Like many of us my dog has the fear of scales... (i sympathise lol) anyway today took a fair bit of coaxing with reward and in end having to place him on. The last 2 routine visits have been the same and today was due to having to get a lump checked which turned out to be a haemotoma which has now been drained and was great through the treatment etc. So going forward we are going to pop into vets more and if he goes on it fine it not we will just continune on our way. Any other suggestions?
Hi @Thunder* You might trying constructing a raised area similar to the dimensions of your vet's scales. Use shaping. Get the dog to stand/sit and stay on the structure. Then transfer the ersatz scale to different rooms, garage, back yard, and even take it to the vets. Reward with high value treats. Should not be a big step to transfer the skill at the vets to the real thing.
I'd suggest buying a mat or blanket which is roughly the same size as the scales. Train the dog to target the blanket or mat at home (loads of videos on YouTube showing you how to train mat targeting behaviours) and then just put your mat on the scales at the vet office and zero it before you ask the dog to target it....
Willow did the "GO TO MAT" at her training class, the instructor told us to use our hand to indicate we want the dog to go on the mat then treat when 2 feet are on the mat. Willow went straight on the mat with 4 feet then sat. We did the same with the scales at the vets she knows lots of treats are coming and goes on them with no problems.
