Podcast Teaser: After lots of walking, just let sleeping dogs lie

So, there was this really funny post on Facebook, recently of a small dog passed out on the couch. “We walked the dog so much,” comedian Scott Faulconbridge’s caption read. “I think we broke it.”

To be sure, a dog’s life and its usual routine have, like all of us, also been turned upside down since shut-downs due to COVID-19 have forced their owners to be home 24/7.

“(Most) dogs are going to become kind of clingy,” says Julie Corlett, a dog groomer and former vet tech, about their new reality with full-time human roommates. Corlett, who also raises champion show dogs, says her English pointers and bearded collies “haven’t really experienced a change in routine,” which have always included several daily walks at her home and property south of Omemee.

But she recognizes that’s not always the case for many dog owners, who’ve been sequestered with their pets for more than a month – and will be until government restrictions are eased. And, she cautions, “There could be the potential for them to have separation anxiety when this is all over with and you go back work.”

“They’ve been pretty happy that you’re home…they’re following you around and they’ve had all this extra attention,” she continues. “But when that’s gone, it could be a stressful time for them.”

To help your pet avert this anxiety, Corlett offers some easy-to-follow advice, along with some simple grooming and care tips that can be done at home – which she expounds on in the next episode of The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes.

Is it possible, though, for a dog to be walked too much? Corlett chuckles at that notion. “Not unless they’re an older dog and their arthritis bothers them.”

“I always say a good dog is a tired dog.”

The Advocate Podcast: Stories from Kawartha Lakes, is sponsored by Wards Lawyers. The next episode drops April 30. All episodes are available – for free – via iTunes, Spotify and at Lindsayadvocate.ca