The last article I wrote was at the end of April when the country was in lock down – at the time we were only seeing emergencies at the practice and clients were not allowed to come into the practice with their pets. It was an arduous 4 months having to perform consultations over the phone while clients waited in the car park, although not bad for the step count on the fit bit – 6,000 was easy to achieve on a normal day! However, I am told by anyone who had to undertake home schooling during lockdown that I shouldn’t be complaining. If our family were anything to go by, there were several situations that involved 2 children and an adult shedding a tear and still nobody was capable of long division by the beginning of the summer holidays…
I had also written about the rise of the “zoom” call. We had just started using the platform for video consultations. They were useful at the time, but are certainly not a substitute for the real thing. Outside of work we also took part in several social zoom events, some of which were more successful than others. Quizzes seemed to go down well, but group chats with multiple members of extended family at the same time were less fruitful. There’s a reason why these gatherings only take place at milestone birthdays and weddings under normal circumstances. It’s hard enough having a one to one conversation with someone who’s auditory senses are less than optimum – add an online platform that many have never used before, delays due to poor internet connections and multiple people talking at the same time, and let’s just say once was enough!
I am pleased to say that while things still have a way to go before we return to “pre-covid normality”, we have definitely made some progress. The greatest change was when we began to welcome clients back into the practice in August (certain restrictions do apply, such as only 1 client per appointment and a mask must be worn – more details on our website). It is lovely to be able to interact directly rather than via the phone and for pets to be with their owners in the consulting room. It also means the video call is much less of a requirement!
Other than the fact that I have grown a beard with an alarming amount of grey in it, the other big change since April has been the transition from seeing emergencies only to a return to our normal services. This includes routine vaccinations, neutering and dental work. We actually resumed puppy and kitten vaccinations in May with adult booster vaccinations being continued from June. At the time of writing we are still working through quite a back log but we are catching up steadily. It is a good job that we did resume puppy vaccinations when we did, because one unexpected outcome of the Coronavirus is the number of puppies that have been taken on. There has been a puppy pandemic!
Understandably, lock down has been a period where many have felt they had the time to welcome a new puppy into the home. However, what we have started to see is adolescent puppies who have some behavioural issues as a result of a less than normal environment as they have developed during this time. The main issues stem from an inability to socialise with other dogs (especially those who were acquired early on when lock down was at its most strict) and from separation anxiety when owners who have been present all the time begin to return to work. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss in detail how to overcome these issues, but if you do have some concerns, then the best advice is to discuss them with a behaviourist as soon as possible. As with all things, the sooner the problem is addressed, the better the outcome. If you have recently acquired a puppy, it is important to socialise them as much as possible and adopt a routine which is as “normal” as possible for the long term so your puppy gets used to this. If you contact us at the practice, we have several behaviourists with whom we can put you in touch.
In the meantime, let’s hope that the slow progression to a return to normality continues and that the swift progression of grey in my beard doesn’t!
