Educational Seminars

Feline Behaviour Basics: How to Better Understand Your Cat’s Behaviour and Meet their Needs (1.5 hrs)

• Feline body language,
• Environmental enrichment,
• Learning theory,
• Positive reinforcement training techniques,
• Prevention and management for common behaviour concerns.

Canine Behaviour Basics: How to Better Understand Your Dog’s Behaviour and Meet their Needs (1.5 hrs)

• Canine body language,
• What motivates dogs?
• Myths about Dominance Theory,
• Environmental Enrichment,
• Learning Theory,
• Positive reinforcement training techniques,
• Prevention and management for common behaviour concerns.

Cooperative Veterinary Visits: Incorporating Choice and Consent into Training (1 hr)

This presentation will give trainers the confidence to train client’s and their pets to participate in their veterinary care.

• Learn what cooperative care means,
• How we can train consent
• Different aspects of a veterinary exam that can be positively conditioned
• Transferring your cooperative care training to the veterinary team

Fear Free Veterinary Care for Your Pet (1 hr)

Taking your pet to the vet shouldn’t be stressful! In this one-hour session, you will learn how to set your pet up to succeed for veterinary visits.

• A brief overview of canine and feline body language
• Preparing your pets for travel to the vet
• How to teach your pet to be comfortable with veterinary handling
• Tips and tricks for husbandry procedures and medication administration that can be done at home

Teaching patients to cooperate in their care doesn’t always mean training consent behaviours. Animals can learn to make positive associations with veterinary procedures and care using food and non-food distraction. In this presentation attendees will learn the importance of observing body language, use our own body language in a manner that prevents and alleviates fear, anxiety, and stress and how to practically apply distraction techniques.

Learning Objectives:

• What is Fear Free?
• Handling techniques: Considerate approach, gentle control and touch gradient
• What are food and non-food distractions?
• Recognizing patients that can benefit from distraction techniques
• How to utilize both food and non-food distraction

Start Off on the Right Paw: Behavioural Prevention for our Canine Patients  (1 hr):

• Puppy development,
• Setting our puppy patients up for success,
• Identifying “Red Flag” puppies,
• Prevention and management for common puppy behaviour concerns.

Start Off on the Right Paw: Behavioural Prevention for our Feline Patients  (1 hr):

• Kitten development,
• Setting our kitten patients up for success,
• Identifying “Red Flag” kittens,
• Prevention and management for common kitten behaviour concerns.

Calm, Confident and Compassionate Handling and Restraint: Distraction and Towel Wrap Techniques (3 hrs)

• Canine and Feline Body Language
• Setting Patients up for Success
• Client communication

Part two (1.5 hrs):

• Considerations for handling and restraint
•  Towel Wrap Techniques (Hands-on Lab)

Fear Free Feline Experience

We know cats are taken to the vet much less frequently than dogs. What can we do to change that? This session will highlight how to set up the veterinary clinic environment through the eyes of our feline patients and how to perform an optimal Fear Free examination using Fear Free techniques that are both effective and gentle. Learn how to prevent stress during travel to the veterinary practice and how to communicate this information to clients, as travel is often the tipping point of the fear cascade for our feline patients. Attendees will also learn how to utilize food and non-food distraction techniques to promote successful feline veterinary visits.

• Body language,
• Considerate approach,
• Gentle control and touch gradient,
• Feline friendly environment,
• Distraction techniques,
• Needs vs. Wants
• When to stop

Cooperative Care: Getting Consent at the Vet (2 hr)

This presentation will give attendees the knowledge and confidence to help teach their patients to participate in their veterinary care. Learn what cooperative care means, how we can teach consent and the importance of choice. Consent behaviours discussed will include stationing and chin rest as well as the benefits of using predictor cues for cooperative veterinary care training and how to transfer this type of training to veterinary procedures.

Animal Behaviour in Veterinary Practice (1-2 hours): Incorporating Fear Free techniques and animal behaviour into your veterinary practice. This presentation is geared toward Veterinary Technology students or Registered Veterinary Technologists.

Implementing Puppy Class Into Your Veterinary Practice (1 hour):
The veterinary team play an integral role in client education and guidance for understanding and setting up clients and puppies up for success.

Proper socialization is critical to a puppy’s emotional well-being and development. Puppy classes help create more cooperative patients, confident puppies, will bond clients to your practice, provide an added revenue stream and more!

In this presentation attendees will:

• learn about different class styles, including the benefits and disadvantages of each,
• explore the business side of running puppy classes,
• learn how to set up a puppy class for puppies 8-16 weeks of age based on Companion Veterinary Clinic’s puppy class curriculum and additional recommendations to set up your clients and their puppies for success.

“Probably the single most important thing you can do to help your puppy grow up to be a friendly, confident, reliable and happy family member is to socialize your puppy now.”

– Patricia McConnell, PhD

Trimming The Fear Out Of Nail Trims (1.5 hrs)

Nail trims can be stressful for patients, clients and the veterinary team. In this webinar we will discuss why nails trims can be challenging and how we can improve this experience through prevention, distraction techniques and behaviour modification.

• Factors that contribute to fear during nail trims,
• Distraction and handling techniques,
• When to stop: the importance of reading body language,
• Implementing prevention for long-term success,
• How to desensitize and counter-condition patients to nail trims.

• Learning Theory
• Tips for exam room consultations
• Solutions for common behaviour concerns