Case Studies
Rooney
Cooperative Nail Trims:
Most dogs dislike having their paws touched and it's a lot to endure if there's pain in your joints. Nail trims at salon and vets means having one of their paws suddenly grabbed, lifted and expect all their nails to be trimmed in one session. Roo being a bit overweight (working on that) it's difficult to balance on 3 legs. Finding a comfortable position and giving him the option to stop when it's too overwhelming makes him feel safe to get his nail trimmed. He also loves the scratch board so it's less nails to trim too.
Administering Ear Medicine:
Swimming is a great exercise but also can cause unwanted ear infection. That's why we practiced during the spring on a few skills for administering ear medication. It's always easier to start cooperative care training before you need it. Though we hoped Rooney didn't get an infection, he did. But working on this made it easier to give medication and the infection cleared within days.
Skills we worked on:
Relaxing on the handling station
Paw handling
Scratch board
Chin rest
Ear touches and lifts
Ear medicine introduction
Blue
Certain parts of Grooming:
​Biting is not your dog being difficult or bad. In grooming, dogs bite to let us know whatever you're doing is uncomfortable, painful or they just want you to stop. Most times they were telling us they're stressed in subtle ways which we ignored. Can you blame them for biting if we didn't listen? Whatever the reason or past experience Blue has had with grooming, she didn't like certain aspects of grooming, including, the clipper touching her, paw touches and trims. To continue to force her would have had consequences to her health and would have made grooming more difficult each time. Teaching her to opt in and out with different skills made biting almost an unnecessary way of communicating. Now she'll run and even nap on the grooming table even when she doesn’t need to be groomed.
Skills we worked on:
Muzzle training
Desensitization to grooming tools and table
Paw and body handling
Several opt in and out skills
Breaking up the grooming process into few days
Hurley
Bathing:
Being still during grooming and bathing is great for us humans, but oftentimes it's a sign that your dog is shutting down or is frozen with fear. Hurley is a small dog so being picked up and put in a sink is easy but that means he was trapped and stressed. Now he's ready and in the tub before I'm ready to give him a bath.
Muzzle training:
Muzzles aren't a bad thing. It helps keep both dogs and people safe in many situations. It's often used in grooming salons without any training. That's additional stress for a dog who's already telling us they had enough. Seeing the muzzle can become a trigger that bad things are going to happen. Eventually, putting on the muzzle becomes a fight. He now has a cute custom muzzle that he’s willing to put on.
Skills we worked on:
Introducing the bathroom and bathing tools
Getting in and out of the tub on his own
Two paws on
Jumping into the tub
Muzzle training
Biggie
Relaxing and handling:
Biggie is an anxious dog who runs away and barks when new people and objects are around him. He had a hard time settling down, being handled and fled when he saw a yoga mat. Training by itself doesn't always help if the dog is too overwhelmed to learn. With the help of medication, he’s able to process information and acquire skills to cope with new environments and being handled. Now he’s capable of being in a down position on the yoga mat while a clipper moves towards him. He’s learned to target and approach new objects, including filing his nails on his custom scratch board. It’s a work in progress but with consistent training we’re getting closer to being able to provide the care he needs comfortably.
Skills we worked on:
Getting on the handling mat
Relaxation
Target
Desensitization to tools
Scratch board