* How to make nail clipping a relaxed event for dogs * This little video shows my work with Otto who belongs to my partner's mum.
Otto is an 11 year old Doberman and he's a living proof that you can teach old dogs new tricks 🙈
Otto hasn't had any structured training prior ( he understands basic commands but constructive training hasn't been part of his daily life )
Otto's nails were a bit overgrown but because it's been so stressful for both him and the owner to clip them his owner has been reluctant to have them done. In the past the owner had to restrain him (pin him to the wall and use her body weight to keep him still) while the groomer took as quickly as possible "to get it done with" .
I've spent 5 days working with Otto daily when during short sessions based on counter conditioning and positive reinforcement we worked over Otto's fear . There isn't any dramatic *before* video because simply it would be unfair to put him under the stress just to show how he reacted to it in the past - so at the begging of the video you will see a short clip of Otto avoiding/ walking away when I try to bring a clipper close to his leg.
I've used a stick to counter condition him to the sound of the nails being clipped - and I started at the distance where he was in a relaxed state . I slowly progressed with the distance where I could cut the stick right to his paw without him reacting and then introduced the *start signal* . The aim of the start signal is for a dog (or any other animal) to show that they are ready to voluntary proceed in whatever we want to train - it's especially useful in husbandry and vet care procedures and it has been used across the world by ethical trainers.
Otto learned that placing his paw on the book means that something will happen and through it he has a possibility to earn a reward. This way an animal can feel in control in the situation (even if it's just an illusion of control) and therefore be more willing to participate voluntarily in procedures that would have otherwise caused alot of stress and negative emotions.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly he's learned and I managed to clip every single nail in all of his feet - I wodnered how would I do his back feet but used the exact same technique - the front paw on the book indicated that he was ready and gave me a green light to proceed. In the process he showed a bit of calming signals and displacement behaviours that i have been aware of so we know it's still work in progress and his owners job is to handle his paws/nails daily with the techniques that I showed her making it more and more positive experience so when he needs more clipping he's even better prepared ;)
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