Over the last few months people have become increasingly aware of the behavioural problems that we are starting to see in so called “lockdown puppies”.

These are puppies that owners purchased in lockdown and, because of unique lifestyle patterns during lockdown, their first year of “life experiences” was not the same as that of a normal puppy.

This is no one’s fault – just a product of these strange times. There is now lots of advice available on-line to help with some of these problems, as always, the quality of advice online can vary so I would always recommend using trusted sources such as the Dogs Trust and RSPCA.

One simple bit of advice I was telling a first-time puppy owning friend is to make sure that you slowly get your puppy used to being left alone from an early age.

Because people are working from home (or maybe on school holidays at the moment) lots of these puppies get used to always having someone around.

When life gets back to normal, and people go out for periods of time we are seeing these young dogs showing bad separation anxiety. So, get your puppy used to being left – if they have been exercised, fed and watered, they can certainly be left alone in a safe environment – at first for short spells and then for increasingly longer spells.

When leaving a puppy do not make a massive fuss about the process, make sure they have everything they need and then quietly leave them to it; likewise, when you return, do not make a big song and dance about it.

Being happy to be left alone as a puppy will mean they can cope much better with this process as an adult.

Alice Moore is a vet at Castle Veterinary Clinic, Dorchester and Weymouth. Tel 01305 267083