Southern Cross K9 trainer Jamie Huggett said there had been a huge increase in the number of residents enrolling their four-legged friend in training classes since coronavirus restrictions were lifted in 2021.

"The other part of it is we couldn't run classes during COVID restrictions so when you can run them, there was a bit of a boom for a while," Mr Huggett said.

"We call them COVID puppies who haven't had the socialisation exposure because people weren't able to go anywhere so we have a lot of dogs that haven't had that socialisation exposure signing up for classes."

Mr Huggett said one of Southern Cross K9's most popular training programs, an intensive beginner class, was currently at 10 classes a week, involving 30 to 40 dogs.

He said these beginner classes were for dogs older than 16 weeks that had not had any training before.

"That's that typical COVID puppy because they were born at the start of 2021 and are now a year old so they go into our beginner class," Mr Huggett said.

"There has definitely been an increase in dogs that are struggling a bit with the world because they haven't had that socialisation initially for one of the main reasons, COVID."

Some 'COVID puppies' used to their owner working from home need to adapt when their owner returned to working in the office or had to go out for the day, Mr Huggett says.

"Dogs like routine and structure so as soon as that routine and structure suddenly changes it can take them a while to adapt," he said. "It's probably one thing we have noticed is a bit of an increase in separation anxiety related behaviours because they are probably so used to having a human at home with them."

Southern Cross K9 offers dog daycare at its Wendouree and Canadian facilities, which Mr Huggett said had a steady demand, even before the coronavirus pandemic.

"Before COVID restrictions we were getting close to capacity then when COVID restrictions came in we could only have dogs of essential workers so that was a bit quieter," he said.

"There are more dog owners in Ballarat and around at the moment so I guess there is just a larger pool of potential audience so it's been quite busy."

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.