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How can I help train my dog to be a hero?

We love seeing new faces at our Canadian Animal Blood Bank  Donor Clinics! All of the excitement and new stimuli can be overwhelming for some of our new pack members. Here are a few tips and tricks to ensure the day is a great experience for everyone involved, especially your pup.

Paw Play

This series of exercises will help to desensitize your pup to paw handling, which is great for many situations: nail trims, blood collection, and searching for pesky speargrass or burrs.

1

Gently touch and pick up your pup’s paws. Praise and reward them when they don’t pull away. You can use kibble or tiny pieces of high-value treats such as dehydrated beef liver.
2

Touch one of their front paws while holding a treat in your fist and say “paw” (or any other word you want to associate with this behavior). When they use their paw to touch the hand holding the treat, praise, and reward!
3

Say the word “paw”. Praise and reward when they offer a paw.
4

Repeat the above step, but attempt to hold on to their paw for 2-5 seconds.
5

Repeat the above step, but hold the paw for 5 seconds, while playing with the toes.

Lateral Lay Down

This series of exercises will help your dog to become more comfortable with laying on its sides and with gentle restraint. This is extremely helpful to veterinary teams during exams, labwork, x-rays, etc.

1

Have your dog sit on cue. Praise and reward.
2

Using a high-value treat, move the treat from in front of their nose to each side slowly 5 times to each side, as if your dog was shaking their head no. Praise and reward!
3

Ask your dog to lay down. Most dogs will initially lay down in “sternal”, which means they are in a deep crouch position, rather than relaxed.
4

Repeat the cookie stretch listed above while they are laying down, but use the treat to lure the dog to touch their nose to their hip. This often shifts their weight into more of a side lay down position.
5

Once your dog is more comfortable on their side, try sitting on kneeling behind them and giving their chest a hug. Reward and praise!
6

The next step is to perform this on a low ottoman, camping cot, or even a desk with a nice blanket on top. The surface will recreate what our donors experience in a clinic setting. You can stand or kneel behind them and hold onto their legs while giving them nice big hugs.

Shaving

Our protocols require a sterile collection area on the neck, where we will use hair clippers to shave a small spot (1.5-2” inches approx). This is typically the scariest part for new donors. We can make them more at ease by practicing the following steps at home first.

1

Find an electric toothbrush or a pair of hair clippers, human or animal. You don’t need to clip any hair or touch the brush part of the toothbrush to the dog. The vibration is all we need to work with.
2

Turn the electric toothbrush on and allow your dog to sniff it on the ground, in your hand, etc.
3

Hold the electric toothbrush in one hand and gently pet your dog with the other.
4

Hold the electric toothbrush in your hand and gently touch it to their body. Start along the arm and then slowly work your way up to the neck area. Continue to praise and reward their progress.
5

Use the non-working end of the toothbrush/clippers to move up from the leg to the neck until your dog is comfortable with the sensation.

These are all very new sensations and experiences for your pup, please remember to be patient and work in small time blocks. Some parts may be easier with two people, do your best and enjoy spending time with your pup, learning together.