It’s sad when Veterinary Practices and Behaviourist cannot work together, each having a different view on what’s driving a certain kind of unwanted behaviour from a dog. And this was the situation Michael was in with his 4 year old German Shepherd Tyson!!
Tyson had perfected a technique to scare everyone away from him….and he was very successful in doing this. In other words, Tyson didn’t want to be touched by anyone apart from his owner.
You might think, this shouldn’t be a problem? And if we could guarantee Tyson had a life time of good health ….it wouldn’t be. But unfortunately dogs have accidents and sometimes health problems. Coupled with possibly having their annual vaccinations to keep them disease free, as well as being a requirement should they have to go to kennels.
Although Tyson was fit and well at the moment, this was a worry to Michael as no one really knows ‘what’s around the corner’ if he did need some emergency care for Tyson, Michael has no family to ask for help.
So, after a failed attempt 12 months at a Veterinary practice, Michael and I decided it was time for a fresh start with a new veterinary practice and took Tyson along to meet some of the team at Jonathan Wood veterinary practice Cowley Bridge.
Michael is always very responsive to my thoughts and handling of Tyson and is always completely happy to ‘give me the reigns’. But I was aware that we had failed once, and this must not be repeated as we were teaching Tyson the wrong behaviour.
So, I engaged my son Henry on this occasion. Letting him firstly bond with him and then trying to mimic the type of handling Tyson would need to endure, to be successfully vaccinated by the vet. This desensitisation practice took us as little as 20 minutes.
Now for the big moment….. Off I go to chat to new vet about Tyson and his foibles!!
This vet was completely ‘ on board’ with everything I had said and how we should accomplish everything that had to be done. Within minutes we had replaced our stooge vet Henry, with the real one!! And within seconds vaccination completed.
One very very happy owner, as he confessed on the journey home that he had been worrying about this situation for many many months now .
And a BIG THANK YOU to all at Jonathan Woods practice, who had given us a lot of their time, understanding and empathy.