Saturday, February 5, 2011

Taking The Dog To Your Local Vets - 6 Tips To Make It Go Smoothly

By Suzie Peterson


Taking your dog to visit your local vets can be a stressful time, especially if your dog is a nervous type of animal. These tips will help you to cope and make the visit go smother.

1. When you have a nervous dog the best way to get him to feel relaxed and cope better with visiting the vets surgery is to take him for regular social visits. Take him along when he doesn't need any treatment and is not going to be prodding and poked about. This will help your dog to associate the vets with nice things and not to associate the vets with bad things.

2. If you have a nervous dog it is likely that he could become aggressive when you take him to the vets. This is because he is scared and frightened. In those circumstances it is better to put a muzzle on him to be on the safe side and to keep him on his leash.

3. Allow your dog to be handled as much as possible, also encourage the staff at the vets surgery to handle your dog to get him used to being examined. The more your dog is handled the more he will get used to being examined and less likely to be concerned.

4. When your are in the waiting areas of the surgery, always try and keep your dog apart from the other animals. If your dog and other animals in the waiting area are feeling nervous this could lead to tension and aggression. So to prevent any confrontations, it is best to keep your dog isolated from the others.

5. To help your dog to feel relaxed before a visit to the vets, it is a good idea to take him for a long walk. This will use up some of his nervous energy and make him feel less stressed and more relaxed.

6. If your dog does become aggressive you should remain calm and try to carry on as normal. Getting stressed yourself is only going to add to the problem. You should not touch your dog and make him think he is pleasing you in such situations. By doing so your dog will see it as being rewarded for his unacceptable behavior and effectively you would be training him to become aggressive.

You can make your dogs visit to your local vets stress free and calm if you follow the above advice.




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