An Introduction to Cooperative Care: Happier Pets, Happier People

Want veterinary visits and grooming care to be stress free for you and your pet? Cooperative care training can help!

What is Cooperative Care?

The underlying concept of cooperative care focuses on giving your pet the opportunity to willingly participate in their own care…including grooming and veterinary procedures. Allowing the pet to opt in (or out) of the interaction gives them a measure of control and decreases their overall stress, anxiety, and fear.

Cooperative Care In Zoos

Cooperative care is not a new idea! Zoos have been using cooperative care techniques for years. Using these methods, keepers can train elephants and giraffes to allow hoof care, lions to accept injections, and even monkeys to voluntarily permit blood draws and ultrasounds.

Check out these videos for some examples of how cooperative care is used in zoos!

Behavioral Husbandry at the Denver Zoo

Hyena Training Cooperative Care Behaviors

Giraffe Hoof Care

Why is cooperative care important?

To keep our four-legged friends healthy, they require regular veterinary and grooming care. If your pet is uncooperative for these procedures, it makes it difficult to keep up with their needs and they often go neglected. Pets that willingly participate in their own care live happier, healthier lives. And happier, healthier pets mean more years to spend with your favorite companion!

Can’t my veterinarian or groomer just sedate my pet?

Sedation is sometimes necessary for particularly painful and scary procedures. However, sedation is not without risk and, in a worst case scenario, can even result in death. Sedation should not be considered a replacement for responsible training.

What can you use cooperative care for?

Training can help with a wide variety of procedures including weighing, nail trims, grooming, ear cleaning/medication, eye drops, blood draws, injections, exams, etc.

Getting started with Cooperative Care Training

Cooperative care training is certainly something that you can work on at home!

One of the first things you’ll want to do is introduce your pet to the concept of clicker training. This involves pairing a special marker word or sound (clicker, whistle, etc.) with treats so that it’s easy to reward appropriate behaviors later on in the training process.

Priming the Clicker (Kikopup)

Another very simple thing to introduce at home is predictor words. Predictor words allow your pet to predict what is going to happen. This can be done by utilizing the same word each time you do something with your pet, such as saying “ears” each time before touching your pet’s ears…or “feet” for touching their feet.

There are also lots of great online resources to help you get started! Check out a whole bunch of great resources below!

For more advanced cooperative care behaviors, you’ll may need some guidance from a professional to help you decide how to approach a particular issue and tailor training techniques to your pet. (Look for a future blog post on how to pick a dog trainer!)