Body Handling - It’s not Instinctual

An animal’s natural instinct in life is to survive. If they feel threatened or feel their life is in danger, they will respond negatively, such as biting. As humans, our job is to help the animal, in this case, a dog, learn when to react to danger and when not to. The main way we can do this is associate body handling with a positive reward starting at a young age. This is accomplished by utilizing cooperative care.  This will help them learn that human touch is good rather than scary. Not all dogs innately enjoy human touch.

What is Cooperative Care?

Engaging the dog in their healthcare and grooming in low-stress ways. It becomes a way to normalize these care methods through positive desensitization. Utilize the bare minimum restraint necessary; more is not better.  Excessive force is counter-productive and can cause the dog to panic and become more resistant.

Reasons for Cooperative Care

1. Keep people and dogs safe
2. Achieve grooming or examination
3. Keep aversive stress on the dog at a minimum

Tools for Care

1. Food - Highly rewarding foods can be strategically used to reward the dog for tolerance during care.
   1. Ex: Stuffed kong, licky mat, high-value treats, etc.
2. Voice - A single, low, quiet, calm voice can be very soothing to a dog.
   1. Be encouraging and positive
3. Petting - Use light, slow, long strokes to soothe the dog
   1. Ex: Focused petting on chest and ear areas
4. Pressure - Pressure for restraint can be used
   1. Ex: light pressure behind an elbow can keep a leg from moving forward without excessive force
      1. Release or lighten pressure if the dog starts to show signs of panic
5. Additional Handler - Some cooperative care tasks may require the assistance of an additional handler.
   1. Ex: nail trims, vaccinations, etc.

Preparatory Cooperative Care Training

1. General - Get the dog comfortable sharing your space
   1. Used in all below cooperative care handling

Training Actions

• Practice having the dog choose to share your space
• Focused petting on chest and ear areas

1. Head - Handled during the following care activities
   1. Checking ears and eyes
   2. Brushing and checking the mouth
   3. Veterinary procedures
   4. Future gentle leader or halti training
   5. Common cues such as chin, nudge, visit, get dressed
   6. General petting