Dog Aggressive for Toenail Trim | drsophiayin.com

www.drsophiayin.com bring you an example of how to train a dog to enjoy having his toenails trimmed. This dog hates having its toenails trimmed. Once we demonstrate that he dislikes having his toenails trimmed, our goal is to fix the behavior while no longer eliciting any more aggression. That is, we are using counterconditioning (which changes his emotional state from fearful or angry to happy because he's thinking about food) and desensitization (starting with the stimulus small and gradually increasing the intensity with a goal of never getting an aggressive response). In a hospital situation you would place a muzzle on this dog for safety; however, you might have to train him to like having a muzzle first!

For this video we elect to not use a muzzle because we are pretty confident we can do this without eliciting any aggression, and so that you can better see his facial expression.

Using DS and CC we are able to trim all nails in a much shorter time than it would take if we tried to muzzle him and had 2-3 people holding him down. Now the owner can practice at home and with each visit the dog will get better. Eventually the dog won't need treats during the procedure. How long will that take? If the owner were to practice every day it might only take several days to a week. It depends on the owner's technique and how bad the dog's experiences have been in the past. If having problems weaning off food, then you'll need to see the additional steps in the Low Stress Handling Book.

To see more videos in greater detail as well as photoillustrated instructions on this and other behavior modification and handling methods go to www.AskDrYin.com. This video is from the low stress handling, behavior and restraint of dogs and cats book and DVD which has 1600 photos and 105 instructional clips. Available at www.AskDrYin.com and amazon.com. Online subscription-based version will be available soon through the www.AskDrYin.com online education center.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dog
• aggression
• train
• toenail
• trim
• behavior
• Sophia
• Yin
• drsophiayin.com

[SuperBark1]

Yes. Needs lots of good treats that they can eat continuously but that you hold in a way to control their head. I'm using Natural balance here and holding it a little so the dog has to chew at it. Must also stay below the level that causes her to act like she "notices" what you're doing. For more instruction you can see ch. 18 for free in the low stress handling book at the lowtresshandling web site.

[wesnews13]

Strickly speaking the recommendation of treat first then clipping is "backward conditioning" and NOT considered effective for counter-condtioning.  The video really just demonstrates a way to keep the dog occupied with the potential they will become habituated...a better method touch foot(very lightly) first THEN treat...ie trace or delay conditioning in behavioral term.

[SuperBark1]

Actually, this dog does know what you're in the same way a person fearful of spiders would know a spider was being presented even if they were busy visualizing happy things. With classical counterconditioning, the goal is to change the animals emotional state so that you can safely present the stimulus without causing them to be fearful. With humans they tell the person to think happy thoughts and THEN they present the scary thing. We can't tell dogs to think happy so we use food.

[SuperBark1]

The ultimate way we know it works is because once we do this, we can easily go to quite rough handling followed by a treat without having to start at the beginning. And other times we can go directly from the method shown above to not needing treats at all.

it's always good to actually test a method before you "can" it based on a theoretical argument. I have a more detailed explanation on my blog at drsophiayin

[thatoneguy2]

I don't think i'm being clear. I want to see an aggressive dog become a social dog, from start to finnish, using counter conditioning. Or in the case of the dog in this video, I want to see him get his nails cut without a reaction and without treats. I don't care if its at a hospital or someone's home. I just want to see it done. How am I supposed to trust that counter-conditioning actually worked in this instance if I don't get to see it for myself.

[sophiekliu]

@thatoneguy2: I believe that Dr. Yin shows examples w/o food in her Low-Stress Handling Book/DVD for nail trims. For another example (different behavior but same counter-conditioning protocol), she has one posted on her website: drsophiayin (dot) com >Resources>Videos> "Training Aggression?" w/ Homer the Jack Russell Terrier

I think the assumption here is that owners will rarely counter-condition their dogs at home, so, in a hospital setting, this is the safest/lowest-stress method.

[thatoneguy2]

@sophiekliu I understand the process of counter-conditioning, but the end result should be that fear and aggression have been removed so treats are no longer required to clip the nails. I want to see that part.

[sophiekliu]

@thatoneguy2: First, the food is being used to counter-condition the dog to the nail trimmers. The food is necessary in the beginning because we have to change his underlying emotion. So, instead of "nail trimmers = fear/anxiety", we're trying to teach him that "nail trimmers = food/happy/relaxed". Once the association between food (and happy/relaxed state) and nail trims has been established, the treats can be tapered off or be presented at random times (variable ratio of rewards).

[thatoneguy2]

Where is the part where you do this without treats?

[InDogsWeTrust11]

@SuperBark1 Love how you take the time to answer questions and comment on your videos Dr. Yin! I show them to all my clients at my dog training school.... much appreciated by all of us!! :D

[BuffaloDogTraining]

Great work. It's nice to see how fast you were able to accomplish this.

[bcelliot]

the person holding the dog has him dangerosly close to her FACE!!!

[Abercrunk]

if my dog behaved like that, id throw it in the oven and cook it for dinner... dominance

[sassyNot4u]

A greenie is not nearly enough of a lure to keep your dog's attention. Use REALLY great people food or much tastier dog treats. There is plenty of human food that is safe for dogs...go raid the fridge. :) And WarriorAngel - why in the heck would you pay $200 EACH class for a trainer that can't control your dog? If he was disrtuptive it was because you and the trainer didn't control him. Find a new trainer....sounds like you need one. :(