Kids are groaning, parents are cheering, and teachers are refilling hip flasks and chocolate drawers: it’s back to school week. While many families will be getting up earlier, shovelling breakfasts down, making lunches, and filling up dry erase boards with extracurriculars, appointments, and school events, there’s one member of our families who may be having a hard time – and they’re on four legs.
Family companions, especially dogs, can struggle with sudden changes to routine or schedules. These changes, from simply leaving the house a bit earlier, to members of the family not being around during the day, to getting walked or fed at a different time, can create stress and anxiety – and those can lead to behavioural problems.
Knowing how to recognize those symptoms and what’s causing them is difficult, but knowing to whom to turn for help, what questions to ask, and what kind of training will be most effective can be just as hard. That’s why Defender Radio reached out to friend, dog behaviour consultant through Fangs But No Fangs, and animal behaviour professorJoan Weston to help all of us get ready to go bark to school.
To listen to this episode click the 'play' button below,download the MP3, visit us onApple Podcasts,YouTube,Google Play Music,Stitcher,iHeartRadioor atTuneIn. Get the RSS feed here. Make sure you follow@DefenderRadio on Twitter,Facebook, andInstagram, too!
This week's episode of the Defender Radio podcastis presented with the support of The Hearty Hooligan: Food Worth Rioting For. Find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or at TheHeartyHooligan.com.