Edith... and her 1 yr vet visit - Inspire Canine Behavior Counseling & Training

Hi Paula, I know I will be seeing you on Saturday with Edith but wanted to give you a running report on her visit to the vets last night. I got there quite early ~4:15 for a 5pm appt. I waited in the car with her for a good while (15mins) to help her and her arousal level. I would say she was in orange when we arrived and was able to have her dunk some feet into Green/yellow. There were a lot going on outside the car and she was able to at least sit and just look. She was very good about waiting in the car once I opened her door, she let me change her leash patiently etc. She was also very patient about getting out of the car but the blacktop was hot and so I had to move her quite quickly to a shaded area. We stood there for 10mins and she was very good. She basically sat and watched her little world go by. She didn’t take any kibble from me but she was happy to sit. Once it was time for her appointment I went into the waiting room area where there was one other person with a cat. Edith was interested and pulled on her leash a little but no barking etc. She then sat by me until it was her turn. She was very unsure about the scales but we took our time and she slowly walked on after following me. Once in the room I let her sniff everything. A dog was barking in the waiting room and she barked a couple of times and then she actually did OSR with me. She was very cautious with the Vet tech but I explained to her not to push Edith and to take everything slowly with her so we first put her on the table and let her have a sniff etc and did a little OSR although at this point I think she was genuinely scared. I let Edith know everything I was doing-“Up” “off”, “Help” etc. When the Vet came I again explained that we just needed to go slowly and inform Edith everything that we were doing. The vet was my old boss so she was very understanding. Edith was scared but slowly she relaxed. I had been practicing with Edith a lot at home with saying “eyes” when looking in her eye, “ears” “teeth” etc, etc. And after telling the vet, she let Edith know everything she was going to do, and you could physically see Edith relax slightly. She was such a good girl. I am sooooooo proud of that little lady!!