Handling exercises
A puppy will
usually let you handle him any way you want as long as you are gentle. This does not guarantee he will always accept
handling well. You need to be able to
handle him to brush him, bathe him, check his ears and teeth, and trim his
nails. Your veterinarian will need to do
check the ears and teeth and much more. Certain
breeds such as Chows are notorious for reacting poorly to certain touches,
especially on the feet and head, but you can train the puppy to tolerate such
handling if you start when the pup is young.
Simply pretend you are the groomer or the vet, check the teeth, the
ears, etc., and click and treat each time.
Don’t hold the clicker too close to those sensitive ears! If your hands are too full of active puppy to
hold the clicker, ask a friend to click, and even deliver the treats, as needed
while you handle (then switch roles). Or
you can use a word that he is used to, like “yes,” instead. Be sure to touch the ears, the tail, the
feet, the top of the head, etc. Pretend to clip his nails if he will
hold still enough and click and treat. Pretend
you are a rambunctious child and pull the puppy’s tail, ear, skin, etc., gently.
Click and treat. Hug the pup;
click and treat. Pick him up and do the
same.
Adult rescues sometimes
have had bad experiences with people, or have simply had no experience with
bathing, brushing, etc., and might come with handling “issues” that must be
dealt with. But don’t despair. Modern zoos use the clicker to safely train
wild animals such as leopards and elephants to tolerate a certain amount of
handling for examinations, nail-trimming, teeth-cleaning, etc. You can certainly use this powerful tool to
get adequate tolerance-levels from most dogs.
Terra, one of my
current rescues, is a short-coated breed and had not had much grooming
experience before I got him at 5 months old.
He accepted handling quite well but was terrified of the hairbrush! I switched the style of brush to no
avail. He was still afraid of the
brush! I did not, however, force the
issue, which would have made the problem worse.
I used a method called counterconditioning, instead. Counterconditioning is a method where you try
to replace a dog’s negative feelings about something (or someone) with positive
ones.
How to do
that? Well, luckily for me, Terra loves food! I
began by leaving the brush on the floor beside his food bowl for a few days at
feeding times. He got used the sight and
smell of the brush, and he hopefully he began to associate the sight of the
brush with happy times.
When he got
comfortable with the brush around the bowl, I carried the brush in my hand when
I fed him. He was comfortable with
this. If he had not been, I would have
carried the brush in my pocket for a while, instead. The point is not to elicit the fear
response in the dog at all if possible.
My next step was
to put the brush in my lap while I sat and petted him and fed him treats. Then I held the brush in one hand while doing
the same. I spent many sessions doing this
until I was sure he was fairly relaxed and comfortable even when I held the
brush close. One day, holding the brush
below his eye-level, I very lightly and quickly touched him (in between
scratches) with the brush on the chest, where he most likes to be scratched,
almost as if by accident. I clicked and
treated. I proceeded with similar moves
as long as he seemed comfortable.
Over the course of
several sessions I got to the point where he would tolerate a light but longer
brush-stroke on his chest. Jackpot! This seems like a lot of work, but it was
worth the time and effort. Terra from
this point quickly learned that brushing is not a big deal, and allowed me to
brush him in other areas, starting with his shoulders, moving down his sides,
and doing sensitive areas like his head, tail, and feet, last. We got to this point without a single
struggle (and probably because we had never begun
a struggle). Now he loves it and eagerly
races his canine friend, Aqua, to me whenever I shout, “brushies!” You would not know he was the same dog.
Dogs that fear
nail trimming can be handled much the same way.
Accustom them to the clipper, to the sound of the clipper, to their feet
being handled, to the clipper held while their feet are being handled,
etc. Break it up into tiny steps that
Fido can tolerate. Pretend to trim each
nail with an air-clip so he gets used to the sound. Finally, take a quick clip of one nail and
jackpot his success! Be sure, especially
in the beginning, not to cut the nail’s quick (which will cause bleeding and
pain).[1] Err on the side of caution and take a tiny
snip. Over the course of several days, if necessary, work on one nail at a time
until he is very confident. Over the
course of several grooming sessions, increase the number of nails you trim per
session, until Fido will tolerate you clipping all the nails on one paw at a
time.
[1] Have a
styptic pencil or powder handy to control bleeding in case you accidentally cut
the nail’s quick.
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