When you consider how isolating the last two plus years have been for all of us around the world; the question comes to mind - are dogs truly man's best friend now? In 2020, I had the misfortune of contracting COVID, and the 14 days of being quarantined at home were incredibly difficult in many ways. One of the most challenging aspects for me was that I felt fine, but I wasn't able to leave the house. When I got a call from the county and they went over Covid protocols with me; I was point blank told not to sleep in the same bed as my husband and to completely remove myself from any shared areas of the home. Anyone who knows Mike and I knows we did not quarantine from each other. I apologize if reading that makes you feel we are irresponsible, but we isolated from everyone else, just not each other. We are a pair, a true partnership, and we are in for a penny, in for a pound so to speak.
The saving grace of our mental sanity during those two weeks was truly our two dogs, Ahab and Waylon. Life with them continued to be normal, training resumed, balls were thrown, dog food was delivered, groceries were left on the porch and life moved on. But the thing I most noticed in the months following, our social lives, as many others have, continued to dwindle until we see people in non-intimate settings, like Costco, but rarely entertain in our home or go over friends houses. Limiting exposure risk has seriously limited our ability to have socializing normalized.
This seems to be true for many dogs as well. When you listen to dog owners and trainers, one of the most common topics being discussed, is the lack of socialization for dogs raised during the pandemic. How has this affected our furry friends? We see a lot more dogs with reactivity issues and nervousness or anxiety. Looking at how it's impacted our lives, of course it makes sense that it has impacted our dogs.
As we become less social, our dependency on our dogs has increased, not necessarily in a healthy way. A dog is a companion, a best friend and oftentimes a helper, but in the course of history there has never been a time where people depended on dogs more than they do now. The total shift in the way we view dogs over the last 30-ish years has brought dogs into the home and made them part of the family. Of that, I'm 100% a fan.
But as we become more isolated from truly intimate human-human relationships and our dogs place of importance in our lives continues to elevate we can forget that in a successful human-dog relationship, the dog is looking to us to be a leader and create clear pictures for them to peacefully exist with us in.
It is more important than ever to understand dog socialization. So many people think it is simply letting your dog meet and play with every dog they come across, starting as young as safely possible, so the dog knows how to "properly" socialize. The definition of socialization is the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. The result of teaching dog socialization means that the dog can go most anywhere with you, know how to behave in society, and trust in your leadership skill to guide situations in a way that won't harm the dog. It doesn't mean that every dog and every person should have the unearned freedom to be in your dogs personal space. MANY dogs, especially, younger dogs raised during the pandemic, find this type of behavior overwhelming and intolerable. It is not too late to get educated on proper socialization techniques and take back your right to be in public with your dog in a positive, enjoyable way.
Let's take the best care of our best friends that we possibly can!
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