Dog training advice

[thepick4uchicks]

I'm surprised your vet did not recommend a muzzle and prescribe a oral sedative you could give the dog before the appointment. Your dog would be on cloud nine during the vet visit.

Fluffy- I am not angry at you but this practice of the Vet using the muzzle makes me angry. I disagree with it. I had it done for this very purpose early on with my Miniature Schnauzer puppy 11 years ago and she has never forgiven or forgotten it at the Vets office or when going to the groomer. It is a bad practice when introducing puppies or young dogs to the vet or groomer or to the practice of getting their nails trimmed or anything else done at the Vet. My new young Vet was inexperienced and at fault and I was not with my dog. My husband and daughter were at the vet appointment with her. This was the second mistake for me which I never allow to happen again. The other is I never allow a muzzle. I hold. No one else does. No vet tech not anyone else. So I do have to totally disagree with you on that point.

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

Fluffy- I am not angry at you but this practice of the Vet using the muzzle makes me angry. I disagree with it. I had it done for this very purpose early on with my Miniature Schnauzer puppy 11 years ago and she has never forgiven or forgotten it at the Vets office or when going to the groomer. It is a bad practice when introducing puppies or young dogs to the vet or groomer or to the practice of getting their nails trimmed or anything else done at the Vet. My new young Vet was inexperienced and at fault and I was not with my dog. My husband and daughter were at the vet appointment with her. This was the second mistake for me which I never allow to happen again. The other is I never allow a muzzle. I hold. No one else does. No vet tech not anyone else. So I do have to totally disagree with you on that point.

I can understand where your coming from. I have a vet who is about to retire and I'm from the old school so these new vets he's training I wonder about so I'm dreading the day.
Fear based aggression can be extremely dangerous for handler and people with good intentions. There are situations where it is warranted and your situation with a little puppy may not be one but this one sounds like a ideal situation. I assure you if it was sedated with oral medication properly you could wrap his whole body like a mummy and he would be oblivious.

 

[EverythingDucks]

Make it a positive experience.
Start by just holding his paw and rewarding with praise and treats if he does good. Repeat this with all his paws. Take your time. Do one a day if you have to. Wait until you get the behavior you like.
He'll learn that 5his is a good thing. Eventually you can trim one nail. Again, reward heavily. Be patient. Take your time.
Do this until you can trim all his nails.
Make it quick and fun.
Hope this helps

@KDOGG331

 

[HappyClucker7]

If you give treats, stop giving treats for this idea to work. What I would do and this may take days or weeks with this plan but he has anxiety so you need to go slow. Step 1: I would massage his paws then give 1 treat as a reward (do this throughout the day or many days)... Step 2: start massaging paws with clippers in other hand then give 1 treat as a reward (do this through the day or many days, no clipping yet)... Step 3: start massaging paw with clippers in other hand and slowly touch clipper to paw but no clipping, reward with 1 treat. Step 4: When you feel he is ready I would massage paw bring clipper to paw and clip 1 nail a day and after each nail give him a treat. Don't rush him, it is tough to change his anxiety when he has good reasons for it.

X2. This is definitely how I would do it.
How are you getting him used to being with new people? Is he making progress?

 

[ShrekDawg]

Make it a positive experience.
Start by just holding his paw and rewarding with praise and treats if he does good. Repeat this with all his paws. Take your time. Do one a day if you have to. Wait until you get the behavior you like.
He'll learn that 5his is a good thing. Eventually you can trim one nail. Again, reward heavily. Be patient. Take your time.
Do this until you can trim all his nails.
Make it quick and fun.
Hope this helps

@KDOGG331

Thanks for the tag! Seems like there’s a lot of good advice here already including yours so I won’t really add to it but I do agree with making it a positive experience and going SLOW. If one step is too much and he starts freaking out again or whatever, go back a step. You don’t want to overwhelm him or go too fast.

If you do that or he goes past his threshold and has another bad experience, it’s just going to set him back which you don’t want. So go as slow as possible. If you can’t even touch his feet then start by just putting your hand near his feet or something and if he doesn’t pull back, reward. If you can’t get the clippers anywhere near his feet, just start by showing him them, etc. etc.

It might also help to possibly get a new pair of clippers that look different so he doesn’t have the same negative association with them. You’re starting off at a bit of a disadvantage that way. But just go slow and make it positive and fun.

Actually, speaking of fun, I just discovered something with my brother’s dog the other day. He’s a bit of a nervous/anxious/fearful type so they can’t trim his nails as often as the other two. Also hates having his feet touched.

Anyway, I did an experiment and sure enough, the second I grabbed his paw, without even doing anything, he ran downstairs and sulked even though he was having fun a second ago and when he came inside later he ran right past me

He LOVES me and normally doesn’t give me the cold shoulder LOL

ANYWAY! I went and made up to him with treats and training and I discovered that when I made it super duper fun and got excited and asked him to wave (his favorite trick) and do some obedience, etc. and had a happy excited voice, HE LET ME TOUCH HIS PAWS IN THE WAVE!! He didn’t even care because he was having SO MUCH FUN. So I gave him lots of treats and praise and ended it. So maybe something like that could work for you??? When it was made to be FUN, he didn’t even seem to notice I was touching his feet

I guess I did have something to add after all

 

[strawberry69]

I use composure- it's for dogs and puppies. it has L- theanine in it so anytime something stressful is coming up, one 1 hour prior and then 1 at the time of the event. My puppy sleeps through it everytime. the pictures are of my dog sleeping in his carrier on 2 airplane trips over labor day weekend with him.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I know this is supposed to be about chickens/ranching but I’ve seen some dog experienced people on here and I don’t know where else to ask.
One of my dogs has fear based aggression towards people that started at the vet when he was a puppy, he had tons of bad experiences with being held down and prodded and not enough good experiences with people.
He also absolutely will not tolerate having his nails clipped. We’ve tried waiting until he’s good with people again (we are slowly trying to re-socialize him) so he can get put to sleep at the vet while they clip his nails but he’s not to that point yet and his nails are too long to wait any longer. I heard the longer his nails get the more painful it gets to walk so I have to do it soon.
So does anyone have advice on clipping his nails that doesn’t involve strangers and isn’t too stressful for both me and the dog? I’ve spent $30 on a hammock and that didn’t work, I’ve tried holding him down in different positions but he either escapes, bites me, or yanks his paws away so I can’t get a good grip on them. I’m seriously at a loss here but I don’t want to sacrifice his training by taking him to the vet or groomer. Please help.

I don't know if I could trim my dogs nails. Therefore we have tennis balls and pavement. He keeps em short. He has his issues after spending 6 months of this year tied out to a tree courtesy of the neighbors, but has bounced back nicely and chose my wife to be his person. She made me buy him and it was not a penny wasted. Now dippy is looking at me with a tennis ball. I do not think you can ever train toe trimming behavior into a dog. DW says penut butter on the forehead might be a good start though. I do not have a response to that but it does sound viable.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I do not think you can ever train toe trimming behavior into a dog.

Oh, you can, but it's a gradual thing to get them to trust you with their feet. My formerly screaming, needed 3 vet techs to trim, dog stands there docilely now when it's trimming time and makes no attempt to run off or pull away. I trim every week now.

Talked to one of my dog trainers about it back when we first got my boy and she said it took her about 3-4 years to get her dog to allow for no-fuss nail trimming (her dog was rescued from a hoarder's house, so very undersocialized) so I shouldn't be discouraged that he wasn't letting me trim after only having him a few months.