Mikkel Becker, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CTC and Debbie Martin RVT, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior) explain how Fear Free principles can be used to create a comfortable and safe nail trim experience for you and your pet.
Blog Archives
Just the idea of medicating your pet can send both of you running for the hills. Mikkel Becker, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CTC and Debbie Martin RVT, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior) explain how you can make this stressful task rewarding and Fear Free for both you and your pet.
Creating a Fear Free Treat-Ment station can help you and your pet make needed procedures such as nail trims, injections, and grooming easier. Mikkel Becker, CBCC-KA, KPA CTP, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CTC, and Debbie Martin RVT, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior), will show you how to put the “treat” in treatment!
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Join Mikkel Becker, Lead Animal Trainer for Fear Free, to discuss her newest course, Next Level Nail Trims. Mikkel shares stories from the trenches on dealing with difficult nail trims and gives her top tips for creating a Fear Free nail trim experience.
Course Overview
The chin rest is a valuable cooperative care behavior that allows for a hands-off, consensual way to keep an animal still for veterinary exams, husbandry care, grooming, and other procedures. A chin rest serves as an indication from the animal that he is ready to engage in a handling or care procedure. By giving him a choice to “opt out,” even for a few seconds, chin rest empowers the animal to have a voice and greatly reduces his FAS.
In this course, you will learn the steps for training a solid chin rest behavior to an advanced level and discover its many practical, on-the-job applications.
This course includes three lessons:
- Lesson 1: Strategies and Equipment
- Lesson 2: Training and Problem Solving
- Lesson 3: Taking it to the Next Level
This course was written by Mikkel Becker, CTC, KPA CTP, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CDBC.
Course Overview
This course builds upon the foundational concepts covered in the Fear Free Nail Trims: Trimming Away the Terror course, which included finessed use of distractions, desensitization and counter-conditioning methods, and finely tuned choice of nail care tools.
An understanding of these foundational nail care concepts is recommended before starting this more advanced course. Cooperative care techniques taught in this course are useful both as preventive strategies to improve ease of nail care and as an interventional approach to address already existing FAS with nail care.
Since there is no “one size fits all” approach to nail care training that will work for every animal every time, this course aims to empower you with many options to choose from, depending on the animal you are working with at the time.
There are six short lessons in this course:
- Lesson 1: Communication & Consent Cues
- Lesson 2: Treat-Ment Stations
- Lesson 3: Chin Rest and Bucket Game
- Lesson 4: Offering Paws and Zen Down
- Lesson 5: Scratch Board Training
- Lesson 6: Problem Solving and Coaching Clients
This course was written by Mikkel Becker, CTC, KPA CTP, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CDBC.
Nail trims can be stressful for pets and owners alike. Set yourself and your pet up for success by downloading our nail trim handout!
Course Overview
Bath time is scary for many animals—whether it’s the sound of the water, the feel of it on their skin, being restrained, or the tub itself. This one-hour module will teach you how to break down the bathing process into individual components that can be worked on separately to allow for calmer, safer bathing experiences. We will provide step-by-step desensitization and counterconditioning plans for every component—introducing the shampoo bottle, entering the tub, introducing water, and introducing the sound and feel of the dryer. You’ll also learn what you can do to modify the bathing environment to make it more inviting and less stressful for animals.
There are three lessons in this course:
Lesson 1: Overview of Fear Free Bathing and Positive Reinforcement
Lesson 2: Introduction to the Tub
Lesson 3: Modifying the Environment for Success
This one-hour course was designed for Fear Free groomers but is also open to our veterinary professional and trainer members. It was written by Terrie Hayward, M.Ed., KPA Faculty Member, CPDT-KA, CSAT, co-author of the book Grooming Without Stress, and is approved for one hour of RACE CE.
Course Overview
This one-hour course will give you some simple but incredibly useful, easy-to-teach behaviors you can use with the pets you’re grooming to help make your job easier. The concepts of targeting and stationing can be invaluable for grooming—and we promise that taking a small amount of time to teach them up front will pay you dividends in the long run!
This course was written by Terrie Hayward, M.Ed., KPA-CTP, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CSAT.
This course consists of three lessons:
- Lesson 1: Overview of Fear Free Grooming and Positive Reinforcement
- Lesson 2: Introduction to Targeting and Stationing
- Lesson 3: Teaching a Chin Rest, Hand Target, and Stationing
Fear Free Home Spaw Days
While your favorite groomer is temporarily closed, you may need to do some basic grooming on your dog yourself. Dogs can develop problems related to brushing, mat removal, nail trims, hair in the eyes, and eye discharges in just a few weeks.
Presented by Fear Free Certified trainer and groomer Daniel Josselyn-Creighton, KPA CTP, this webinar will help you to:
- Introduce new pieces of equipment (brushes, clippers, etc.) and procedures (baths, brushing, and nail trims) to your dog in a safe, fear-free manner.
- Teach your dog impulse control games to help them be more comfortable sitting still for simple procedures.
- Perform basic grooming tasks: brushing, bathing, trimming hair, and nails.
- Use the FAS scale to know when you can continue with a procedure, when you need to proceed with caution, and when you need to stop and give your dog a break.