm affection. Use the command again, this time turn around and slowly walk away from the dog a few meters, turn around to face the dog again and go back to him, and again give him some calm affection. Try it a third time going slightly further away. The trick here is to not push the dog too far too fast. You are building a strong association to convince the dog that when you use the word “stay” he will know you are coming back. If you go too far and the dog gets out of his bed to follow you then you need to return him to his bed and repeat the exercise at a shorter distance and duration so that he doesn’t follow. Three to five repetitions is the most you should try. Once the dog knows that your saying “stay” means you will return and give him affection you can use this every time you leave the dog on his own. Build the distance and duration over a few weeks and you’ll find the dog becomes comfortable with being left alone for a few hours.
Another method to solve the non-anxiety form of separation is to not allow the dog to follow you around the house. Get the dog used to being on his own and expect him to spend more time in his bed. If you walk into the kitchen, don’t allow the dog to follow you. If you go upstairs don’t allow the dog to follow you, and so on. When he doesn’t follow you, reward him with some affection when you go back to him. The dog will become at peace with being alone and allowing you to go about your business without being followed.
If the separation is caused by real anxiety then this is a more complicated issue and will need a number of different approaches. In short, using the methods above will help but building the dog’s confidence will be a longer process. Doing a lot of obedience work will help over time, it will build confidence and develop a stronger relationship with you which will also help. Developing this idea further to “work” with the dog in a more formal way leads us to activities such as agility, scent training, fly-ball and the thousand other ways with which we can give our dogs a job. Over time we’ll see the dog developing confidence and combined with the methods above, you should start to see an improvement.
In summary
Any dog can have a behavioural hiccup at some point in its life. We should always be compassionate towards the dog that’s in front of us and help it to deal with the cards it’s been dealt, that’s our role as pack leaders. There are no behavioural problems that can’t be overcome if we advocate for our dogs, give them enough time and love and put in the work required.
Enjoy your dog.
Nick
