My dog is afraid of the car: 10 steps for change!

Why is my dog afraid of the car?

This is a tough one! You’re dying to take your dog out on lovely walks with the family - and she quakes and quivers at the sight of the car.

This is usually only found in rehomed dogs who have had a bad experience in a vehicle. But it can happen also with the family dog who used to enjoy car journeys till there was a motor accident.

The most carefully-nurtured puppy may be afraid of the car because it means carsickness. Some pups are carsick, some never are. Travel your puppy in the front seat of the car - between the wheels - where there is less movement, take corners slowly, and have a bucket ready. You can strap in his crate with the seatbelt. This phase will gradually pass.

If your dog’s reaction is extreme, with shaking, scrabbling to get away, drooling, and evident misery, you may need to talk to your vet about a mild sedative to calm the dog enough to start on a protocol to readjust her attitude to the car.

There are some very good herbal remedies which do not require a prescription which may help - they are often marketed as a calmer for firework nights.

The last thing to do is try to force the dog into the car!

This will only increase the fear and anxiety. What you can do is slowly and gradually change her view of the car as somewhere safe and pleasant to be.

Jet the young black Labrador had to be lifted into the car as he was fearful of getting in by himself. I suggested to his owners that they shut the garden gates, prepare his food as usual, walk out to the car, open the boot and place the bowl in the car as far back as possible from the edge. Then leave the dog to figure out how to get this food all by himself.

I hinted it could take a few days.

Next morning they reported back to me: they’d placed the food in the car, and started to walk away only to hear Jet leaping into the back of the car and scarfing down his dinner! One happy owner.

Here are 10 steps to change your dog’s approach to the car

1. For some dogs, it’s the vibration and noise of the car engine that is the problem. So take your dog out to the car, sit in the car yourself without the engine running, leave ALL the doors open, and toss top-class treats (sausage, raw steak) to her outside the car. Let her decide when she’d like to get closer to you. She can climb in beside you if she likes, have some more food, then you can both get out and leave it for the day.

2. Repeat this a few times and your dog will be keen to get in with you. Once you’ve achieved that stage, you can start to close the doors for a moment, then get out.

3. If your dog loves playing fetch, a great game of tossing her favourite toy into the back of the car, or right through it (all doors open) can work wonders.

4. Next step is, with doors and windows closed, turn the engine on for a short while, ensuring the exhaust isn’t blowing back into the vehicle. Do NOT drive the car! But keep up the flow of treats. These steps will take as long as they take. Don’t be in a hurry to push forward till your dog is really happy about the previous step.

5. After a few times doing this step, you may notice that your dog is calmer and exhibiting less anxiety (tension in face and ears, wide darting eyes, paddling the feet, etc). Now you can actually roll the car forward or back a little way, and that’s it for the day.

6. When you first pull out of your drive and actually move along the road, make it a very short journey ending in something spectacular - a run in the park, a visit to granny, or just straight back home for a great game.

7. Another thing that can help: ensure that there is a door or window open when you shut the boot. The shockwave from the boot-slam can be very distressing for a dog. Sit in the car yourself with doors and windows closed while someone else slams the boot shut and you’ll see what I mean.

8. For some dogs, travelling in a cage they can’t see out of is very effective. It could be to do with carsickness, fear of cars approaching behind your car, or just that they want to bark at everything that moves as they pass.

9. If your dog is happy in the car but hesitant to get in, you may need a vet check to rule out a physical issue. It can be an advanced warning of hip trouble. Meanwhile, a ramp or sturdy step can help.

10. And never let your dog - especially a young dog - jump out of the car onto a hard surface (road, dry or frozen ground)! This can seriously damage his shoulders.

Barking in the car can be completely solved by either covering the crate or using blackout material to cover the inside of the windows. Never was there an easier solution to a common and aggravating problem!

Experiment and see what works for your dog. And once you’ve worked out how to get him into the car, check out this post to find the best way to keep secure.

Now you can head off on some of those great country walks!

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Celebrate your Dog while you still have her

This article was first published at Medium.com

Many people are shattered by the loss of their dog. People reveal the depth of their feelings and their desolation at the sudden absence of their friend. The strength of these feelings can come as a bit of a surprise.

Our dogs creep up on us. Too late we realise how far they have tunnelled into our lives, our beds, our hearts, our souls.

As with any loss there can be feelings of regret: all those times I was too lazy to play with her; when she made do with scraps because I’d forgotten to prepare her food; when she missed out on a walk because it was raining; when I came home exhausted from my fulfilling day to my lonely dog — and then was too tired to give her a little of my time.

