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K9 Capers

Certainly with Covid-19 it has been a strange time for the dog training industry and we have adapted to many of our consultations being done virtually. Even though I have missed the in person snuggles with the lovely dogs I work with, it has been great to still be able to help so many of you during this time. It won’t be long until I can see you all again.

There has been lots of chatter on social media recently regarding dogs potentially developing Separation Anxiety due to everyone being at home for a long period of time due to lockdown.

This is a possibility and isn’t something to be overlooked just because your dog has never experienced separation issues before. Your dog would have started to get used to everyone being home and not really being left alone not even for a short period of time.

Here are a few helpful tips to start preparing your dog for your return to work and normal routine.

Have your dog start to have short periods of alone time in another room away from you.
Check to see how your dog starts to react when you pick up your keys, pop on your shoes and open the front door to leave.
Try to have your dog in the routine they will be in once you head back to work. If you normally take your dog for 2 walks per day at particular times when it is a workday, then start to get back in to this regime.
Keep feeding times and wake up times also the same.
Pop out for 10 minutes and record your dog to see if they cry, bark or show behaviour that they are upset being alone. This will give you a good indication if there is anything that needs to be done to help your dog to settle.

If you have just gone back to work and your dog seems more stressed than usual, then please get in touch. I am a certified separation anxiety trainer and I work with many dogs that display separation issues.

Success Story: Meet Molly

Molly is a very fun and lovely Cocker Spaniel. She decided however that everyone must be woken up very early in the morning, preferably before 5am so that she could have their company. Molly was fully toilet trained but started to struggle being away from her mum and dad and started to display hyper-attachment behaviours.

We put a plan in place to change up her routine, added in some training to help her with being alone in another room and to settle in her crate area and now her mum and dad are no longer disturbed in the early morning and everyone has a good night’s sleep

If you have a dog like Molly, please get in touch.
Email me at Kellymcfarlanenz@gmail.com to book.

"I cannot recommend Kelly highly enough. Kelly has helped us with our gorgeous high energy puppy on numerous occasions and most recently helped us get our sleep back after months of Molly being unable to settle all night. Molly is so much happier and has settled into a great routine, sleeps happily & needless to say that we too are much happier! We love how simple and kind all of Kelly’s methods are - you can see that she really cares understands canine behaviour." Molly's mum.

Charity Shout Out

I absolutely love my weekly work at the SPCA with the canine team. It can be heart breaking at times but the good work that the team do for lots of dogs is exceptional. I love chatting and hearing from the adoptees how their new dogs are settling into their new home.

If you would like to help in anyway whether that is as a volunteer, donation, foster a dog or to find your forever friend and adopt please contact them.
www.spca.nz