People who bought ‘pandemic puppies’ are now seeing signs of separation anxiety as more people return to working from the office full-time, an expert warns. 

Lorna Winter, dog trainer and co-founder of puppy training app ZigZag, said owners are facing a double whammy of problems.

Those dogs will also be going through adolescence about now, and their anxiety is likely to get worse, she said. 

Winter said that it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that anxiety-related behavior is problematic (almost 20 percent of dog owners would consider giving up their animal due to it, ZigZag‘s research found).

But in most cases, there are easy steps to take to deal with an anxious dog – whatever the cause of its anxiety, Winter said.

Forgetting commands

If your dog has forgotten commands it has been trained to obey, this could be a warning sign of anxiety, Winter said.

Winter said: ‘When a dog is anxious they can sometimes go into a state called ‘learned helplessness’, which can look like they’re being distant or ignoring commands. 

‘In cases of separation anxiety, your dog might’ve been so panicked when you were gone, that on your return; they pretty much shut down.’

Whining when you leave the room

Barking or whining when you leave the room could be a sign of anxiety, in particular of separation anxiety, Winter says.

Winter said: ‘Does your puppy bark a lot when you leave the house? Or whine even if you leave the room? 

‘These are all signs that your puppy could have separation anxiety, a catch-all term used to describe when a dog finds it challenging to be alone.

‘This anxiety often comes out when they are alone and fearful that they have been abandoned.’

Winter recommends going up to the door randomly through the day to get your dog used to the idea, then for the next three days opening and closing the door.

Winter says, ‘Then step out, just for a few seconds, and leave the door on the latch – you don’t want your pup to make any associations just yet Then start upping the time

Make your exits and entrances as fuss-free as possible – help your puppy understand that this is a part of the daily norm and build up slowly!’

Digging

Digging is a ‘displacement behavior’ which offers dogs a sense of comfort if they are feeling anxious, Winter says.

She says, ‘Consider taking the first step by eliminating any potential stressors that might be triggering their desire to dig. It’s possible that they’re signalling their discomfort and expressing a desire for a change of scene.’

She also points out that some breeds are more prone to digging when anxious or excited, including Dachshunds, Beagles and most herding and working breeds.

She says that you can channel a dog’s anxiousness into play by providing fun ways to dig such as by filling a children’s sandpit with dirt or dog safe sand and hiding toys in there to encourage digging.

She says, ‘You can also try cutting down the sides on a large cardboard box and fill it with rolled up packing material, then scatter some treats to encourage them to dig and find them. Voilà you’ve made a foraging box or indoor digging pit.

‘Additionally, make sure there’s plenty of blankets in their bed that they can dig and make a nest to snuggle down into when they need to.’

Chewing on shoes

Chewing on sofas, shoes, doors, usually boils down to either anxiety or boredom, says Winter.

She says, ‘This habit for chewing stems from a reliable self-soothing instinct that makes them feel good, as chewing triggers the release of endorphins such as dopamine and serotonin in their brains.

‘Consider offering your pup a safe chew toy – something they can get their teeth into and relieve some of the stress and anxiety they might be feeling. Like stress balls for humans – these toys are great for diminishing pent-up anxious energy and will hopefully stop the sofa destruction!’

Winter recommends keeping an eye on your dog via a webcam when you are not at home.

She said, ‘It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your dog via camera when you’re not at home. Do they appear distressed during their destructive escapades, or do you notice other signs of anxiety? In such cases, delving into a separation anxiety protocol can be beneficial to ease their distress when you’re away.

‘However, if it seems like they’re having a party of their own while you’re absent, then increasing their daily mental and physical stimulation is a wise move!’

Going to the toilet indoors

Most puppies have small bladders and limited control, so it’s natural for them to have ‘spontaneous bathroom breaks’, says Winter.

She said: ‘If your pup consistently uses the indoor facilities when you’re not around or during the night, it’s likely they’re dealing with separation anxiety. 

‘Puppies thrive on routines, finding comfort in the predictability of playtime, walks, and mealtimes. 

‘Establishing a schedule can work wonders for both puppy separation anxiety and toilet training.’

