Recent Articles

The Case of Finn, the Cat Who’s Afraid of Toenail Trims and the Vet

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In 2009, Dr. Yin produced the first and only textbook and DVD on Low Stress Handling of dogs and cats in the hospital or shelter setting. Since then the methods and philosophy have spread around the world. In this article, Dr. Yin’s colleague in the Netherlands, Dr. Valerie Jonckheer –Sheehy details how she used desensitization and counterconditioning to give a cat a pleasant toenail trim.

Sedating the Killer Cat

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A cat comes in to the hospital stressed to kill. What should you do? While cases like this are stressful for these fearful cats, they can cause just as much anxiety in experienced hospital staff as well as clients and other patients exposed to the sound of the loud struggles that ensue.

Proper Walking Technique: Turn an anxious dog into a calm dog in just minutes

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Every veterinary hospital has canine patients who are anxious away from their owners. Dogs who were seemingly happy when they arrived but as soon as they are separated from their pet parents, they pace and whine. And if left for the day, they bark incessantly in their kennels and can even become unsafe when handled.

Ready To Learn, The Low Stress Handling® Way

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Being a strong contributing member of a veterinary hospital team is about keeping your education current. From information on diabetes or heart conditions to better bedside manner and handling end-of life issues, it’s this new information, new views plus, tricks and tips for doing anything better, that keep the job fresh. What’s one area of continued education that can affect medicine on all levels? Low Stress Handling. It gives you the ability to treat more patients more effectively and efficiently regardless of the type of medical condition as well as putting clients at ease by demonstrating your compassion and credibility.

Dog Bites: What To Do When You’re Attacked

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With all of the dog bite attacks that circulate in the news, you may sometimes worry; what if that were you?
As a veterinarian focused on behavior and an avid runner, I’ve dealt with a lot of dogs charging towards me and threatening to bite. In spite of working with aggressive dogs as well as running by off-leash dogs on a daily basis, I have only been bitten—minor bites— a few times over the last 20 years. What’s the secret? The number one secret is to stay calm. The more you scream and try to move the more aroused you’ll make the dog—here are the two scenarios.

Puppy Behavior: A Sensitive Period for Puppy Socialization

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How do we know when to start puppy socialization and whether it’s important?
You’ve probably heard that puppies need to be socialized, but how do we know this and what do we know? Most of the ground breaking studies were done in the 1950’s and 1960’s, one of which was performed by co-authors, David Freedman, John A. King and Orville Elliot and published in Science in 1962.

Animal Trainers and Behaviorists: Licensing and Certification

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“You should find a good trainer.” How many times have we heard this advice but don’t know exactly who to turn to? When one of my dogs began exhibiting aggressive behavior, many people told me that I should “find” a behaviorist, as if it were a simple, ordinary task and that all I had to do was search. In my quest to find the best behaviorist, I realized that the options were much more nuanced, the licensing/certification organizations much more varied, and the process much more complicated than I had initially thought.