Cooperative Care Exercises

Making your Scratch Board

MATERIALS:

Piece of wood larger than a sheet of sandpaper, you can make your board longer and add a second piece below (be sure if you add a lower piece you lay the high piece on top of the lower piece so their nails don’t snag the lower piece)

Sandpaper: Grit 60- 80- 120 (the lower the number the courser the grit)

Dogs under 25lbs start with 120 grit and once they are trained you can lower your grit but move gradually to see what works their nails best. Most smaller dogs a 80 grit is sufficient to keep their nails filed.

Dogs over 25lbs - 50lbs I start with 80 grit and once they are trained you can lower the grit. I use 60 grit successfully with my collies.

Dogs over 50lbs I start with 60 grit and move down to a 50-40 grit.

You need to start with that higher number (finer grit) until your dog has figured it out as they might be wiping their paws rather than scratching at first and the lower grit can scuff up their pads. All dogs have varying density of nails so you will figure out as you train how course a grit you need, for example Nick’s nails are not as dense as Emily’s since he’s a younger dog so his nails file more quickly than hers.

Staple gun and staples:

For a quick starter board you can use double sided tape but to create a nice firm scratch surface a staple is going to give you a nice firm flat scratch surface which will lead to less ripping and and slipping of the paper and the firmer the paper is adhered to the board the better filing you will get.

You only need short staples (1/4)

When Stapling make sure you place them vertically so the dog’s moving nails don’t catch on them.

Gorilla Tape:

This is an extra step I take that many folks skip, I find It makes my board last longer. By taping the edges and over the staples the paper doesn’t snag or rip as quickly and again keeps that firm flat surface longer. But you don’t have to do this step if you are just wanting to check it out and don’t have any handy.

Once your board is ready it’s time to train. You want to start sitting where you can comfortably and firmly hold the board as your dog touches it. It’s important in the beginning stages that you are able to hold the board so the dog is doing a controlled scratch. If they knock the board over it can startle them so you want to make sure you are keeping it from falling. If you use your legs to brace it against, one hand to steady the board, and have treats in your other hand to reward the dog for scratching. Watch the video for some tips on teaching it.

CHIN REST FOR COOPERATIVE CARE

Teaching a puppy to lay it’s chin in your hand or on other things is such a powerful and effective way to help teach a puppy how to do an alternative behavior during things like grooming, vaccinations, etc. This puppy in the videos was attacking his brush when they wanted to groom him and we fixed it in two weeks by just teaching him to do a chin rest.

Watch the video below for how to teach your puppy to do a chin rest!

  • The subtle timing and hand positions is what makes this exercise easier, if you are reaching out for your pups chin they will reflexively withdraw from your reach, so you need to keep your hands still and let them bring the chin in so you can gently cradle the chin once it’s already there. You can see in the video the difference between when this is done correctly and when reaching causes issues.

COOPERATIVE CARE - NAIL DREMMEL

You can use very careful desensitizing to help puppies learn to both tolerate and even enjoy having their nails trimmed. Here is a video showing how to introduce a puppy to nail dremmeling. This puppy was already desensitized to the noise and the Dremel itself by the owner just turning it on and feeding treats for the week before we moved forward to this.

STEPS TO DESENSITIZING NAIL CLIPPERS, BRUSHES, DREMMELS OR OTHER GROOMING TOOLS

  • Have tasty treats, lots of them in an easy to grab out of bowl

  • Get the objects you are working with handy

  • Select an area you will make a grooming safe zone, meaning this area is a place where you will only do this cooperative work and not force any treatment until you have properly taken the exercise all the way to completion. So if you have to give your dog eye drops or have to trim their nails and they are not yet comfortable with this process don’t use the same area, go to another place, we want this to always feel safe. So maybe you use a mat or dog bed that means this is our safe training zone, or maybe it’s the area you will eventually use as their grooming area

  • Keep sessions short and frequent vs long and sporadic

  • We start with classical conditioning: show the pup the clippers, feed a treat, show the clippers, feed a treat, and repeat for 2-5 minutes. Repeat this step until your puppy looks happy to see your clippers and wants to happily be in the training area before moving to the next step.

  • Now we move from classical conditioning to operant conditioning, which means now we will be having an exchange for that treat which will look like this:

    • I hold the clippers, pick up the dog’s paw, feed a treat, set the paw down. repeat until comfortable

    • Same as above but now I pick up the paw, touch the clippers to the nail (without clipping), feed treat, set paw down. Repeat until comfortable.

    • Now if I have a dremmel I am doing the first step with it turned on, then the second step with it turned on, or with regular clippers I am making them move, then feeding a treat.

    • With all of the steps I am only moving forward if my dog is comfortable, I step back a step if they are nervous.

    • If possible once I am going to actually trim nails or brush the first times I have a helper so that they can feed the treats as I work so the pup is getting immediate and frequent rewards.

    • When grooming the first times, do so with a well exercised puppy during their normal quiet times (so like midday when it’s warm out and they are snoozy is a good time)

It sounds like a lot of work, but if you do it correctly before a puppy ever has a bad experience they can move through the steps very quickly. And if you move slowly with the introductions you end up with a dog that is very relaxed and chill about grooming. It is soooo much harder to wait until they hate having their feet handled to begin trying to make them cooperative about nail trimming.

Teaching a Prone Position as Consent for Care

Part of adopting a habit of using cooperative care and giving dogs more control and choice in how we care for them involves creating some tools for us to communicate and a system for the dog to tell us if they are comfortable with us moving forward.

A prone position (your dog laying on their side) is a very effective position to be able to perform a variety of care needs: nail trims, foot care, examining, bandaging feet, putting on boots, etc. Traditionally people have used physical means to force their dogs into holding these positions and over ride the dog’s choice through restraint. But if you take your time and work through each step you can shape your dog to hold the position without restraint using positive reinforcement to build value for the spot allowing you to move forward with their content to give care cooperatively.

  • we shape going onto a specific mat that will become a start cue for your dog, this mat means we will be doing cooperative care, do you consent to this care. I do not cue or command the dog to get on the mat, getting on the mat on their own is their choice to start the interaction. So first we do this without pairing it with any specific treatment yet. Just shaping getting on the mat.

  • Build value for the mat by working on shaping getting on, laying down and being released for a couple sessions before moving forward.

  • Once dog is happily offering getting on the mat and laying down we begin working on getting them into the prone position. we start by clicking/rewarding them for rolling over onto a hip, and then work on helping them roll onto their sides.

  • Once your dog will roll onto their side, working on shaping them to lay their head down.

  • Build duration.

  • Bring in props of grooming equipment- with each first just start with their presence and work up to holding it, then actually using it.

  • If at any time the dog rolls up and leaves the prone position, you stop when you were doing and wait for the dog to offer a step forward again. They get to stop the session if they are not comfortable.

  • If you can see they are moving not because they are stressed (similar to Nick) but rather because they are just excited and think they should be offering behaviors rather than being still, back up and work on duration more. When working duration with an excitable dog don’t keep clicking for each reward as the click itself can escalate arousal, but deliver treats calmly in the position until you see them relaxing. If they are not excited by or stressed by touch you can also give gentle slow pets when they are in position.

  • Once you are grooming or using the position for treatments, be sure you also continue to use the mat sometimes just for practicing the positions without then doing things, so the position and mat does not always mean something more will happen.