Let’s see how we can change this, with a truer understanding of how our dogs’ minds work! Get our free email course here.

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Your dog commits totally to you. And in return we can take her for granted.

But She’s Just a Dog

I think that we often underestimate our dog’s intelligence and ability to reason. It’s very easy to bark commands at her and expect her to know what on earth it is that we want.

But how often are our expectations of what we want her to do unmatched by time spent on teaching her those things? We expect her to arrive with human-world behaviour installed, or to learn it by osmosis.

How unfair we can be!

It’s a truism that a trained dog is a happy dog. But it’s also the case that an untrained dog is a very confused dog.

How hard it can be for our dogs to continually try to guess what will please us; guess what will annoy or frustrate us and cause our displeasure — which hurts them so much!

She doesn’t have the whole world to love — she just has you.

I insure against some of the pain of the loss of a dog by having plenty of them! I usually have three or four and am always planning the next puppy. If I could have only one dog, I’d be thinking ahead to the next one. I couldn’t live without that joy and beauty in the household for long.

And the more dogs who spend their lives with me, the more I can see how totally individual and different they are.

Your Dog is a Teacher as well as a Learner

We can teach our happy-go-lucky, outgoing, everybody’s-my-friend dog some calmness and moderation, and we can encourage our shy, diffident dog to venture forth and gain confidence, but the dog’s character will remain.

Through years of living with several dogs at a time, my takeaways are:

• Your appearance does not matter. Sometimes it’s puzzling if someone takes against you because of the colour of your hair or the length of your nose. But that’s their problem. Your dog is not going to change his hair colour for anyone. Neither should you.

• Other people’s opinion is not of much interest. If you want to roll in the muck and they don’t understand, that’s their loss. Be proud of who you are.

• Take every opportunity to rest and regroup.

• If someone encroaches on your personal or psychological space, just move away. Dogs are in the main all for a quiet life.

• Enjoy every moment and live in the present. It doesn’t matter if you’re cold and wet later — leap in the pond now!

• Never tire of telling your special people that you love them.

They don’t live long enough — that’s for sure!

Yet they give so much.

Let’s give our dogs our time and attention now, in the few short years they’re with us. If we build our relationship to the fullest, we won’t be astonished by the gap they leave when they die, nor be filled with regrets at having failed them.

Is your dog throwing up more challenges than you anticipated? Watch our free Masterclass and find how to change things fast!

 

Rearing a puppy to be confident

How can I rear my puppy to like other dogs when we’re locked down and social distancing?

A lot of people are asking this, and I absolutely understand where they’re coming from with this question!

For years we have been told that unless your puppy meets other dogs, in quantity, before the age of 15 weeks, you are doomed to a lifetime of reactivity and aggression.

Like all bowdlerisations, this one is liable to serious misinterpretation.

In fact, what we are actually told is that we have to acclimatise our puppy to everything he’s likely to meet in everyday life by the age of 15 weeks.

That is very different!

Learn a new way of puppy-rearing with our free email course packed with tips and ideas for a peaceful life with your dog!

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Misinterpretation, mishearing, misunderstanding …

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

Picking up a little of the message without understanding the reasoning behind it is the problem here.

And sadly it can actually be the CAUSE of reactivity problems later on!

The exact opposite of what the hapless owner intended!

The way forward

So what should the new puppy-owner be doing, especially in this difficult time?

If you follow the actual advice from the scientists, to introduce novelty into your puppy’s life so that he enjoys the experience, you’ll see that this novelty will include other dogs, and an awful lot more besides!

The idea of dropping a young puppy into the middle of a mass of dogs - some madly excited, some terrified - is awful! And it’s at the centre of many puppy classes run by inexperienced tutors.

To help you understand exactly what your puppy is telling you, do research Dog Body Language. There are some resources listed at the foot of this article to help you - and your children! - learn what your new pet is saying. It really may not be what you think.

I teach Choice Training

That is to say, my dogs always have a choice in what they do.

Nothing builds confidence more than having your wishes respected, your opinions considered, your decisions honoured.

And never is this more important than in meeting other creatures, be they two- or four-legged.

Naturally, the safety of the other party always has to be considered! So if your puppy is meeting a shy dog, a cat or bird, or a baby, for the first time, restraint on harness and lead is essential, or else the “victim” should be safely protected in a crate or cage or playpen.

That said, allow your puppy a choice.

