How this all began: Min (Mini-Molly) arrived in my life late August 2020, so as a pandemic puppy (1). Pandemic puppies describe pet dogs acquired during COVID lockdowns, when people purchased or adopted dogs because they could (all the extra time not going to work or school). In the US alone, 9 million dogs were welcomed into households in 2020 according to one Guardian article (https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2022/jan/21/pets-ownership-pandemic-dogs-cats).
Plus the emphasis of minimizing COVID spread meant people were also directed to stay away from other people (remember social distancing?) But let's face it - people were lonely. And a dog was more than a distraction - they offered comfort. I personally didn't get Min for those reasons, but in the months preceding I'd had to send 3 senior dogs over the rainbow bridge. I was grieving, and I needed a distraction. What better distraction than a puppy? But because of the lockdowns and uncertainty about COVID transmission, I had to delay getting Min into my household until she was almost 9 months old. The lockdowns and social distancing protocols meant Min’s exposures to life were sub-optimal. Generally, puppies between 7 to 16 weeks of life are recommended to be exposed to social phenomena. The social phenomena included interacting with different humans, different dogs, and tactile experiences. Which was suggested for setting her up for behaviour problems such as aggression and excessive fear of new things in her environment (2, 3). As a researcher and professional dog trainer, I recognized I needed to intervene and offset the predisposing factors she had been exposed to. I didn't want her to experience negative health outcomes nor did I want other people to. Given Min's breed, anecdotal evidence and past experience as a veterinary professional suggested she could be a bite risk (as in more likely to bite than other breeds). Because of all the risk factors (5-8), and being a scientist, I became determined to make Min a statistically significant exception to the stereotypes. As in p < 0.05. Sources cited 1) Brand, C. L., O’neill, D. G., Belshaw, Z., Pegram, C. L., Stevens, K. B., & Packer, R. M. (2022). Pandemic puppies: demographic characteristics, health and early life experiences of puppies acquired during the 2020 phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Animals, 12(5), 629. 2) Flint, H. E., Coe, J. B., Serpell, J. A., Pearl, D. L., & Niel, L. (2018). Identification of fear behaviors shown by puppies in response to nonsocial stimuli. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 28, 17-24. 3) Flint, H. E., Coe, J. B., Serpell, J. A., Pearl, D. L., & Niel, L. (2017). Risk factors associated with stranger-directed aggression in domestic dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 197, 45-54.
4) Nieforth, L. O., & O'Haire, M. E. (2020). The role of pets in managing uncertainty from COVID-19. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S245–S246. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000678 5) Westgarth, C., Brooke, M., & Christley, R. M. (2018). How many people have been bitten by dogs? A cross-sectional survey of prevalence, incidence and factors associated with dog bites in a UK community. J Epidemiol Community Health, 72(4), 331-336. 6) Ozanne-Smith, J., Ashby, K., & Stathakis, V. Z. (2001). Dog bite and injury prevention—analysis, critical review, and research agenda. Injury prevention, 7(4), 321-326. 7) Woodward, L., Milliken, J., & Humy, S. (2012). Give a dog a bad name and hang him: Evaluating big, black dog syndrome. Society & Animals, 20(3), 236-253. 8) Baxter, I. L. (2006). A Dwarf Hound Skeleton from a Romano-British Grave at York Road, Leicester, England, UK, with a discussion of other Roman small dog types and speculation regarding their respective aetiologies. Dogs and People in Social, Working, Economic or Symbolic Interaction, 12-23.
