A Course For

Dogs who struggle with anxiety or aggression in relation to the vet, the groomer and/or handling at home.

A cavapoo lying on a bed. He is fluffy and would benefit from cooperative care training to help him to be calm and confident with grooming
An infographic showing a flow cycle between cooperative care training at home, working on a Pet Prep Initiative course, and working with vet and grooming professionals in the vet and grooming environment.
An elderly labrador cross being stroked by his owner following a stress-free vet visit achieved through cooperative care training.
The Pet Prep Initiative circular submark logo

What is The Pet Prep Initiative?

Do you dread the upcoming visit to the vets or groomer?

Whether you have a dog that cannot enter the vet’s waiting room or a dog that wants to snap the groomers hand off, our courses and collaboration with your local vet clinics can help.

You can learn the skills to help your dog.

Research tells us that co-operative care training is all well and good, but it is no good if the personnel who need to understand it are in the dark, and if the training does not get generalised to the clinic environment. The Pet Prep Initiative aims to unite vets, dogs owners, groomers and trainers/behaviourists. Using the same training strategies and terminology, we can make progress where progress may have failed previously.

  • Does your dog get anxious before entering the vets?

  • Does your vet need to muzzle your dog, ‘take him out the back’, or maybe you just feel each visit is more traumatic than it needs to be?

  • Has your dog been banned from your groomer? Or time and time again, your groomer reports problems?

  • Does your dog hate it when you try and dry his paws with a towel? Or maybe it feels like a military operation to apply topical flea/worming products?

  • Do you feel ashamed or embarrassed by your dog’s behaviour, or simply upset? Maybe you are sick of feeling judged or being at the receiving end of snarky comments?

By explaining outcomes to our dogs through training, we can create predictable scenarios, leading to better welfare, calmer pets, safer vet and grooming visits and happier dog owners.

What’s Included

For just £149

  • 7 Easy To Follow Modules

  • Videos and Written Text

  • No time limits

  • Learn foundation skills, start/stop cues and training plans for priority positions/restraints

  • Learn about priority areas of dog behaviour

When you sign up you will receive a:

  • Work book

  • Stethoscope

  • Treat Pot

  • Syringe and pen

  • An introduction to relevant behaviour principles and terminology.

    It is vital that you learn the principles behind this training, so you can apply your own common sense to your training plans.

  • Basic handling techniques, including the concept of start cues, consent based training, head to tail examination, chin target and head restraint.

  • These are important positions to build trust, work on your training skills but also to make life easier going forward. These positions can become the foundation of start cues and positioning for restraint/procedures in other areas.

  • We want our dogs to be excited when they see the muzzle, not fearful. This is where muzzle training comes in.

  • Building confidence and positive associations in common veterinary restraint positions is an important foundation. Within these positions we can also prepare our dogs for the sort of touch and equipment that our dogs should expect for that veterinary or grooming procedure.

  • In this module we delve into training plans for building positive associations with equipment such as nail clippers, grinders, brushes, combs, hair clippers, ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, thermometers, stethoscopes and harness to name but a few.

  • It is so important to take the training you have done at home, and apply it to the clinic environment. This is where finding a Pet Prep Practitioner or Trainer to work with in clinic is absolutely vital.

If your dog displays anxious or aggressive behaviour, this may be the course for you!

This may be the course for you if you observe:

  • Aggression towards the vets when being touched, restrained or for certain procedures

  • Aggression towards you when being touched, restrained or for certain procedures

  • Your dog is reluctant for certain body areas to be touched

  • Your dog requires a muzzle

  • You cannot clip your dog’s nails or apply flea treatment

  • You cannot groom your dog

  • Your groomer reports issues with certain aspects of grooming your dog

  • Your dog becomes excessively distressed at the vets or groomers, or you cannot even get them into the premises.

  • Your dog does not trust you. This may be displayed by hiding, shaking, trying to move away or excessively avoiding eye contact or via other stress signals such as lip licking, yawning , mouthing, snapping or growling in relation to handling, grooming, applying flea/worm treatment or nail clipping to name but a few.

We Can Help You! Get Started Today.

  • Sign Up Here

    1) Click the button below to register

    2) Join our online community
    (Pet Prep Initiative Community Forum via Facebook).

    3) Get started!
    Access your modules in your own time, in any order.

    Take the Course

  • Receive Your Welcome Pack In The Post

    This will include:

    —Your workbook
    —Stethoscope
    —Syringe
    —A pen
    —A treat pot

  • Start Training

    This is where you will build the solid foundations needed for this training to work in other more challenging environments.

    Enjoy your journey. You will learn a lot about your dog, and have fun along the way.

    You may choose to work with your local Pet Prep Practitioner within your vet clinic.

  • "What a beneficial and educational experience. Thanks to Lauras training I have learnt how to have conversations with my dog, understanding his communication behaviour and recognising when he isn’t giving his consent to touch him. Laura's simple and easy to follow steps provide gentle progressive repeat and reward. Practising the steps at home is reducing my dogs stress emotions when having his nails clipped. Laura’s course is going to benefit so many dogs, their owners and veterinary teams too".

    — Vet Nurse and loving dog owner

You are closer than you think to a Confident & Cooperative dog.

Dog Owners Course
£149.00
One time

A course for Dog Owners who struggle with anxiety or aggression in relation to the vet, the groomer and/or handling at home.

✓ 7 Easy To Follow Modules
✓ Videos and Written Text
✓ No time limits
✓ Learn foundation skills, start/stop cues and training plans
✓ Learn about priority areas of dog behaviour

FAQ’s

Have a question? Contact us here.

  • Time and time again, a behaviourist’s caseload is plagued with touch sensitivity, handling issues and severe anxiety or even aggression focused towards vets or groomers or the dog’s caregiver. However, this is often discussed secondary to a long list of other issues, and ultimately, the issue ends up being swept under the carpet until the next time it raises its ugly head. This pattern can repeat over the years, with vet and grooming visits simply being managed with sedation or increasingly more severe restraint.

    So we say, the pattern stops here.

    With easy to follow resources, these issues don’t need to keep being ignored. They can be worked on and you can have fun whilst doing it.

  • Co-operative care training involves:

    Explaining to an animal predictable outcomes via clear training sequences

    Clear training plans create predictability and clarity to otherwise alien concepts such as nail clipping, restraint for blood draw and injections, muzzling and examination.

    Encouraging the animal to become a willing, active participant in the handling procedure, reducing the need for coercion and force, and in some instances sedatives.

    Commonly, start cues or consent positions are used

  • This course for dog owners costs £149.

  • If you are concerned about your own safety whilst working with your dog, please be sure to contact a behaviourist to work with alongside the online program. 

    Click here to find a behaviourist near you.

  • If your practice does not yet have a registered Pet Prep Practitioner, why not alert them to the fact that this is something you would be interested in? It is likely that they will have veterinary nurses/nursing assistants who would be interested in setting up Confident & Cooperative Clinics and completing their training in this area.

  • Find a Pet Prep Practitioner to work with who can help you transfer your learning to the clinic environment via Confident & Cooperative Clinics. Or if grooming is your focus find a good experienced groomer to work with. If you are working with a groomer, it would be a good idea to share with them your work via some short videos and discuss how this could be transferred to their work.

  • For training at home:

    Visit our Pet Prep Certified Trainers register

    For training within the veterinary environment, visit our Pet Prep Practitioner register.

    Can’t find someone near you?

    Click here to find a behaviourist near you.

Finding practical help with your training at home

If you are concerned about your own safety whilst working with your dog, please be sure to contact a behaviourist to work with alongside the online program. Click here to find a behaviourist near you.