Don’t shove him forward to meet people or dogs - let him move forward at his own pace and manner. Let him make the decision whether to progress or hide behind you. Either way he is expressing his feelings. And allowing those feelings is what will develop confidence.

• Confidence that you will honour his feelings

• Trust that you will protect him

And this will build his ability to cope with new things, whether a helicopter overhead, a dragonfly buzzing around his head, a child banging a bucket, a dog barking . . .

This is what is meant by exposing your puppy to novelty!

Not throwing him into a situation he cannot manage, when the only thing he’ll learn is fear.

Older dogs

The exact same applies for handling “socialisation” for your older dog. Technically you can’t “socialise” a dog over the age of 15 weeks. But you can still introduce him to novelty, in a gradual and structured way, so that his confidence builds - just the same as with your puppy

Already got a Growly Dog? A reactive, shy, aggressive dog? Watch our free Masterclass and learn new strategies to change your lives for the better!

RESOURCES

Socialisation in Lockdown

Puppies and Dogs

Dog Body Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00_9JPltXHI

Dog Body Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bstvG_SUzMo  

Puppies will be puppies!

Puppies are all much of a muchness - cute, exploring, shy, cuddly, quickly tired . . . They have needs, and the biggest need they have is to learn how to fit into our weird human world.

And yet people get a new puppy and think something is wrong when their puppy

• Doesn’t sleep all night

• Explores everything by mouth

• Doesn’t know where or when to pee

• Thinks the children are other puppies

And then they write to me.

Either they think they’re doing something wrong, or - more often - they think there’s something fundamentally wrong with their puppy.

Learn just how your puppy's mind works, and what you can expect, in our free e-course

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And they want their dream of a cute cuddly puppy back!

There’s a high chance that if they’re struggling with one or other aspect of puppy care (it’s usually sleep, nipping, or housetraining) their puppy is behaving totally normally. But they may need to adjust their expectations and understanding of how the doggy brain works in order to restore harmony in their home!

Now I’m glad they find Brilliant Family Dog and they write to me and not to any of the forceful “trainers” out there, which are legion. I’m always free with advice to help them get back on track with their new charge (I’d much rather they asked and found the answer, rather than struggle on with an unhappy household). And the first thing I remind them is that their puppy is a BABY.

But really, where did common sense go?

Common sense

• Is it not common sense to do a bit of research before inviting a baby from another species to share your home?

• Is it not common sense to learn what changes you need to make to your current habits in order to have this work?

• Is it not common sense to find out what puppies are like so that you can have realistic expectations?

• And surely common sense decrees that if adults have to learn this new stuff, your children also need help to understand how to co-exist with this new stranger.

I’m willing to bet that when these parents first had their children they got masses of advice, loads of equipment, and most certainly didn’t leave their offspring loose in the house without supervision, with cats and dogs wandering around behaving species-inappropriately with them!

Expecting a puppy who’s only been on the planet a matter of weeks to fit into a new and totally foreign regime without any guidance and help would be equally crazy, and to me unreasonable and unthinkable.

The way forward

So if you’ve arrived here looking for help because your puppy isn’t measuring up to your expectations - you’re most welcome! Please do look around and find the help you need. Start with the SEARCH function up there in the navigation bar (that’s across the top of the page on a laptop and in the three little bars at the top on mobile).

You’ll find a huge wealth of articles here to help you with your puppy - not just giving you instructions to change your puppy’s behaviour, but plenty of guidance on changing your own behaviour! It has to be give-and-take for this to work the way you want it to.

There are free downloadable guides for many of the more popular queries, and even free courses!

This could be a good jumping-off place for you

All I ask is that you give it a try. Nothing is more depressing than taking the time to advise someone who says “We need help urgently, please reply.” And finding them coming back with the same query a few weeks later, having done nothing that was suggested.

Chances are your puppy is completely normal, nothing wrong with him at all. But you may be focussing on the wrong things . . .

Go and check those resources I’ve linked!

Are you the right owner for this puppy?

Oh, and if you really expect your puppy to lie in his basket all day ready to be got out and shown off when you feel like it; to be able to tell the difference between a toy you’ve given him and one that he finds as he wanders about free-range (your phone, your remote, your glasses / shoes / book, the computer cables); to adopt new sleeping patterns with no help; to know how to play with people with skin like tissue paper and no protective fur; or even to know in advance when they need to pee - then perhaps you need to re-think the whole idea of inviting a dog into your home.

When you are ready will be time enough to choose a puppy.

Start here with our free ecourse to show you how your new dog's mind actually works!

