Teaching an animal to allow veterinary procedures

For years, zoos have recognised the importance of teaching animal to allow veterinary examinations and treatments. They utilise positive reinforcement training, which, put very simply, is that the animal gets something it likes when it offers a specific behaviour, such as a treat.

In the past several years, these techniques are also being used for our domestic pets. A very helpful book by Alicea Howell called Cooperative Veterinary Care has made this approach to our pets more common.

When an animal has a bad experience, the animal is likely to try to avoid similar situations in the future. It is common to see animals become fearful due to previous bad experiences.

If an animal develops fear during a bad experience that involves a person, for example, when the person tries to treat the animal with eye or ear ointment, or tries to clip the animal’s nails, then the animal may exhibit aggression to try to get a person to move away.

In this video, look at the difference in Izzy’s body language when I treat her eye by “just getting the job done” compared with when I ask her to rest her chin on a platform so that I can easily access her eye.

When viewing the video, consider what Izzy is learning with the two different experiences. How will her learning affect her future behaviour and the ease with which I can treat her eye? Which of the two techniques seems to increase Izzy’s fear? Which is more likely to result in aggression?