[music]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer, on WNYC. One thing we can say about this pandemic, if you are a pet owner, a new pet owner, you're not alone. The pandemic working from home and increased feelings of isolation, and loneliness have inspired more people to take on the responsibility of pet ownership. Approximately 12.6 million households took in pets between March and December, much more than normal times, according to the American Pet Products Association and the number of foster pets in US homes increased by nearly 10%, but with so many new pets in homes, dog trainers, and behavioral specialists report being booked up for weeks in advance with long waiting lists.

It doesn't help that pandemic stress doesn't just affect human behavior, it affects pets as well. Some dogs are finding it harder to learn normal social skills when their owners have to stay six feet apart, and all that time stuck together in a house or an apartment means that some animals are feeling more separation anxiety. Yes, they feel separation anxiety when their humans do go out even for a short time. With me now is Robert Haussmann, Certified Trainer, Behavior Specialist, and Co-founder of Dogboy NYC, a dog training service based in Brooklyn to deal with these issues. Hi, Robert, welcome to WNYC.

Robert Haussmann: Hi, Brian. Let me start by saying we're longtime listeners and we are thoroughly nerding out in camp Dogboy, over here. I'm very excited to be on.

Brian Lehrer: I'm so thrilled. Listeners let's get straight to your calls. Have you gotten a pet in the past year? How's it going? Do you have questions for my guest on training and behavior? 646-435-7280. Why did you decide to get an animal this year? Was it because you felt you finally have the time to train, and bond with a pet while working from home? Were you in need of a little more companionship than usual? Or was it for the kids? Something to make this horrible year a little special?

How has your new pet adjusted to life with you in 2020 and 2021? How have you bonded and what are some of the challenges? Has your pet been experiencing social or separation anxiety? Do you think the circumstances of the pandemic have exacerbated those things? Call in on any of those things, 646-435-7280 with questions for Robert Haussmann from Dogboy NYC. 646-435-7280. How far in advance are you booked? And how is this period different for you in the work you do?

Robert Haussmann: At the moment we're booked up into April, but we try our best to accommodate everybody. We have a waitlist in case of cancellations and we try and get people on there as soon as we can. The demand is pretty high. I feel since COVID, we've benefited in some ways of just what we've learned, and the experiences that we've had. Now, we have online virtual sessions that we can do with people really all over. It's been great in that way that we've really been able to increase our reach a little bit.

Brian Lehrer: Specific question, just to start in the middle here, have you had any clients with pets they acquired before the pandemic reporting behavioral changes since March?

Robert Haussmann: Absolutely. Yes. Dogs who are used to a certain routine. They get really used to a routine and they love a routine. Often, during COVID, we've seen that that routine has been turned on its side a little bit. Dogs have been having people work from home or kids who are doing school from home, they're like, "Well, you're here. You should be paying attention to me. Why are you sitting down and for hours on end and doing something that doesn't involve me?" That could be stressful.

Also, they've gotten really used to people being around all the time, and as things start to open up or as people start to even just go for a walk or something. You're seeing a lot of dogs who are having a hard time now with their people leaving the home.

Robert Haussmann: What do you do about it?

Brian Lehrer: When it comes to the separation anxiety, I think that people need to really be ready to practice on structured alone time, so the dog is not just all of a sudden a thrust of it. It's not just stuffed upon the dog when they're trying to manage their emotions. We need to be able to give them the opportunity to have some structure with it, see that you leave and you return, that they're safe in your absence, especially for the new dogs that are coming through, they might not know the house without you at all.

For people who've had dogs before the pandemic, they just have to realize that the dogs are going to need to have a slow introduction back to them leaving the home and being away from them, and utilizing things like stay or giving the dog something to do in your absence that is a positive for them. These are some of the things that we can do to try and help the dog get out ahead of it.

Brian Lehrer: What can you give a dog to do?

Robert Haussmann: There's all kinds of great interactive toys that the dog can dissect food out of. They're like balls and things that keep kibble inside of them, they have to roll it around and chew it, or things that you can stuff with something soft that you can even freeze it, and give the dog some time to work that out. That could become something that's really for the dog that's only paired up with short stints of absence, so that the dog starts to make a positive emotional association with you being gone, that this wonderful thing happens when you're gone and they get excited about. They start making a positive spin on it.

Brian Lehrer: This is already so helpful for people, I think. Kelly in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kelly.

Kelly: Hi, Brian. I'm calling, you make hear a bit of it. Anytime I am on the phone, my dog starts grumbling or barking. We live alone, so it's often the only time I'm talking. I was wondering if there was any tips to help squash that behavior.