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There’s never been a better time to train your dog!

You’re stuck at home, worried half to death, your kids driving you crazy. 

Or maybe you’re racing about - an essential worker - stressed, anxious, exhausted.

In either case - or in any other case at all! - you don’t need your dog adding to your woes.

And right now you feel too scattered to do anything about it. “When it’s all over …” you say to yourself.

In fact, this is a great time to move your focus from what’s happening “out there”, over which we have no control, to what’s happening within your home - over which you have plenty of control! It’s feeling in control of something that will help you cope with the uncertainty abroad at the moment. So pick something you absolutely can control!

Two minutes a day

And did you know that you can actually make some serious changes in your dog’s behaviour in just two minutes a day?

I’m busy, I’m pre-occupied, I have so many projects on the go. I envy folks who are single-minded and can devote hours to training their dog.

But that’s not me!

(And there’s a fair chance it’s not you either.)

So if my dogs are ever to get the attention they deserve, the mental stimulation essential for a happy and contented life, not to mention become the kind of companion dog we all want, I had to work out a different way of doing things.

Not for me hour-long classes and extended sessions with me losing the thread and the dog becoming increasingly confused, then bored, then totally switching off.

All Day Training!

So I developed All Day Training!

This simply means that whenever I notice my dogs I take the opportunity to interact with them and teach them something new, or cement in something they already know.

Example: my dogs know that when I put my hand on the door-handle they sit and wait while I open it till they hear their release cue, then they can shoot through the doorway.

B-u-u-u-t, there are occasions when

• It’s a new door

• They’re just too excited and forget themselves

• I’ve been letting them away with a poor response

and we need to brush this up! Because they already know what it is I want (they’re just finding it hard to give it to me) it’s very quick to bring them up to speed - or lack of speed in this case!

And usually all that’s needed is for me to pause. And wait. Wait for the furry brains to remember what they should be doing.

Then we have celebratory praise when they get it right!

What do I need for this type of training?

There’s really only three things you need:

1. Quick access to nice treats - pocket, conveniently-parked pots.

2. An idea of what it is you’d like your dog to do - not just what you don’t want him to do!

3. An idea of how to teach the thing.

Let’s look more closely at these.

1, Quick access to nice treats

What’s a “nice” treat? A small, non-crumbly, treat that your dog will sell his soul for. While I use strong stuff (cheese, sausage, etc) for teaching new things, my dogs are so attuned to the sequence ASK-DO-REWARD that they will actually work for anything. It’s the use of their brain to solve the puzzle, combined with the pleasure they know they will bring to me, that is the real reward.

So it’s easy enough to keep the good stuff in the fridge and keep some dry treats in your pocket and in pots strategically placed round the house.

I have one on my desk for not barking at delivery men; one near the front door for matwork for visitors (yeah - those people who used to be allowed into the house … 😢 ); and my pocket is always with me.

2. An idea of what it is you’d like your dog to do - not just what you don’t want him to do!

Dogs cannot NOT do things. Dogs are doers. They can’t exist in a vacuum. That’s why “NO” is pointless, and why I don’t use it at all. “My dog knows the meaning of NO,” people tell me proudly. Does he? My guess is that to him NO means his owner is unaccountably cross, and keeping low and quiet would now be a good move. He probably has no idea why you’re cross. Really.

So you need to know WHAT it is you want him to do, and teach that! This is so blindingly obvious when you think about it. But people are so used to being reactive instead of proactive, that knowing what they’d like their dog to do is usually pretty far down the list. After shouting, yelling, frustration, annoyance, telling off, NO, and so on.

You need a roadmap.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re unlikely to ever arrive anywhere useful or desirable.

Decide what you want your baffled dog to do, instead of reprimanding him for having no idea what you want!

3. An idea of how to teach the thing

And this is where I can help you! Brilliant Family Dog is stuffed full of help to teach your dog, yourself, at home.

Most of this is not only force-free - and kind, and fun! - but also cost-free. I genuinely want to get this information into the hands of everyone who needs it so that their dog can benefit.

This is why Brilliant Family Dog is known as such a valuable resource for the dog-owner who wants to develop a stronger bond with their dog.

You can start by wandering round the site, or by using the Search function. You’re bound to find things that interest you,

- from teaching your dog to catch - to putting an end to window-barking;

- from housetraining your new puppy and getting some sleep at last - to how to socialise your puppy now in Lockdown. This last is really important for all you new puppy-owners out there.

