The psychological effects of COVID are far reaching and will not be fully understood for years to come. However ,with canines they have already become very evident. I am calling this CCS (Canine COVID Syndrome) and it is unprecedented. In this article, I will do my best to explain what happened.
When COVID hit and people were working from home and the kids were going to school online, everyone had the same idea “what a great time to get a dog”. What they failed to understand is the way that dogs develop and learn. Whether it is a puppy or a rescue, they are going to a new home with a new pack. Dogs are social pack animals and learn to process the world through watching others in the pack. The bottom line is that this never happened.
With a puppy, 9-14 weeks is key socialization time. My advice is to keep a puppy with it’s birth pack until 10 weeks. You can never recapture this period. The whole world is new to the dog. They just came from their mother and are looking for someone else to look to for feedback. While with their birth pack, they also have their siblings. Dogs are not equal and they have a place in the pack. Like smart people, they will watch the actions of others and see what the consequences are good and bad. They will follow you around the yard and house looking for your reactions to things until about 5-8 months when they sort of become self aware and get into the “do it myself stage”. If they have not been trained to focus on you before this time, they will begin to ignore you and make decisions about people, places, and things on their own.
All rescues come with hurts, habits, and hang ups to an extent. They are essentially an orphan who is used to taking care of things for themselves. You will have to get them to understand that you are the pack leader, probably the first one since they left mom.
Whether it’s a puppy or an adult rescue, you have to start your relationship from scratch. People are usually very excited when they get a dog and want to show it off. It’s not unlike having a baby, people come to the house and want to hold the baby. Then you take the baby out to see the world. The puppy will look to you for reassurance but the rescue will need to be redirected to learn to focus on you. They learn how to process everything based on your reactions.
During COVID, dogs came home and stayed home. Few people came to the house and they were living with a combination of two things that are toxic to dogs human anxiety and isolation. The puppy and the rescue were introduced to a world where only their pack existed. If they saw other people, they were wearing masks not allowing them to see facial expressions and other dogs were seen out the window or through a fence with little interaction. The dogs became shut ins. They became accustomed to seeing things but having few opportunities to view their pack and pack leader responding to these things face to face. Without controlled exposure, dogs can only have a fight or flight response to anything they face. They glare, bark, and growl to keep scary things away. The effectiveness of these behaviors is learned over time. Just like humans, it is easier and safer to keep your pack and your space small. The more you do that, the scarier the world becomes. When things began to open up, dogs and people alike were not given a chance to wade back into the pool. They were thrown into the deep end and panic has ensued.
My case load is full of dogs that “are aggressive to dogs and people”. Typically meaning that they have nipped. Dogs don’t have arms to push you away when they are overwhelmed, so they nip to back you up. If you do back up, seldom does a follow up nip or bite occur. I am also seeing more dogs nipping out of a startle response or when something is “pushed on them,” such as putting on or adjusting a collar or being moved off of furniture for example.
The best way to describe it is that these dogs are responding as if they are backed into a corner all the time. The recovery is simple but not easy. The dog must understand who its pack leader is, and then have controlled exposure to distractions in multiple environments. A dog that is calm and relaxed in public will be calm and relaxed at home, but not the other way around.
CCS will not get better on its own and is being compounded by people returning animals to rescues and shelters that were once almost empty and are now overwhelmed.
No amount of treats or boxes of toys from Chewy can fix your dog. It will take you being intentional and consistent. We are here to show you how to do that and help you and your dog recover.