In this second behavioural topic article from Lisa Hird she looks at how you can prepare a nervous dog for a vets visit.
Discover more about her work and experience on her website: https://www.dogbehaviourclinic.co.uk/
Preparing for Veterinary Checks
Many dogs are nervous at the vets, especially dogs who have not been used to being handled with care. To get dogs used to touch and handling, we use a game of consent. We teach dogs to place their chins down on our knees if they are happy for us to touch them. When they feel uncomfortable, they learn to lift their heads and all touching stops. When they are ready, they can place their chins down again and we can proceed. It’s all about consent.
We start off teaching the game by simply rewarding every time the dog’s chin touches a towel that we have placed on an item at the right height for her.
We then use the same towel or blanket and place this on our knees, repeating the game.
We begin with just hand movement towards her.
After a few sessions of learning the game, we begin to introduce touch. Very slow and very brief. It is important that all touching ceases the moment the dog lifts her head.
One of the lovely kennel ladies is standing nearby and we are chatting - mimicking what might happen at a Vets. Sienna is a little distracted at times (she does like to know what is going on)!
Next we get one of the kennel workers to do the chin targeting while I carry out a pretend vet check. She soon gets into the game, and I can check her ears, eyes and teeth!
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