9 Mar 2021
Courses by Ashworth Veterinary Group to tackle behavioural issues in locked-down puppies have proved huge hit with waiting list for future events.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
A practice that has seen a surge in registrations of new puppies has added behavioural advice and training to its list of services.
Ashworth Veterinary Group in Hampshire has, like hundreds of other UK practices, seen an increase in puppies bought during lockdown.
As the COVID-19 restrictions mean puppies are missing out on socialisation with other dogs and humans – and behavioural issues such as barking, jumping up, growling and snapping at other dogs are more prevalent – Ashworth decided to launch advice and training tips online.
In total, 20 owners attended the first “Tackling Teenagers” class, and demand is so high a waiting list has been created for future classes.
Clinical director Kerry Lambert, who jointly ran the class with VN and pet behaviourist Nicole Crooks, said: “We had a bumper number of registrations of new puppies last year. We would normally have 30 to 40 registrations a month and in September we had 90 new puppies registered with us. We held puppy parties on Zoom as we were unable to welcome owners and puppies into the practice due to COVID restrictions, and 95% of the people attending were first-time puppy owners.
“We knew there would be potential issues when puppies were growing up and were unable to be socialised in the normal way, so we organised a workshop to tackle teenage problems in dogs.”
She added: “Some of the classic behavioural issues owners are now facing are barking and jumping up, and there are a lot of dogs that are very reactive as they don’t know how to deal with social situations when they meet other dogs.
“We are concerned about a generation of puppies struggling through lack of socialisation and people perhaps even giving up their puppies if they feel they can’t cope. There are a number of cases of puppies being offered for rehoming or relinquished to rehoming centres and we want to offer owners a helpful start to prevent this happening.
“We knew there would be a lot of owners having issues with dogs they bought during lockdown, so we are tailoring our online classes to help support owners with what they need to learn.”