Robert Haussmann: For sure. We want to make sure that we are sitting the dog up where the only time you're-- You want to give them the opportunity to see you on the phone and have a new behavior to practice. Teaching things like sit, go to your bed, or settle down, even giving them something to chew or dissect, like some of the toys we were just talking about, and actually practicing, maybe pick your phone up and talk to yourself while you're giving the dog other commands, like sit, stay, or go to your place and rewarding him or her for their appropriate behavior before you're actually on the phone and now trying to sort it out.

A lot of times, people are trying to do the training in real-time where they're just trying to apply it all of a sudden to the situation. We want to make sure that we're giving the dog a clear picture, and a little context for what's going to be happening and what our expectations are. Teaching something that's incompatible, like go to your bed and settle would be a great starting point to get your dog used to seeing you on the phone talking, maybe moving around the house, it sounds like he just feels a little left out and wants to get your attention there.

Brian Lehrer: Kelly, I hope that's helpful. Andrea in Montclair, you're on WNYC. Hi, Andrea.

Andrea: Hi. I got two Pomsky puppies back in July. I had to keep them separated for two reasons because they're not neutered yet. Because one is much more aggressive and he's a bit bigger than the female. I got them from two different breeders and their different personalities altogether. The male has a neutering appointment on March 2nd, finally, but that's overwhelmed now, all these new pandemic puppies. I have gates up all over my house. I don't know, I took on too much. I had thought that it would be nice to have them together, but I didn't research enough that this breed tends to be-- They just go at it. They just fight, fight all the time.

Robert Haussmann: Sorry, go ahead.

Brian Lehrer: No, you go. Go ahead.

Robert Haussmann: I would suggest that you try and find some things for them to do together that are not just being free in the house. The other, I think that if you're trying to keep them together in the living room or something, they may find something to either trying to play with each other and get agitated by each other, or compete for something.

I think doing something together, like walking together or doing a training session together where they're both focusing on you and focusing on the training, where they're not really paying to you, maybe they're sole focus is on each other, will be a good starting point to give them something that they're doing with each other that's peaceful and a group effort. Walking together is a good one, but that might also require you to do a little leash training with them to make sure that you have a calm focus walk with both dogs first before you do anything.

Andrea: Yes, I have a leash that I can walk them both on the same one together. They pull like they're pulling a slab, but I can get them just from pull back.

Robert Haussmann: [00:10:14] I would discourage the coupled leash, the leash where they can both be walked on one leash. I would have them maybe on independent leashes so you can control both. They sell all kinds of harnesses and things that are helpful to prevent dogs from being able to pull where it clips on their chest instead of behind their back between the shoulder blades. It gives you a little bit of a leg up on the leverage where they can lean their weight into the leash. Lots of dogs, when they pull, they feel pressure. They have actually had a reflex when they feel pressure to lean against the pressure.

When a dog is pulling on a harness or a collar, they feel pressure and they tend to drop their body weight into it. They do sell a bunch of products that could help you get more control over the walks in general where they're not able to really lean their weight in and pull you too hard, but I would have them on separate sides so that you have independent control of them. There, again, not competing and not in close proximity if they did have an issue on the leash. I don't feel like you'd have very good control if they're both coupled on one leash.

Brian Lehrer: Andrea, I hope that's helpful. Jack in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi Jack.

Jack: Hi, Brian. Longtime fan, first-time caller. My husband and I rescued a dog from social tees animal rescue in the East Village the first week of April. He's a Chiweenie, a Chihuahua-dachshund mix. He's very well-mannered but he's incredibly aggressive at animals on the television screen. Horses, cat, any wilderness shows are out if we want any sense of watching television and peace. I'm curious if you have any tips for animals on television screens.

Brian Lehrer: The media causing bad behavior again.

Robert Haussmann: This is actually a pretty common. If he's not having any issue on a walk towards living animals, then we're doing pretty well. Freaking out at dogs on TV can really put a damper on your evening TV time. I would try and pair up. You want to set this up, again, a structured setup where you are in control of what's on TV, purposely pull up something that's going to have some animals on it. You can maybe before breakfast or before dinner, where perhaps he'd be a little bit more motivated by food. You can pair up dogs on TV with food.

Here comes a horse on television and you're just rewarding the dog right away. Almost like pairing up peanut butter and jelly or wine and cheese, you're making a positive association with the thing on TV equals something good in hopes that the dog would start maybe checking in with you instead of freaking out at the television. We could also train incompatible behaviors there like, "Look at me", or, "Touch", or, "Come to your place", or something like that to replace the behavior of barking and lunging at the television.

