Here is Truffle, Lobster's sister, playing a game of peek-a-boo while having her blood drawn the Fear Free way 😸❤️
Here is one of our adorable patients, Lobster, having her blood drawn the Fear Free way ❤️🦞🥰
This is Sunny, she is a 20 month old Australian Cattle Dog mix that came to Apache in May 2022 as a new patient. She was a very worried girl, growling just a little when the technician tried to scan her for a microchip. Dr. Cleary decided some one-on-one Fear Free visits would be just the thing to make her more comfortable here. Her mom has been coming almost every week since then and spending time with Tanya, one of our Fear Free technicians, learning some new skills in anticipation of her upcoming annual exam and vaccination appointment later in November. Here, you can see how she has learned to "place" her head on the bench and focus on the tray of treats. Tanya performs a task - such as look in her ears and then mom rewards her with a treat. They move on to Tanya poking her with her finger - using the same actions we do when vaccinating a pet, and then with a capped syringe then finally a syringe with sterile saline in it to mimic giving the vaccine! As you can see, Sunny has come a long way these last few months!! She is learning what is called Cooperative Training using positive reinforcement.
Working breeds like Australian Cattle Dogs can be notoriously difficult at the vet's office. They are very strong-willed and want to do what THEY want to do. But with some hard work and lots of treats we can find a common ground and accomplish what we need to do with the pet's cooperation.
According to mom, Sunny gets SO EXCITED when she says "Do you want to go see Tanya??" We LOVE that and want that experience for all of our patients. Fear Free is taking the PET out of Petrified!! Way to go Tanya, Sunny and Mom!!
Zola's Fear Free Journey Part II
