Part of puppy socialisation should include visiting the vet and this is something I encourage my clients to do with their pups. If we only visit the vet when the pup is ill, hurts himself or is due a vaccination it’s no wonder why so many dogs aren’t keen on going. The staff can be lovely but if there aren’t any positive associations or trust built between animal and veterinary staff how can we expect the dog to be comfortable with what they are doing?
Sadly the first time pups normally visit a vet is to have their first vaccination, which could be a negative experience, unless your breeder has been proactive and just visited the vet to help introduce the pup to a new environment before going for the first vaccinations.
If you’ve acquired a new pup who hasn’t had any vaccinations, phone your local vet and ask if you can visit during a quiet time to introduce a new environment to him. Alternatively you could pop in and take a small bit of cloth and ask one of the staff to hold/touch it to place some scent onto the cloth and take it home for your pup to sniff in his safe home space.
Once your puppy has had his vaccinations it’s important to regularly visit your Veterinary Surgery even when you don’t need to see the vet.
You could visit and hang out in the car park whilst they are closed, if they are busy or your pup is a little unsure.
Always phone ahead to make sure it’s okay to visit and sit in their waiting area and I’d encourage you to go when it’s super quiet. Your pup might be showing signs of uncertainty, giving a cuddle or holding your pup may give some reassurance.
If your pup is ready try taking a settle mat to practice settling in a different environment, try encouraging your pup onto the scales, and take some yummy food to practice different positions or tricks your pup already knows.
It’s a good idea to keep your visit short, a couple of minutes, to start with and gradually build up your time provided your puppy is happy. If he is showing signs of stress like scratching, yawning, jumping up at you, puffing his cheeks, shaking, then it’s time to leave.
If we think of our positive experiences like pouring water into a bucket we need to aim for a full bucket. If we go to the vets and your pup has a negative experience then this means we’ve drained the bucket a little bit but we should be able to top it back up. If your bucket is empty and we continue to have negative experiences then it’s never going to be a good experience for our dogs to work from.
From the veterinary staff point of view, it can’t be very nice dealing with frightened animals that end up biting so if we can make this easier for them then they can do a much better job and it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
One reason I hold Puppy Classes at Companion Care Vets, Winnall, Winchester is to help build positive associations. We cover settles in the waiting area, basic training tasks, play and saying hi to the other attendees if the pups want to.
If you are getting a puppy and you would like to join us for classes or your puppy is struggling at the vets why not get in touch via email info@positivetrainingforcanines.co.uk or give me, Leah, a call on 0777 131 4947