As Catty gets older, I've been thinking a lot about doing more "vet prep" and "after care" with her. Catty isn't a fan of visiting the vet. When Catty is scared she uses her teeth to get that scary thing away from her. She may be a little gal at 13lbs but, her teeth will cause damage if you get a body part in their way and none of us want a scared stressed out Catty.
Last year I did a whole series post on muzzle training which has been helpful at the vet. Here are those posts:
Why muzzle train?
Training the human while muzzle training
More muzzle training with Catty
Muzzle training for everyone!
Here's a great resource The Muzzle Up! Project for those interested in learning more about muzzle work.
So, it's no longer to time to just think about vet and home prep. It's time to do some work so that we both feel better when visiting the vet. We are also going to do some work around things we may have to do at home after visiting the vet. The last thing I want at home is a Catty that has had some vet procedure, isn't feeling good and feels she needs to use her teeth on us because she's scared of what we need to do for her. We can do this work without force and we can have fun and create a positive emotional response to things that could be scary. I have no doubt that this work will reduce everyone's stress while continuing to build trust and connections. It's going to be fun too!
Last year I did a whole series post on muzzle training which has been helpful at the vet. Here are those posts:
Why muzzle train?
Training the human while muzzle training
More muzzle training with Catty
Muzzle training for everyone!
Here's a great resource The Muzzle Up! Project for those interested in learning more about muzzle work.
So, it's no longer to time to just think about vet and home prep. It's time to do some work so that we both feel better when visiting the vet. We are also going to do some work around things we may have to do at home after visiting the vet. The last thing I want at home is a Catty that has had some vet procedure, isn't feeling good and feels she needs to use her teeth on us because she's scared of what we need to do for her. We can do this work without force and we can have fun and create a positive emotional response to things that could be scary. I have no doubt that this work will reduce everyone's stress while continuing to build trust and connections. It's going to be fun too!
While I wait on my training tools to arrive (stethoscope, syringe, ear thermometer, variety of cones) and work on my training list, we start working on what I call "cone prep". In the 5+ years we've had Catty she's never had to wear a cone. But, there could come a time where she needs to and I want all of us to be prepared for that.
Rather than starting with a cone I wanted to find something novel and that has a open area for Catty's head to go in and out of pretty easily. When I was at the pet store I found the starter tool! This holiday scarf is prefect. Catty can stick her head in and out, it touches a lot of her neck and chest and it's easy for me to handle.
As I've mentioned Catty loves to train and you can see how excited she is about this amazing new game! I'll be sharing more of our work in coming blog posts so stay tuned.
Once Catty was comfortable with the scarf around her neck, I had her move around in the house with it on. I reinforced her moving with food and she gets paid for lots of good work!
We went up and down the stairs and then we had a quick photo shoot.
How adorable is she?!
She doesn't have a problem showing off her "sit pretty"!
Stay tuned to see the work Viva and D'light do with the holiday scarf.
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