Rosie

When it isn’t all behaviour…
 

Rosie is a cute looking shi tzu abandoned at our door. You just want to pick her up and give her a squeeze, yes? But if we moved to touch her she would bark and snap. An aggressive dog? Well, no – this is where working in our triangle of care means a fast resolution. 

The Behaviour Assessor team noticed that approaching her head area was the bringing the most dramatic reaction, such as to take her harness off and on, so we booked her for a vet visit on site. Under a light sedative the vet could see growth masses and evidence of an ear infection – she was in pain and didn’t want you to touch. Understandable!

Here was her plan, with the behaviour, vet and animal care teams working together:

• Non touch medication. Normally we would give ear drops, but she really wouldn’t allow it! So the vet team sourced something different which would take longer but was better for Rosie. 
• We switched her harness to a step-in one so it didn’t brush her ears going over her head.
• Sensitisation to touch and building trust. We’d start any fuss on her shoulder and, as she felt better from treatment, she allowed more touch around her head and now tolerates light touch on her ears. This gentle sensitisation – always at the animal’s pace - is a behaviour technique that is used by the behaviour team and Animal Carers every day with our cats and dogs.

 
Need to do some touch sensitisation with your pet? » Visit our pet care article for some advice.