Tips for Keeping Your Dog Healthy & Happy During Quarantine

You’re cooped up, days filled with endless conference calls, wondering why it is that everyone thinks they need so much toilet paper, a little tardy on your shower schedule, and really longing for a happy hour… one that isn’t over Zoom.

But on the bright side, the “office” is now dog-friendly, and dogs help keep us sane and happy. In an effort to return the favor, here are 6 tips for maintaining a healthy and happy dog while you’re both stuck inside.

Stock Up On Supplies

Just as you’ve probably stocked up on human essentials like food and toiletries to eliminate trips to the store, don’t forget to get the essentials for your new four-legged co-worker. Dog food and medications are necessary supplies to keep on hand, but it’s also important to have treats and toys to keep your pup busy and engaged while they spend extra time indoors. Treat dispensing toys and bully sticks are great for keeping your dog busy for long periods of time.

Online shopping makes it easy to avoid trips to the store, and many sites also allow you to set up recurring shipments so you can subscribe and continue to receive your pet’s essentials on a schedule. But shopping online, without the help of a local retailer, can also make it more challenging to find stuff that is healthy, safe, and responsible. At PupJoy, we allow you to provide in-depth profile information for each dog in your house, and we use it to help provide intelligent personalized recommendations. And, we publically post our standards and policies. This includes a B.A.D. ingredients policy that specifically bans artificial and dangerous ingredients. So you can have the peace of mind that you will never receive an item from us that contains any of them. Grove and Only Natural Pet are also other good sources that we respect to find healthy and responsible dog goods.

Work Out With Your Dog

Exercise is not only great for you and your pup’s overall health but is proven to relieve stress, and we could all use a little stress relief these days! Here are some workouts that you can do with your pup while maintaining social distance.

1. Go for a hike — One great excuse to get out of the house is to hop in your car and drive to a beautiful area where there are hiking trails. Instead of leaving your dog behind, bring them with you, and explore the great outdoors together.
2. Use hallways or stairs to exercise — Many of us live in apartment buildings with little room to exercise. Try walking up and down the stair-well with your dog, or playing a game of fetch down the hallway.
3. Jog around your neighborhood — Warm weather gives us the freedom to move outside. Turn your afternoon walk up a notch and go for a jog with your pup.
4. Play a game of tug of war — Tug of war requires very little space and will give your dog a good burst of exercise in a short amount of time.

Socialize While Social Distancing

Socialization is important for dogs of every age but is especially important for puppies as they are still learning how to interact with other humans and dogs. Although we aren’t able to socialize our pups as we normally would, there are still plenty of ways that you can expose your dog to new things and prepare them for life on the outside. Here are some ideas for socializing your pet while maintaining a social distance.

1. Sit with your puppy outside— sitting outside will allow your dog to become familiar with other small animals like birds and squirrels, will expose them to road-noises, and may give them a glimpse of fellow dogs and their humans who are walking by.
2. Take a new route — Instead of walking the same way over and over, take a different route, and let your dog explore new sights, sounds, and smells.
3. Play sounds for your dog — Youtube has endless audio videos that you can use as socialization resources. Try searching keywords like “dog barking” “people talking” “outdoor noise” to get them comfortable with different sounds that they will eventually be exposed to.
4. Dress up — Yes, really! Ever notice that dogs sometimes bark or growl at strangers? This could be because they are not familiar with their features and see them as a threat. Try wearing a wig, a hat, a green face mask, or anything that makes you appear different to your dog to get them comfortable with features that they aren’t familiar with.

Keep Your Pup Engaged

Teaching your dog new tricks or playing dog-friendly games while in quarantine is a great way to keep their brain active and engaged. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.

Game — “Find the Treat”

How to play: Prepare a spoon full of peanut butter, or any treat that your dog likes. Have your dog sit in a place where they won’t be able to see you hide the treat. Next, hide the treat somewhere at your dog’s eye level where they will be able to reach. Encourage them to search for it, and guide them to the area where the treat is hidden if they start to give up. Once they find the treat, praise them, and start again. As they get better at finding the treat, try taking it up a notch by burying the treat in a blanket, or hiding it in a hard-to-reach place.

Game — “Doggy Hide-and-Seek”

How to play: Simply have your dog sit and stay, hide from your dog, and make tiny noises leading them to your location. Once they find you, praise them and start again.

Trick — “Cups”

How to play: Start by grabbing two cups from your cupboard, and setting them on the ground in front of your dog. Grab some training treats, and have your dog sit in front of the cups. Show your dog the treat before hiding it under one of the cups. Then, ask your pup for their paw, and tap it against the cup with the treat inside. Reveal the treat and reward them. Repeat this step several times until your dog taps the cup on their own (Tip: tap the top of the cup with your finger to encourage them to hit the cup with their paw.) Once they have this down, challenge them by shifting the cups around. Make sure they are looking down at the cups as you move them. They will likely hit the incorrect cup the first time, so encourage them with your finger to tap the other cup. Once they have done that, reward them, and repeat. For an added challenge, shift the cups multiple times, or add more cups.

If you don’t have time each day to work on new tricks or games, be sure to brush up on a few of the skills they already know.

Keep Up With Grooming

The groomer may be closed, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep up with your dog’s hygiene! You can find many at-home grooming tools online, like nail clippers, grooming brushes, topicals for rough paws. Be sure to research your dog’s specific grooming needs, as they may vary by breed, coat length, and age. Bathing your dog is especially important during quarantine because it is possible that your dog's fur or paws could be carrying germs. Youtube is a great resource for grooming tips and tricks. The AnimalWised channel on YouTube has many videos perfect for grooming beginners.

While coronavirus quarantine is a challenging time for everyone, we are especially lucky to have our pup's companionship. As dog owners, we owe it to our dogs to keep them healthy and happy. It’s important that we do our best to maintain their normal routine, provide them with mental stimulation, physical exercise, and give them all the extra cuddles we can!