Covid Puppies and Crate Rest Puppies

I have owned 9 dogs now; 7 different breeds.

Many of my dogs have come to me as adults or older puppies with the exceptions of Robin the Sheltie, Basil the English cocker, and now Royal the Scottish Deerhound.

Robin was born roughly the day Covid shut the world down - or at least the US. I knew I was getting a puppy from his litter but with the unknown of a global pandemic, I didn’t know what dog ownership would look like. 12 weeks later when he came home the world was still largely shut down and people were settling into the new routines of social distancing and following the marked stickers on the ground.

Robin came home on a very uneventful Memorial Day weekend - no parties, no events, hardly even fireworks. I was concerned about socialization. How do you expose a dog to the world when the world is not normal?

Socialization for him looked different than what I had always known to be the “textbook” way to socialize a puppy. Typically you think of the checklists of new experiences - make sure to let the puppy meet someone in a hat and then someone in a wheelchair and then someone with beads in their hair…

Robin’s circle of people that he met was only as large as my Covid safe bubble of friends. About 4 people.

Instead of working through an imaginary checklist, we just worked on engagement.

Every day we went to a new place - most times it was a hiking trail or an empty parking lot. Just somewhere with new sights and smells.

We’d get out of the car, I’d let him sniff around, then he’d check in with me and I would reward. Most times it felt like a drive for a quick photo op - park, run out of the car, grab the photo to say we were there, and then head home.

Let me tell you though, that worked wonders!

Rather than learning about each new individual thing (person in a wheelchair, person with a hat, etc etc), Robin learned to generalize different contexts. He learned that no matter where we go or what we see, he can offer engagement with me and earn rewards. No matter where we go, the routine is the same. Everything else in the world became background noise.

By the time I got Basil in the fall of 2020 the world was still largely closed so I was prepared to follow the same method as Robin. It worked wonders for Basil too. Basil has an unshaken focus on me when we are out training. (He doesn’t like to miss any opportunity for a cookie).

Instead of learning about each individual new thing, these puppies learned about new things as a collective. And because these dogs never had a negative experience with another human, it led to them generalizing that all humans are good, no matter what size, shape, or accessories they may be or have. When my dogs see something new, their first response is “look at mom!”

Fast forward to this spring where I welcomed Royal the Scottish Deerhound into my life. He was 13 weeks old when he came home. I was prepared for an entirely normal puppy raising experience now that Covid is largely forgotten (although the threat has never truly gone away).

At 15 weeks, Royal had other plans (eating rocks) that resulted in emergency foreign body surgery. Recovery is a long and slow road… And during one of the most critical periods of learning for a puppy!

Strict crate rest for a major surgery is so important for healing but I was concerned that it really threw a wrench in raising a functional puppy…

Royal is a pro on road trips - he was welcomed home with a 13 hour drive back from the breeder’s home so we used that skill to our advantage.

We would load up into the car, pop the hatch, and sit and watch.

Watching the world from the safety of his car kennel has really been a perfect strategy for him (especially as a sighthound that relies on vision as a primary sense).

After a few trips of sitting and watching, I started getting him out of the car for quick potty breaks. Park, run out of the car, grab a photo to say we were there, and run home. That’s when I realized we were doing the same method as both of my Covid pups.

Royal is off restriction now and is so far the easiest and best dog I’ve ever owned. He’s confident without being reckless and sensitive without being nervous. Truly a perfect and quite sensible baby (well… except that he DID eat rocks…).

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to raise a “normal” puppy, but honestly… I think through all of these challenges we have maybe unlocked the best method for socializing puppies…

This well kept secret of thinking of socialization as a quick touristy photo op. Park, run out of the car, grab the photo to say you were there, and head back home!

There’s so much more to raising puppies, but exposing them to new things doesn’t have to be a long arduous, around the clock task. Puppies can get burnt out quite easily so focusing on short short short sessions is really quite crucial. Also important is that sessions are followed by a nap where their developing puppy brain can sort through all the information they’ve just received.

Thank you for reading! Questions? Comment below!

Also bonus puppy photos