Are you noticing a difference in your dog’s behavior after quarantine? If so, you are not alone; quarantine has affected all of us, including our dogs as well.
If you’re curious about the effects of dog behavior after quarantine, read on as we dive deeper into the common behavioral changes we have noticed in dog behavior!
Dog Behavior After Quarantine The Simple Answer:
The dog behaviors that have become more prevalent after quarantine are; increased fearfulness, aggression, social anxiety, and separation anxiety in dogs due to the lack of socialization, exposure, and time alone.
Dog Behavior After Quarantine
With more and more people being isolated and quarantined, so are their dogs. As much of a psychological strain quarantine puts on us humans, it also affects dogs in various ways.
Below we will outline dog behavior after quarantine
Fearfulness:
There have been more dogs who are fearful of the environment and people. Much of the fear is due to the lack of proper exposure and socialization.
Puppy’s go through a critical socialization period where whatever experiences the puppy has within this small window of its life will ultimately mold that puppy’s overall perspective of the world.
Lack of life experience leads to insecurity as the puppy gets older and grows into an adult dog.
Aggression:
Aggression is another dog behavior after quarantine that many have experienced.
Dogs that were considered “social” are now displaying signs of aggressions (showing teeth, growling, lunging, trying to bite, etc.).
Many times aggression goes hand in hand with fear! It’s not uncommon to see puppies that weren’t exposed and socialized to strangers behave aggressively towards new people as adults.
Even if you take the time to socialize your puppy at a young age properly, socialization is an ongoing process, not once and done. For instance, if you socialize your puppy at a young age but then don’t take your dog out for months, it’s not uncommon to see an insecure, fearful, and sometimes aggressive dog.
Social Anxiety:
Social anxiety is another dog behavior after quarantine due to lack of exposure and socialization.
When dogs are isolated for an extended period (months on end), some dogs will be extremely sensitive to the environment, and it’s not uncommon for dogs to display signs of anxiety and stress.
Separation anxiety
Separation anxiety is another dog behavior after quarantine that many owners are struggling with.
This happens because, as owners, we want to spend more time with our dogs, but if we do not provide our dogs with some time alone every day, they won’t know how to cope when you do leave them alone.
It’s all about balance!
How To Help Your Dog
Don’t lose hope if your pup is displaying any dog behavior after quarantine; here are a couple of ways to get your pup back on track!
Socialize & Expose Your Dog
Socialization doesn’t always mean letting your dog run up to another person and dog to play. That is a form of socialization, but there is a much more functional form of socialization in today’s day and age.
Indirect socialization!
Indirect socialization is where instead of allowing your dog to interact with what you want to socialize them to directly, you instead provide your dog positive experiences around what you want to socialize your dog to.
Read our complete guide on socialization here
Play With Your Dog
Playing with your dog is a great way to not only build your dog’s confidence but it also an incredible reward because it taps into your dog’s innate prey drive.
Have fun with your dog by playing a game of fetch or tug!
To learn more about playing fetch, read the complete guide here
Give your dog alone time
To begin getting your dog comfortable being alone, you should start giving your dog small doses of alone time every day, even if you start with just 5-10 mins.
Once your dog is comfortable with 5-10 minutes, gradually increase that time by 10- 15 minutes.
If you do this every day, you’ll notice that your dog will view being left alone as no big deal.
Conclusion
If your pup is still displaying any of the dog behavior after quarantine, don’t lose hope. There are simple ways that you can begin getting your pup back to being the best version of their selves!
For first-hand help with your dogs behavior after quarantine and to awaken your dog’s true potential contact us here or Give us a call!
Receive your free dog training consultation and set your pup up for success!