How a pandemic tax break for small businesses – which has already cost taxpayers billions – has turned into a ‘modern gold rush’ thanks to consultancy firm plugged by Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary

• Employee Retention Credit was created as an emergency response to lockdown
• Relief expired in late 2021 but businesses have until April 2025 to file a claim
• Firm Bottom Line Concepts – plugged by O’Leary – charges 15-25% fees to help business receive a payout

By Helena Kelly Consumer Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 08:19 EDT, 6 September 2023

British scientists are leading the charge to create a vaccine to halt the next deadly pandemic within 100 days of it breaking out.

Experts are working on a high-security project at Porton Down, the top-secret government laboratory, to develop prototype vaccines to tackle ‘Disease X’ when it hits.

The ambitious target would smash the 362 days it took to develop a Covid jab, potentially stopping crippling lockdowns in future. 

Scientists agree it is only a matter of time until the next pandemic, with a recent government report putting it among the biggest threats to life this year.

The new super-lab, to which the Mail was invited last week, is geared to work with the world’s deadliest live viruses, with more specialist ‘high-containment’ labs than anywhere in Europe. 

Working alongside academics and industry, it is the only site in the UK equipped to create a vaccine from start to finish.

Dr Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said Britain is already primed to launch a ‘very slick and rapid response’ to the next global threat.

Speaking at the launch of the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre, she said it signalled a ‘step change in terms of pandemic response’, adding: ‘The risk [of another pandemic] is growing. 

‘The 100-day mission is to identify a pathogen of pandemic potential and within 100 days, you have vaccines to try and manage that.

‘This is shifting from being super ready to respond to actually trying to stop [pandemics] happening.

‘For previous vaccines it would have been five to ten years. For Covid it was 362 days, so to get to 100 days is really stretching the ambition. But if we’re going to prevent pandemics then that’s exactly what we need to do.’

Adjoining the Ministry of Defence site in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the 3,000 square metres of laboratory space is a positive ‘legacy’ of the pandemic. 

Metal hangars were erected, and wings converted from old storage and office space into state-of-the-art labs when Covid struck, running vital tests to determine government policy such as which vaccines to buy.

Its creation has seen capacity ramped up so scientists can run tests against a range of diseases on 3,000 samples each week, compared to 100 before Covid struck.

It means that in future, the science will be available to influence policymakers much faster, reducing the threat of the country grinding to a standstill. Even now, experts here are keeping tabs on new Covid variants, running tests to see how effective vaccines are and how long protection lasts.

But its remit goes way beyond Covid, with more than 200 scientists working on upwards of 100 projects. These include surveillance and potential vaccine development for diseases including HN51 bird flu, which kills close to 50 per cent of those it infects. 

Others are targeting tuberculosis and Clostridium difficile, a bacterial infection common in hospitals that can be deadly to the elderly.

Scientists say global migration is leading to rising threats as people and animals move closer together. Global warming is also creating risks of pathogens carried by vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks appearing in previously unheard-of places, including the UK.

Early clinical trials are taking place for what could be a world-first vaccine against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a virus spread by tick bites, recently found in the nearby New Forest.

Professor Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said: ‘We have seen a very large number of new infectious diseases in recent decades. There’s no doubt there will be new pandemics in the not-too-distant future. 

‘We know that through scientific advancement, we could detect and control these threats before they have the impact Covid-19 had on our lives.’

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the centre ‘cements the UK’s global position spearheading pandemic preparedness, vaccine development and scientific discovery’. 

He added: ‘Hundreds of the world’s leading scientists are already in the centre working on vaccines… to save lives across the world.’

Another pandemic is ‘inevitable’ and Britain is ‘woefully unprepared’ for it, a world-renowned scientist claimed today.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, an influential member of SAGE — No10’s advisory panel, told the Covid Inquiry we now live in a ‘pandemic age’.

He added that the world would see ‘more frequent and more complex pandemics’. 

Sir Jeremy, who now works for the World Health Organization (WHO), hit out at the Government’s ‘complacency’ in preparing for Covid. 

Giving his evidence remotely, he told the probe lessons ‘must be learned’. 

He said: ‘If we do not retain scientific infrastructure, then [the] UK will be woefully unprepared to deal with today’s challenges and tomorrow’s inevitable epidemics.’

Sir Jeremy added there was a ‘degree of complacency’ about pandemic planning in the wake of the 2009 swine flu epidemic because it was not as bad as first feared.

He told the probe: ‘It’s clear we’re living in a pandemic age, which is going to have more frequent and more complex pandemics.

