Lucy needs blood drawn in 6 months. Lucy is not yet compliant totally with being touched.

I need her to be compliant to blood drawn from her leg. With pinching, gripping etc.

Any ideas on how to do that? I haven't a clue without actually hurting her, except to gradually lengthen the time she places her leg in my hand, and then gradually induce pressure, then pinching slightly.

Help.

If you have a syringe (no needle) to use as a prop you can explain to her what it is and what to expect. I'll see if I can't find one of my earlier posts about blood drawing.

Excellent idea! I do happen to have a syringe at home. Thanks.

Here is a copy of a PM I sent to someone else. Since it applies to you and might help others, I'll post it here.

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One method I have had success with for vet visits is Syn Alia (www.synalia.com). There are many tenets of this type of training but one aspect of it is that you name and explain things to the dog so that they know what to expect and are less stressed.

In this training you use intermediate and terminal bridges.

So for example I was taking in not one but two dogs. One dog is reactive toward other dogs, big and strong, and also anxious. The other dog is 100% non aggressive, but afraid of people he doesn't know, very shy, and terrified of being handled by strangers. The occasion was a heartworm test.

So knowing that they were going to have blood drawn I started at home, with a syringe (no needle) and in our first session I showed them the syringe and bridged for interest while I named it ("needle"). Next I bridged for touching the syringe with their nose ("needle, touch!" and bridge). Next I bridged for touching/holding their leg ("leg"). Then I bridged for tapping the syringe on their leg, gradually increasing duration for how long I'd hold the needle there. I'd explain to the dog what I was doing ("Im going to hold your leg and put a needle to it, (intermediate bridge for duration) (terminal bridge) (praise)." I did this over a course of a week and no more than 3 reps per session.

When we got to the vet I asked the technician to show the dog the equipment while i named it, then told the dog what the tech was going to do. They thought I was wierd, but my dogs behaved like NORMAL DOGS and my reactive guy even stood there looking out the window of the exam room wagging his tail at people as they went by when it was the other dog's turn. My shy/fearful guy allowed the tech to take his blood and even let them pet his head. Something I thought I'd never see.

I also did this with my female last week (who has no real issues) and the vet commented how good she was for her blood test. (I have never had that comment before). I was proud.
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Hope that helps!

LOL! That's perfect for me to try. I explain everything to them both anyway, so this isn't a stretch for me at all.

Thank you! We did practice a modified version of this so she would know WHEN she was going to be touched.

This is going to soooo interesting to try.

Again, thanks!