Vet visits can be very stressful for pets, especially dogs. Not only does your dog probably have some less than ideal experiences there (nobody likes getting vaccinations), but your dog can also smell a massive stress footprint. Every time someone or some pet walks into a vet’s office and feels stress, your dog can smell it before they even walk in the door! So, for this post I wanted to give you two things you can do to help your dog relax at the vet.
Start Off on the Right Paw
Starting anything off in a good mindset can be a huge help for all of us, including our dogs. To help your dog start out on the right foot, do your best to make the trip to the vet’s office as normal as possible and enjoyable. Get to the office a little early so that you can let your dog sniff around. Give your dog treats each time it sniffs something, helping it know that even though there are bad smells of stress, good things still happen. Though this will not solve the problem entirely, over time your dog will learn to associate the vet with more treats. This is also true in the vet’s exam room. I highly recommend getting a licking pad for your dog. Bring some of your dog’s favorite liquid treats (e.g. peanut butter) and smear it on the licking pad for your dog to lick and enjoy during the exam.
Work on It
Giving your dog treats at the vet’s office can be a helpful conditioning process. However, it will not work if you do not help your dog get used to the tools, places, and people it will encounter at the vet’s office. I highly recommend taking your dog to the vet when you have no appointment scheduled (call ahead to make sure the staff can work with you, especially now with the pandemic), letting it greet the staff if it likes to interact with people, and get treats in the exam room with no bad things happening. I also highly recommend working on conditioning processes such as handling paws, mouth, and belly so that your dog will be comfortable with being touched by the veterinarian. The more you work on these things outside of the appointment, the better things will get. Just make sure to make the processes as positive and fear free as possible.
Closing Thoughts These days, going into the vet’s office might not be something you can do without an appointment and that is okay! You can do everything but take your dog into the vet and you can replicate the vet’s office as best you can at home. To replicate the vet’s office, train in the bathroom (different flooring and sound effects) and/or with your dog on a platform (be safe make sure you and your dog/puppy will not slip or fall), and practice handling your dog’s mouth, body, and paws like the vet would. To make sure you do this properly, schedule lessons with a professional trainer. If you are located in or around Sammamish, Washington or would like to do virtual lessons over video conferencing, email me at happyats@outlook.com to get help with this husbandry training!
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