‘And yet it is extraordinarily difficult when governments are faced with dealing with the challenges of day to day, to also put in place those critical infrastructures, resilience and surge capacity and spare capacity, that would allow us to deal with the unexpected, but inevitable disruptions that are going to occur.’

He added: ‘I think in the UK and around the world, despite the warnings of the last 20 years, there has been a complacency about the need to prepare for these sorts of major disruptive events which go well beyond health to the whole of society.

‘And the UK, yes, was complacent in regards to planning for that.’

Ending his evidence, he also told the probe: ‘I wish you the very best in the public inquiry and offer all the support we can to it. 

‘The lessons must be learned and we must never be there again.’

Sir Jeremy was previously head of the UK’s biggest private research funding body, the Wellcome Trust.

He stepped down in February to take up the position of chief scientist at the WHO.

Sir Jeremy, who quit SAGE during the pandemic after condemning the country’s laissez-faire response, co-authored a book entitled ‘Spike: The Virus v The People’ that offered his ‘inside story’ on how the crisis unfolded.

Writing in his memoir, he slammed the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme and said he felt in summer 2020 that not enough had been done to plan for the winter.

He opened his evidence this morning by ‘reaching out to those who have lost lives’ during the pandemic and ‘the families who are still affected, those with long Covid, as well as healthcare workers’. 

Later during the probe, Sir Jeremy was also questioned by Hugo Keith KC, counsel to the Inquiry, over the laboratory infrastructure needed in the UK to enable the country to scale up for the next crisis. 

He responded: ‘The testing capacity in the first three months of 2020 in the UK was woefully inadequate.

‘It wasn’t possible to scale that up at the speed that was required and testing got way behind the speed of the epidemic.’

He added: ‘In epidemics and pandemics, there’s no point saying “we’re quicker than we use to be” if you’re slower than the speed of the epidemic.

‘If you get behind that curve, you’ll really struggle to catch up.’

He also told the Inquiry a new form of pandemic flu remains the ‘biggest risk’ to the world.

But planning, he added, should also take into account other novel diseases spread in different ways and with different attributes. 

Earlier this week the Inquiry also heard evidence from the director of emergency preparedness and health protection at Department of Health and Social Care, Emma Reed.

Internal Department of Health and Social Care documents relating to a November 2019 pandemic preparedness meeting, shown during the hearing, revealed ‘areas of work’ were ‘not prioritised’.

These areas included boosting adult social care and community care during a pandemic, the public health communications strategy and refreshing the pandemic flu strategy to ensure it was ‘accurate and up to date’.

The government’s pandemic flu strategy published in 2011, was the UK’s only pandemic plan and envisaged the possibility of 800,000 deaths.

The document said that – during any future pandemic – there were no plans to close borders, stop mass gatherings or impose controls on public transport, the inquiry heard.

Ms Reed told the probe she could recall no discussion or debate about the possibility of mandatory quarantine or mass testing in the department before 2020.

Appearing in front of the Inquiry on Tuesday, former health secretary Matt Hancock also said the 2011 pandemic plan he inherited in 2018 was ‘geared towards how to clear up after a disaster, not prevent it’, something he agreed was a ‘complete systematic failure’.

Mr Hancock repeatedly told Mr Keith that the ‘absolutely central problem’ with pandemic planning in the UK was ‘that the doctrine was wrong’.

He said: ‘The doctrine of the UK was to plan for the consequences of a disaster. Can we buy enough body bags? Where are we going to bury the dead? And that was completely wrong.

‘Of course, it’s important to have that in case you fail to stop a pandemic, but central to pandemic planning needs to be: how do you stop the disaster from happening in the first place? How do you suppress the virus?’

Mr Hancock said he was ‘guided by the best available science at the time’ throughout the pandemic. 

But he said he could not recall ever attending any National Security Council meetings on threats, hazards, resilience and contingencies prior to the pandemic.

As many as 70 witnesses will contribute to the first module on pandemic preparedness.

Sir Frank Atherton, the chief medical officer for Wales and Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, are both expected to give evidence next week on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

The first module will run for six weeks, until 20 July. The probe is not expected to conclude until 2026.

A separate Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry chaired by Lord Brailsford is looking at the pandemic response in devolved areas in Scotland.

Mr Drakeford has said he and the Welsh government are fully committed to the inquiry, though they maintain that there is no need for Wales to hold its own inquiry.