Cooperative Care Using The Bucket Game | Full Unedited Training Session

Sammy the mini schnauzer and his mom came to me after Sammy attempted to bite both his groomer and vet during routine visits. We’ve been working on some straight up classical conditioning exercises with both actual grooming and common veterinary tools like combs, scissors, hair dryers, stethoscopes, syringes, and nail clippers, as well as sounds likely to be heard in a vet’s office and a grooming salon like clippers, dremels, and other dogs barking. That one’s fairly simple- trigger appears, something pleasant happens, trigger stops, pleasant thing goes away. We’ve also been doing a LOT of @chiragpatelconsulting ‘s infamous Bucket Game to work on Sammy’s ability to better handle medical and grooming procedures. We are also working in conjunction with Sammy’s vet to onboard some necessary anxiety meds for times when we have limited time to get something done. However, our first goal is Sammy’s mom being able to stay on top of his grooming at home so that, for now, the only exposure Sammy has to the groomer are quick “happy visits” to rebuild our bank account of positive experiences there. And look! In Friday we were able to actually scissor a little hair off his beard with no restraint, no meds, and no fear of getting bit 😁 and we were able to do this several times without Sammy ever opting out of participating. Woo hoo!

[@staciamj1]

Good stuff.