- from developing a new relationship with your reactive, aggressive dog in our free Masterclass for Growly Dogs - to learning how to clip his shaggy feet!

- and how about now being the absolutely perfect time to teach your dog to watch dogs on tv calmly? (Coco Poodle used to bring the house down whenever he saw a quadruped - even a cartoon character! - on television.)

But I need someone to help me!

Want personal attention? Yes, even now when there are no “live” classes permitted in most of the world, you can get personal help and guidance, the massive support of like-minded people, and answers to all your “what-if” questions.

There’s nothing like feeling you have a friend when you don’t know what to do.

Thank you for your program and for all the follow up. I feel like I have someone in my corner all the time.

Kathryn and her Jack Russell x Poodle

Check out our full programs here!

Do it now!

So the fact is, whenever you want to work with your friend the dog -  it’s the right time. But none righter than now, when you need all the help you can get.

Email via the Contact box to let me know what you need. Right now.

Here are some “recipes” for you to work on - all safely done at home, in our free e-course

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Puppy Socialisation in Lockdown

You got yourself a new puppy and you want to be sure you’re doing everything right! And one of the things people tell you is to pay close attention to the mysterious Puppy Socialisation.

And I know from my inbox that some of you are concerned how all this social distancing and lockdown will affect your socialisation program with your puppy or your new rescue dog.

I’m going to take a look at this with you and give you some reassurances that your dog won’t be ruined for the rest of his life!

Right now, it seems we’ve stepped into a movie - of the kind I never like to watch!

We have no idea what’s going to happen next, and we aren’t even sure there’ll be a happily-ever-after, like in the movies.

But you know what?

We never know what’s going to happen next!

We never know what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month - next year.

No idea.

That’s how we are all the time!

It’s just that collectively everyone has this pushed to the front of their mind right now. There’s lots of potential to get stressed, overwhelmed, panicky.

But that’s not going to help you be your best self, your healthiest self. And it sure won’t help your family and . . . your dog!

So how about focussing on NOW and what you can do. Instead of a future which you can’t possibly predict, and what you can’t do?

You can take a leaf out of your dog’s book for this.

He is blissfully unaware of anything different - except that everybody’s now home!

See how he lives in the moment. He is confident that food will arrive at the proper time. That fun and games will happen even if you can’t take him on your normal walks.

He is content to take life as it comes and enjoy the moment. Let’s do that too!

Every cloud has a silver lining

And spend some time thinking about all the plus sides of this lockdown, and whatever social restrictions you’re experiencing.

Now I know this affects people differently - essential workers are still working, and regulations are different in different countries, depending on the strength and focus of our administrations.

But for most people, they’re beginning to enjoy daily living with their loved ones - perhaps for the first time in decades!

• They are spared the nightmare commute to their jobs - which many of them hate!

• They can take a hand in bringing their own children up without a carer or teacher taking their place.

• Employers are finding that relinquishing control and working with their staff from home actually works!

• Some people are learning to cook, some are learning to garden, to enjoy a new form of exercise, to read more, to learn a new skill.

• Many are taking this opportunity to sign up to a course on something they’ve wanted to do for ages - but never had the time.

• And self-employed workers are using their resilience and drive to adapt their services and offerings to a new world.

• And of course, it seems the environment is loving it!

I see the seeds here for huge social change if we can grab this opportunity!

But how will this isolation affect your young puppy?

In general you need to remember the purpose of "socialisation". It's actually a shorthand for “socialisation, familiarisation, and habituation”. That means getting used to absolutely everything they’re going to come across in our world, from carpets to cuckoo clocks, from collars to cars . . . sounds, voices, our body language, their body language . . . and not being bothered by it.

So seeing and meeting other dogs and people are only a part of this.

It’s the whole experience of the puppy’s life which feeds into this. All resulting in a rounded character with loads of GOOD experiences.

Look at the way some unfortunate children grow up. Think of abandoned street children, living from hand to mouth, uncared for, facing plenty of cruelty. They grow up with all manner of problems to work on to try and put their lives right.

These kids meet loads of other people! But unless the experience of meeting each person is a good one, it’s not contributing to a calm and confident child.

The same is true with dogs. The interactions with humans and dogs (horses, sheep, slippery floors, and those cuckoo clocks) need to be GOOD experiences.

There is one well-known trainer who advocates “pass the puppy”. That the puppy should be passed round a large group of strangers, and that this would be good for socialisation.

I would never want to inflict that ordeal on a puppy or a child!

