All about cooperative care for beginners
Imagine being pushed into a corner and held down while you got your hair and nails done. It would probably turn what should be a relaxing experience into a nightmare scenario. Well, that’s something a lot of dogs face on a regular basis. But cooperative care is here to change all that. So if you’re looking for some tips for grooming your dog at home without damaging that special bond, read on.
Cooperative care gives our dogs choice and control and relies on them telling us that they’re ready for grooming and when they’d like us to stop. The key is that we stop when they ask us to.
By doing this, we can strengthen the bond with our dogs, develop their confidence and tolerance for grooming, and avoid them having to escalate to aggression to get us to stop. Even better, we can bring these techniques to the vets and groomers to help them become comfortable in other settings too.
I know what you’re thinking. Why would my dog choose to have their nails clipped or ears cleaned? Well, we’ve seen from zoos that big, powerful animals willingly choose to have all kinds of procedures done when they’ve been trained using cooperative techniques. And we know that dogs behave in a similar way when given the choice.
Interested in transforming grooming for you and your dog? Here are three simple techniques to get started.
P.S. Before you have a go, make sure you understand your dog’s body language so you know when they’re comfortable and when they’re not.
For young dogs who need to get used to being groomed
Pick a comfortable space or mat to dedicate to grooming. When you’re ready to train, try to encourage your dog into a settled position such as a down.
Use a verbal cue such as “Show me your ear” before gently touching your dog’s ear. Immediately follow with a tasty reward.
Practise touching one body part per day in a couple of short sessions. Change your cue for each so your dog knows what’s about to happen. For example, you can say “show me your teeth,” “show me your tail,” etc.
If your dog moves away or shows any other sign of discomfort, no matter how subtle, stop the session. Next time, make it easier. That may mean reaching toward the body part, rather than actually touching it.
If your dog is comfortable with you touching a body part for a couple of seconds, gradually increase the difficulty. For example, you may progress to momentarily holding a paw or lifting an ear and looking in for a couple of seconds.
Once your dog is comfortable with your hands touching various parts, you can introduce equipment such as nail clippers. The first experience is the most important in terms of learning so make sure it’s positive. Place the equipment on the floor and allow them time to explore it. Then put the equipment behind your back. Say your verbal cue, then show it to your dog from a distance. Immediately follow with a tasty or fun reward.
Gradually increase the difficulty in the same way as you did with your hands. For example, you may start by bringing the equipment closer to their paws, then momentarily touching their paw, then lifting their paw with the clipper in your hand, then making a noise with the clipper and so on.
When you reach the stage of being able to clip a nail or clean an ear, keep it short and sweet. This may mean only doing one nail each day, rather than trying to get all of them done at once.
For dogs who like games
Pattern games are powerful as they can be used in so many situations. This one can be used to help your dog get past distractions on walks, interrupt them from doing something you don’t want them to do, and make it clear when grooming is starting and finishing. Remember: predictability is good in these situations!
Here’s how to teach it:
🐾 Start in your house. Say 1, 2, 3 and give your dog a treat on 3.
🐾 Practise a few times a day in different places in your house. When you can see they understand the game, start to bring it into your grooming.
🐾 For example, if you’re going to brush them, say one as you bring the brush towards them, two as you brush their fur and three as you finish a section. Then follow up with a tasty reward.
Remember to continue watching their body language and stop if they seem uncomfortable.
For dogs who get groomed in multiple places
The bucket game simply involves your dog looking at a container of treats when they’re happy for you to handle them. If they stop looking, they’re asking you to stop what you’re doing.
As it’s an easy thing to remember, you can even ask your vet or groomer to participate. Here’s how to play it:
🐾 Hold a small container of treats at your chest. Say “good” when your dog looks at it and reward with a treat.
🐾 Move the bucket to your waist, hip, thigh, knee, shin, and ankle before moving it to the floor. Say “good” and reward every time they look at it.
🐾 Repeat the above, holding the container out to one side instead of in front. Go from your chest to the floor.
🐾 Once your dog understands that looking at the container is what gets the reward, place it on the floor a short distance in front of them and start adding duration. Reward after 1-2 seconds of looking initially. But aim to get to 10 seconds of looking before rewarding.
🐾 Start working on handling and grooming. Move your hand towards your dog and see if they can look at the container. When they do, “good” and reward. Gradually move your hand closer to your dog, eventually touching them. If they look away from the container, stop what you’re doing, only re-starting when they look back at the container.
🐾 Break every grooming procedure down into small steps, keeping sessions short. (See the first technique for examples.) When your dog’s comfortable at home, try the game with your groomer and/or vet.
Ready to try cooperative care?
By giving our dogs choice, control and predictability, they opt into being groomed, making the experience nicer for everyone involved.
Struggling to get your dog used to grooming? Work with me to get started with cooperative care or find another qualified trainer or behaviourist here.
