Touch your dog, not your face!

How to keep your dog happy and healthy during a pandemic!

During this time where we are encouraged to self-isolate and take precautions to protect ourselves, it is still important to provide ample stimulation for our favorite canine friends!

Physical Stimulation

Take your dog for long walks. As long as you maintain proper social distancing from your human friends, fresh air is healthy for both you and your dog. Although there is no proof of dogs transmitting COVID-19 to humans, it is best to curb your friendly neighbors or strangers from petting your pup.

Play Fetch. You can play outdoors in enclosed areas, up and down hallways or inside your home!

Reinforce Recall. With your pup on leash, walk to the end of the leash and with a clear and peppy tone, say “Your dog’s name, Come!” You can encourage your pup to come by making a string of high pitch sounds or by jogging backwards. As soon as they run to you, gesture for them to sit, then promptly mark with a “yes” or click and reward with a high value treat! Practice multiple reps and slowly increase your distance!

Play Hide and Seek. Distract your pup scattering a few treats on the ground as you go find a place to hide. Call your pup’s name and make some kissy noises to encourage them to find you! Once they do, reward with praise and/or treats! If you have multiple people in your household, as soon as your pup looks for one person the other may find a new location to hide! Take turns calling the pup’s attention!

Mental Stimulation

For when you are busy and have to work from home, use interactive treat toys. This is a great way for your dog to eat their meals throughout the day! You can order a couple new ones - our favorites are the Kong Wobbler, Busy Buddy Twist and Treat and anything by Nina Ottosson. If you are crafty or looking to save a little bit of cash, create your interactive toys! If you have a muffin tin, place treats inside each of the molds and then place tennis balls on top! Even a treat or two in an empty water bottle or inside a sock can keep a dog occupied for a long time!

Practice nose work. From the shy and timid to the exuberant and happy dogs, scent detection is great fun for all dogs! Check out this YouTube video. There are also tons of other nose work exercises that vary in difficulty. This is particularly good for hounds and other working breeds, but even a Maltese or a Golden Retriever can enjoy these games!

Teach New Tricks. By using the 3 core training techniques you can teach your pup any new cue and trick!

Capturing

Similar to taking a photo of your dog being oh-so-adorable, capturing is the act of catching and naming a specific behavior that your pup performs naturally. Choose a behavior your pup does daily (yawning, bowing, paws at you). Over the next few days, pay close attention to your pup’s actions and keep treats handy. The moment you see your pup perform the action, mark with a “yes” or click and reward!

Luring

Like fish to bait, luring is the act of holding a treat in front of your dog’s nose to steer them into the desired position. After the first few successful attempts, transition your luring motion into a hand gesture and fade out the food lure so your pup doesn’t become dependent. Luring is great to teach your pup “touch”, “sit”, “down”, to weave through legs or jump through a hoop!

Shaping

For cues that might be more challenging, shaping is the process of breaking down a behavior into smaller achievable steps and rewarding your pup every step closer to the desired result. For instance, If you are teaching your pup “Down”, you can mark and reward for your pup lowering their head, lowering the front legs, elbows touching the floor, etc..

If you are new to practicing tricks, start off with simple behaviors like “Paw,” “Spin” or moving touch targets. For more of a challenge try weaving through your legs, rollover, grab a tissue when you say “achoo”, handing over an item, or open and close drawers. You can experiment and see what works best for you and your dog!

Addressing Behavioral Issues

While self-isolation may seem like a burden, this time provides a great opportunity to work on any behavioral issues, such as separation anxiety, doorbell anxiety/excitement or dog-to-dog reactivity. It’s best to work slowly in very short sessions a couple times throughout the day, and follow a strong management plan to build your dog up for success!

Private Sessions

At Shelby Semel Dog Training, we understand that our human and canine clients’ health and wellness are of the utmost importance during this time of emergency. While we will continue to offer private in-home sessions, we are diligently taking every necessary precaution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We are also offering virtual sessions at a discounted rate to help with anything large or small! We are happy to help teach new tricks, answer questions and give suggestions on how to use this time to your dog’s advantage. Click here for more information.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay playful!