A long time ago I had a collie pup called Tip. She was a naturally retiring dog, though a great worker. I’ll always remember the look on her face when a visitor grabbed this 8-week-old puppy and held her close.

Tip’s eyes were silently pleading “HELP” to me. I now know never to let this kind of thing happen. It certainly was a damaging experience for this sensitive young pup.

So be aware that it is the QUALITY of interactions rather than the QUANTITY which will form a confident outgoing character in your dog, without triggering any fears.

It’s about teaching your pup to accept novelty with curiosity, not fear.

If your family is home with you, they can help by acting differently, walking differently, adopting a different tone of voice.

If you’re alone, you can dress up to "become" new people. You may have safe friends with or without dogs you can meet up with while maintaining distance.

Remember that while dogs can’t contract this virus, they could transfer it on their coat from your hands to someone else. So social distancing for your dog too. Or latex gloves . . .

Puppy choice!

It won’t surprise those of you who know me to hear me say that it’s all about choice!

Your puppy has to CHOOSE to approach a person or dog, not be forced, grabbed, handled without their permission.

You need to do a lot of work providing this rounded experience:

• Puppy handling

• Different sounds

• Different surfaces

• Different locations

• Different weather!

These, along with Puppy Gym and Tricks will all help your pup feel comfortable in her own skin. This is what “socialisation” is really about. Making a confident, capable, curious, dog.

This is all here for you in the Brilliant Family Dog Academy - carefully illustrated with dozens of videos.

And walking in different places, even if you're limited right now, is important - as ever you can carry your pup till he's able to put his feet on the road.

One thing that will need careful attention while you’re at home is teaching him how to cope with your absence without distress. This is hugely important for any puppy - especially now, if you’re isolated. So short absences - even to the next room - must be built in from the start, and gradually extended. 

And what about my older dog?

If you’re unable to leave your home with your older dog, then now is the time to devise new and exciting games to entertain her. Think of scent games, Hide and Seek with the children, or with you. Find the named object out of three. You can bury toys and treats in a box full of smaller boxes, plastic bottles, and other safe objects, for your dog to rummage through.

Leave all those delivery cardboard boxes outside the house for three days to decontaminate, then you can bring them in to hide things in for scent games . . . and this will be part of your Puppy Gym for your young puppy.

Some of you already have a great repertoire of “rainy day fun” games. Do add them in the comments, and share your expertise and ingenuity!

Refresh your Retrieve and see just what a difference it makes in your daily life, when your dog can fetch your shoes, stack the dinner bowls, put her toys away . . .

No retrieve? Get Fetch it! and learn fast. It’s such fun and it will make a massive difference, turning your bored dog into a valuable assistance dog.

Will my dog get fat?

If you’re worried about your older dog getting her usual exercise, think of new ways to get her (and you!) moving.

There’s no need to worry with your puppy. Just bouncing about in the house Is plenty of exercise for a pup.

But for your older dog you’ll have to be inventive! And maybe cut her food back a little to ensure she doesn’t become tubby.

If you have a garden, you can play fetch, chase, and run about till her sides are heaving and her eyes gleaming!

You can make a mini agility course! With bamboo canes and clothes pegs to rest the cross bar on. Just ensure the jumps will collapse safely if your dog hits them. Start very small - just a step over - and slowly raise the jumps a little.

If you can’t get out at all apart from toilet breaks, what can you do inside?

• If you have a treadmill, you can adapt this for your dog. If money is not a problem, buy a special dog one!

• How about carefully going up and down stairs? No jumping steps allowed!

• How about fast hide and seek games, using the whole house?

• Can you use a corridor for recalls and retrieves?

• How about a step for your dog to step up and over?

• Balancing on books or cushions.

• Twisting, turning, going through an old hula hoop . . .

• Tricks! Dance moves!

Youtube is full of ideas - check out the Dancing with Dogs videos from Crufts. You’re sure to find something you can do with your dog and you can be sure too that the training is hard physical and mental work for him - just what you need if you’re restricted.

If you have the whole family at home, this is a time to involve them in your dog’s training. And if you’re alone at home - thank your lucky stars you have such a wonderful companion!

No feelings of isolation for you!

Our dogs can most certainly help us in these tricky times. Know that when we come out the other end, you’ll have used your time so wisely that you’ll have a new and wonderful relationship with your dog.

And don’t worry about him not seeing other dogs! As long as all his experiences are happy ones, where he gets to choose the level of interaction, and he’s experienced lots of different things - he’ll feel confident and ready to explore and accept novelty.

Here are some more ideas for you to work on -
especially within our present limits!

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