Helping your dog adjust to seeing people wearing face masks

If you take your dog out in public, on a walk or to the pet store, you will likely see people wearing face masks.

While wearing a face mask may not be the most comfortable thing for us humans, and it can also be uncomfortable for our dogs. Not being able to read half of our facial expressions can leave them feeling a bit uncertain.

"We've all had that experience in the past couple of months. It's definitely more difficult trying to read people, and dogs feel the same way," Beth Oleson, Marketing Director for the Woodford Humane Society, said.

Communication through facial expressions is important to your four-legged friend.

"We think about dogs being scent oriented and sound-oriented but one of the things they have learned to do over thousands and thousands of years of cohabitating is really read your facial expressions too," Oleson said.

With masks, they can't fully see how we are feeling, so it's important to use other ways to communicate. Using a happy tone of voice is one helpful way to ease your dogs concern.

"Be cognizant about what the rest of your body and tone is telling them," Oleson said. "When you have a mask on, try to make it as positive as possible. We want them to start associating that mask not with the unknown or something scary, but with something that is happy or we are going to get a treat, or we are going to go for a walk or something fun like that."

It's important to be patient with your dog because they are learning just like the rest of us.

Oleson says if you are trying to take your dog to an area where they see many people wearing masks, and they get scared, it's best to just turn around.