Know Your Pooch
VK Joshi
The writer is former director, GSI, and an avid animal lover. His understanding of man's best friend comes from over six decades of dedicated association with it
Monsoon is here and, in this season, diseases come in hordes. Dogs are no exception and they do fall prey. I find that a majority of dog owners, including the seasoned ones, remain blissfully unaware as to how to medicate their dogs!
When a playful, chubby puppy arrives home, no one ever imagines that a day will come when he will become a powerful brute and he too will fall sick! No one even thinks that at that stage how a dog will be administered a tablet or a syrup! In addition, from puppyhood, he has to be given his shots. People feel proud in stating that their six-month-old puppy can sniff out the vet’s clinic and begin to hide behind them and that it takes a lot of coaxing and cajoling to take them to the vet’s chamber. Often, a puppy has to be muzzled, his legs tied and taken to the table for examination/administration of an injection by the vet's assistants!
It is pertinent to know that a dog survives on his instincts and association of ideas. The idea of going to a vet’s clinic for him has been a painful association and his power to smell tells him that the clinic is approaching near and he tries to hide/grow/bare his fangs and even attack at times to avoid the last visit’s experience. The vet in order to give a speedy cure prescribes injectables and the needle prick makes the dog all the charier.
Likewise, initially, when he had not experienced the trauma of the injection, he did not like the way you forced him to gulp a tablet. At times the condition becomes so serious that the dog doesn’t allow anyone to touch even his muzzle. A few years ago, I had gone to a relative’s place. They had two, playful, roly-poly Labradors. Both were around three years old and as usual; they were not trained to accept a tablet. Each time one fell sick, a vet’s compounder was called and he literally pinned the dog and administered the injection. It was such a ghastly scene to witness when a sick dog ran away with a needle still stuck in his hip muscle and the guy standing in despair holding the half-filled syringe! I had to put my foot down and tell the owners and the compounder to stay put for some time. Fortunately, the dog was not able to reach the needle with his mouth, though he was trying. In the meanwhile, I managed to get some of his favourite treats and went closer. I didn’t lunge or grab the dog’s neck, just sat on a chair in the garden and offered him the treat on my open palm. He licked it and begged for more. As he was busy again, without making a fuss, I pulled out the needle. What a relief he must have felt that he licked my palm again for more treats.
The compounder suggested I hold the dog and he could try the injection. I asked him if a medicine could be given orally, and he said yes there was a bolus but the dog was too cunning to be given that, he just ran away, and attacked if forced. ‘No more injection please’, I told the compounder. Fortunately, he had the bolus with him. For the lay readers let me explain that a bolus is a very large pill. Once again, I sat in the garden chair and the dog came running to me in the hope of a treat. I caressed him, made a fuss and in the meanwhile, my relation had made small pieces of that bolus, which I carefully concealed inside moist pieces of biscuit. There were four pieces and I made eight small, moist balls of biscuit. Four had the bolus pieces and the remaining four were blank. It became an interesting game for the dog to have a small ball of biscuit followed by a ball containing the medicine. In no time the medication was over.
I know the readers must be thinking that the dog could have thrown out the biscuit with medicine. Yes, you are absolutely right, but fortunately for us, dogs can’t spit. They can push out unwanted objects with their tongue. Therefore, the secret is to push the medicine beyond a point so that they cannot push it back. How to achieve this? This is normally a part of a training programme which is started very early in the life of a puppy.
All you need is a firm table, with the top covered with a cloth. Daily at a particular time, gently lift the pup and place it on the top of the table. Since it is covered with a cloth/towel/any other anti-skid material, it will save your pup from slipping and give him a firm foothold to stand. Gently stroke him from head to the root of the tail, talking sweetly all the time. After a few seconds, gently press his hind portion, so that he sits. Again, caress his forehead and chest. Thereafter take a tiny part of a titbit between the fore and middle fingers of your right hand and place the left palm on his forehead in such a manner that you can gently press the spot where his two jaws meet. Keep talking sweetly to your pup, press the jaws open, and slip in the titbit between your two fingers inside his mouth. You will feel his tongue rise to reject your fingers. Drop the titbit beyond this point and shut his mouth swiftly. Stroke his throat gently with fingers of the other hand, till you feel the titbit being swallowed. Using the softest tone to praise him and again lift and place him back on the floor.
He will associate this with something nice because he got a reward apart from all the honey in your tone. Repeat this daily at the same time and in three days your pup will be more than eager to be placed on the top of the table. As you keep repeating the exercise, two things happen, one he looks forward to this daily and accepts your hand and fingers with something that rewards him.
If your dog falls sick, you can use the same procedure to administer him a tablet, and believe me he will gladly accept it. Please do not forget to reward him after giving him the pill.
The procedure for administering syrup is similar, but you may need an assistant to help you. Instead of a piece of a titbit, fill a disposable syringe minus a needle with one ml of sugar syrup. In the case of syrups, the mouth is held shut with one hand, while the other holds the chest. The assistant draws out the joined lips slightly to one side to make a sort of cup. You raise his head a bit and he/she pushes the plunger to fill the cup with sugar syrup. The dog willingly gulps it. Wipe his mouth with a moist cloth/napkin kept ready beforehand. Praise him all the time and place him back on the ground. Since the pup is already trained to accept the tablet, the syrup is accepted on the first attempt itself.
Your pup may or may not need this kind of medication, but he is bound to get his periodic shots. This is slightly tough, but once the pup begins to associate it with a reward, it becomes easy. I prefer a tiny piece of fried liver as the best reward for the pup because the phobia of the pinprick is sometimes everlasting. However, you are free to select the reward that he will relish at that time. Since he has been used to a table and also to be touched by your assistant (could be a family member as well), he will not resent being touched by the helper/s of the vet. Keep the reward ready in your hand and keep talking to the pup as you do at home and the moment the needle pierces his skin, place your palm with the reward in front of his mouth. He will forget the pain of the prick and concentrate on the reward rather.
You may also think of using commands for the tablet, syrup, and the injection. I remember my dogs offering their hip to the vet at the very sight of a syringe because they associated it with the sweet-smelling reward!
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