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(SAMFL) Learning Activity: Pet Handling Discussion and Practice
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What did you learn that was new to you….
Not giving a treat until the end of the session. At my pet store, we offer treats but I usually offer the owner a choice of treats to give to their pet.
How did dog respond.
I sat next to my 7 month old Whippet puppy Very and asked for a sit. She knows sit but I am usually standing so she seemed confused, she head tilted and continued to stand. I held her close and asked again, she did sit. I held her close and stroked her. She mouthed me multiple times and wagged her tail. She thought we were playing. I continued to stroke her until I felt her relax and then asked for a down. She laid on her side and mouthed my arm but was very gentle. After a few minutes, she laid on her side totally relaxed. While working with Very, Wanda a 2 year old Whippet had come close and laid down. I moved over to Wanda who stood up when I moved and asked for a sit. Wanda didn’t sit so I gently put her in a sit by scooping her from behind her hocks. I held her close and she was showing sign of discomfort by licking her lips. I talked to her and stroked her and she relaxed a bit. I decided to stop at this point as she relaxed and I wanted to stop on a positive.
Aspects of material most essential
Watching and interpreting body language. Managing your position in relation to the animal.
Do you have a story?
One item that I didn’t see mentioned was the location of the owner during contact. At my store we now have a policy in place, we do not load vehicles with loose dogs as an employee was bit as dog was guarding owner. Owner had told employee dog was friendly but one should not rely on someone else to interrupt the dog’s behavior toward you.
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This is the experience that I had when I took the Canine Biomechanics and Stretching class last month. I learned that it is very important to sit next to a dog side-by-side facing in the same direction, and not to place my face close to a dog’s face. I only dealt with my pugs so I was so used to petting them when directly facing to them, and putting my arms over their heads. The dogs in the class were big dogs, and well-behaved so nothing happened when my face was close to their faces. I really need to remind myself to position myself in a safe manner every single time when I deal with any dogs.
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I’ll reflect on some approach and handling tips we use at work during Thermal Imaging of our patients. This is a series of 25-30 images taken around the pets entire body and they are primarily asked to stand still. This isn’t the simplest task for some of our patients! Some pets are nervous and many are used to being asked to sit and become confused.
I typically always start with a side profile of the pet (mostly dogs) as it’s a more comfortable positioning between us. I usually end with either the anterior-posterior or posterior-anterior images as they’re often more nervous with me being behind them or the camera facing directly at them. I let nervous pets sniff the camera before I begin. We also do Thermal Imaging either after a consult or regular gait analysis, which allows new patients time to explore the room and meet me and gives current patients a simpler task they’re use to first (walking down our pressure sensing walkway). We also have a rug available to aide the pets who struggle with tile floors
For dogs that are wanting to sit instead of stand we need to utilize some handling tricks. We have a platform they can stand on which helps give them a better sense of the boundary they’re meant to be in. For food motivated pups, we spread a lickable treat on a spatula- this helps the owner guide the dog into position, helps distract from wanting to sit, and often I find using the target to lower the head raises the butt (if they’re already standing). And if necessary, we will use a set of slip leads with one around just in front of their back legs to encourage them to stand. Front body imaging they can sit for, so for those that really want to sit we will do all front body images first then use the slip leads afterwards to image rear body, giving them the more comfortable option first
<font size=”3″>Some tricks that have been shared with clients to consider teaching to aide imaging are chin resting, “look” (hold eye contact), target training, and stand.</font>
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