Three Simple Ways You Can Reduce Fear in Your Vet Rehab Patients

According to Temple Grandin, Professor of Animal Science, consultant to the livestock industry and advocate for the humane treatment of animals, the absolute worst thing we can do to an animal is to cause it to feel fear.

If you had to choose between fear and pain, you would probably choose fear, right? Grandin believes that this is because you have the ability to control your fear. Animals don’t have that same control over their fear. Consider a dog, afraid in your practice; it goes into a state of non-function, it can barely walk, barely move. And it goes further than an inability to function – a frightened dog becomes reactive and dangerous, and you may end up with a bite for handling the fear inappropriately. An animal in pain, on the other hand, is still very capable of function. It will mask its pain, often seem completely fine, and its actions will be fairly consistent and predictable.

Is Fear in the Practice Normal?

We should never accept fear in our patients as the norm – we need to do all we can to address its causes and diffuse the fear completely. Fear can have a negative impact not only on the treatments being applied but on the long-term health and well-being of the animal, resulting in a shorter lifespan (Dreschel et al., 2010).

We’ve all been taught to recognise fear, both in the big, obvious signs and the subtle ones. A low, crouching posture and a reluctance to walk or move should throw up immediate red flags and cause us to back off, change tactics and diffuse the situation. Lip licking, stiffening, changes in breathing, yawning, averting the eyes, etc. are all part of the subtle signs we see daily in our practices, and we should never ignore them.  Appropriate, calming responses will go a long way to open dialogue and foster trust.

It is a good idea, too, to teach owners to recognise these subtle signs in their dogs. The fascinating thing is that owners are often very good at recognising obvious and subtle signs of fear in other dogs while missing them completely in their own (Flint et al., 2018).

Here are three simple things you could incorporate into your practice to reduce fear:

Classical Music

Just as we do, dogs respond to music. Liza S. Köster et al. (2018) demonstrated that playing classical music can have a positive effect on the heart rates of dogs during a physical examination in a clinical setting. The study looked at the effect of classical music only, but it is likely that any calm, soothing music will have a positive effect on the heart rate. Such music will have the same effect on the examiner and owner, increasing the chances of a calm and relaxed patient.

Encourage Natural Behaviour

Duranton et al. (2019) show that dogs who do nose work and are encouraged to use their olfactory sense have a more positive and optimistic outlook on life. This may be linked to the fact that their work enables them to do what comes naturally to dogs. The more we can get our patients to behave in ways natural to dogs, the less the likelihood of fear.

For instance, encourage owners to allow the patient to spend ten minutes outside the practice sniffing and getting to know the environment. Once in the consulting area, let them do exactly the same thing; let the dog walk around sniffing and investigating at its own pace. You’ll be amazed at how allowing time for this simple, natural behaviour results in a happier, more optimistic patient!

Allow the Patient to Control his Movement

When introducing a dog to a new environment or new objects, it is important to allow them to control their movements. Restricting them or forcing them to approach an object or person they’re unfamiliar with will immediately increase their stress and fear. Stellato et al. (2017) demonstrated that in scenarios where dogs were allowed to control their exposure to fearful social or non-social stimuli, signs of fear were infrequent and brief.

Take another look at the physical arrangements in your practice. Does the environment encourage the patient to behave in a natural manner, to move naturally? Or do they need to be kept on a short leash because there are patients and people all around? Can you safely give them an opportunity to explore their environment while you touch base with the owner? Is your treatment area calm and quiet, or do you have a noisy swimming pool or underwater treadmill disturbing the peace? Is there an overload of social stimuli (people and other dogs) and non-social stimuli (equipment, underwater treadmill, scary exercise equipment) in your treatment area?

Let’s aim for a fear-free practice. Every single one of our patients, without exception, should be jumping out of the car and storming into the practice with tails wagging, and tongues lolling, ready for some wonderful TLC. With a little thought and consideration, we can prepare our physical environment and our own responses so that our patients and their owners enjoy their time with us!

Resources in your Onlinepethealth Membership

1. Integrating Behavioural Understanding into Your Practice, with Ashley Foster
2. Fear Free and the Rehab Patient, with Kirsty Oliver

References

1. Perception of fear and pain in animals, Excerpt from Chapter 5 of Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
2. Dreschel, N. A. (2010). The effects of fear and anxiety on health and lifespan in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 125(3-4), 157-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2010.04.003
3. Flint, H. E., Coe, J. B., Pearl, D. L., Serpell, J. A., & Niel, L. (2018). Effect of training for dog fear identification on dog owner ratings of fear in familiar and unfamiliar dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 208, 66-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.08.002
4. Köster, L. S., Sithole, F., Gilbert, G. E., & Artemiou, E. (2019). The potential beneficial effect of classical music on heart rate variability in dogs used in veterinary training. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 30, 103-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2018.12.011
5. Duranton, C., & Horowitz, A. (2019). Let me sniff! Nosework induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 211, 61-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.12.009
6. Stellato, A. C., Flint, H. E., Dewey, C. E., Widowski, T. M., & Niel, L. (2021). Risk-factors associated with veterinary-related fear and aggression in owned domestic dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 241, 105374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105374