Meet Your Dog’s Needs – Good Behavior Will Follow!
Visits to the vet office can be very stressful for both our dogs and us! Lots of dogs have learnt that the vet office is where nothing but scary stuff happens!
This problem can be avoided if we start our puppies out right.
Adhering to the following protocol can also help with dogs who have already become fearful of the vet office.
If we meet the dog’s needs and give him time and space, he can learn that the vet’s office is a good place to be! To do this, we’ll need some basic equipment:
- Water bottle and bowl (preferably collapsible)
- Food the dog loves (turkey!)
- Treat pouch
- Poop bags
- 8’ leash and harness
- Tug toy
- Closed toed supportive shoes (no flip flops or high heels!)
Arrive at least 15 minutes early. As soon as you get out of the car, show your dog that you’ve brought water by pouring it in his bowl. Walk around the area, let him sniff, drink, and have a chance to relieve himself.
After he’s had a good sniff and is familiar with the area outside the vet’s office, open the door and let him decide if he wants to go in. If he doesn’t, repeat the sniffing and chance to drink water before opening the door again. If he still doesn’t want to go in, this is something for us to work on together!
When you’re inside, offer him water again. Let him thoroughly sniff the lobby, try capturing some “Find It!”, playing games getting on and off the scale, and, if your dog likes it, playing some tug. You can even just give him a stuffed Kong to chew on.
After some good sniffing, open the door to the outside so that he has the choice to leave the lobby. You can go out and let him sniff again, relieve himself, and/or play.
Open the door and let him choose if he wants to go in. Repeat the activities you did before.
Let him come and go as he chooses. Positive experiences entering and exiting the clinic will build positive anticipation and muscle memory for the experience.
Crucial Tips
- Don’t ask your dog to do anything (sit, down, stay, paw, shake, etc.). Why not, you ask? Because he is probably already stressed and it will not help him to relax if you’re telling him to do things he doesn’t feel like doing. Once he’s relaxed he will voluntarily settle down.
- Make quick, fun visits to the vet when you don’t have an appointment.
- Make sure you drive to locations other than the vet!
- Practice handling your puppy and make sure they’re enjoying it.
- Obviously if your dog is sick or injured you will take that into account when following this protocol!
- Even if you can’t give your dog treats because he’s on “nil by mouth” and you’re dropping him off, you should still follow the general protocol of giving him plenty of time to sniff around and use verbal praise for eliminating & sniffing.
