Desensitization Training for Pets
What type of things should we desensitize our pets from?
Let's go from the nose to the tail.
Head and Face
We should desensitize the nose and the eyes. We shouldn't react to handling of those. It's not usually a natural one. A big one is the lips. Dogs do not like their lips lifted, touched, or having hands in their mouth. But, we should be able to do that. Look at those teeth. Flip those lips. Put our hands in the mouth. Look with an open mouth. It's very helpful and it'll give them a healthier life. Ears are a big one. Rub the base of those ears and look at them. Maybe put your finger in them a little bit. We don't want them to react to that because we might need to clean those ears sometimes.
Nails
Nails are a huge one. It's a common dog phobia or nail trims. Do yourself a favor and be desensitized right away to the pressure of the nails being clipped, the touch of the paw, holding the paw, and then bringing devices towards the paw. That often has to be desensitized as well.
Restraint
Restraint is very important for us at the vet hospital because we restrain dogs all the time. This is one restraint technique where you hold the head under the belly, keep them still, and if they're struggling, you want to find that period of acceptance that you can reward before the struggle and then push that duration a little longer each time.
Loud Noises
We also want to desensitize to a lot of loud noises. We don't want them having storm phobias or phobias of cars or motors and things like that. Storm phobias are really bad at elevation and they're very difficult to manage with medication. You want to try to avoid that from becoming a problem in the first place.
Chaos of the World
The other thing is just the chaos of our world. When it comes to all the moving things, people, and dogs, we don't want them to have to look at every situation and try to assess it. That's going to make a very reactive dog. You want them to just look at you and know that it's okay because you're saying it's okay.
These things will make your dog have such a healthier life. You'll enjoy taking them out. You won't be nervous about the vet visits and it'll just make everything better for them, you, and us here at Williams Veterinary Wellness.
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