Brian Lehrer: Mark in Freehold, you're on WNYC with Richard Haussmann from Dogboy NYC. Hi, Mark.

Mark: Hey Brian. Great show. Great topic. We got a rescue dog several months back. He's about 10 months old now and as cute as he is and as adorable as he is, seems that he's got a lot of issues. He's doberman, shepherd he's lab. The one I want to chop away at right now is that it seems that he has anxiety. I read somewhere that yawning could be emblematic of that. Is that true?

Robert Haussmann: It is. We always try and make sure we're letting people-- people should be taking the whole dog into context there. If you just woke up from a nap and he yawns, he's probably not anxious. If he's tired and he's getting ready and he's stretching into yawns, that's probably not a big deal, but if you're outside and he seems heightened in general, and hypervigilant, and he's yawning, that could be an indication of stress. But there are a bunch of different things that dogs do when they're stressed.

Yawning is one of them. Dry panting or licking their lips a lot, things like that, but it should be in context. You see it a lot. If the dog is at a vet's office, you might see the dog panting or yawning or something like that, that would be something that's an indicator of stress. It's good to be aware of these different indicators so you can see what situations makes your dog anxious or stressed out and try to mitigate it for the dog, and support them and advocate for them a little bit.

Brian Lehrer: Richard, in Norwalk, you're on WNYC. Hi Richard.

Richard: Hi Brian. Lovely topic. Over the pandemic, I actually ended up getting three chickens, two of which turned out to be hens and one a rooster. With the rooster, he's ended up being a little bit more randy than we imagined. He definitely gives a lot of attention to the girls, in particular one hand. I find that I've often made it to give him some little timeouts, because otherwise, he's given her way too much attention.

Brian Lehrer: This was definitely the first randy rooster call we've ever hired on the Brian Lehrer Show.

Robert Haussmann: I'm glad I can be part of it. I wish I could offer you more advice. Chicken behavior's not my specialty.

Brian Lehrer: You don't do chicken training and rooster training in Dogboy NYC?

Robert Haussmann: Well, it is actually doing a training with chickens. Is a great exercise, actually, to practice your timing for reward based training. It is something that's common in dog training, but as far as specific chicken issues, I don't know that I could be much help.

Brian Lehrer: I wish we could be more help, Richard. Eliza in East Hampton. You're on WNYC. Hi Eliza.

Eliza: Hi, thanks for taking my call. My husband and I adopted a dog. He was a puppy, but he has [inaudible 00:16:33] already. We've gotten him pretty good in the house, but outside of the house, he just barks at everything, cars and people. We want him to be a good citizen. If you have any advice for that.

Robert Haussmann: Sure. Eliza, I missed the first part of that but it sounds like you're having a barking issue.

Brian Lehrer: When they're outside.

Robert Haussmann: It likely depends on what's motivating it. If it's something where the dog is barking specifically at other dogs, or at bikes or skateboards, or cars, we really need to identify what's motivating the behavior. That goes with any behavior issue that you're having. We got to get to the root of what's triggering the behavior and to play and then work to change how the dog feels about that by using positive reinforcement, redirection, and teaching the dog to either perform a different behavior or just that it's safe in that particular environment.

Again, there's lots of harnesses and things that might be of use to you in that scenario if it has to do with chasing and barking depending on the dog. I would definitely go out armed with plenty of very high-value rewards, something that the dog doesn't often get and finds really, really interesting, and try to redirect his attention to you, reward him for appropriate behavior and then try to find what is triggering the behavior and what's his starting point for that. Is it something can you expose him to that trigger at a distance that he can handle and an intensity that he can handle and give him some new information about it to try and change why he feels that behavior is necessary?

Brian Lehrer: Last question, 15-second lightning round. "Is there a number of treats that's too many to give a dog per day in the course of training?"

Robert Haussmann: I don't think so, but you definitely should keep your training short and sweet. If you are doing a lot of reinforcement-based training, trying to work on a specific problem or something, you can limit the calories during mealtimes

Brian Lehrer: Robert Haussmann, certified trainer and behavior specialist and co-founder of Dogboy NYC, how can people get in touch with you? Or you're just too booked up and you don't want anybody else to get in touch with you?

Robert Haussmann: No, please, reach out. We'll make it work. We're at dogboynyc.com. You can get our email information there. There's also a webchat and we'd love to have more traffic. It's great.

Brian Lehrer: Been great to have you. Thank you so much.

Robert Haussmann: Thank you so much, Brian.

Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.