30/10/2025
Counter conditioning isnโt about avoiding pressure โ itโs about helping the dog learn they can move through it safely and building from a minute level to change how dog feels about every step. Slight discomfort but choosing not to react and engagement, thatโs the sweet spot for effective counter conditioning. Next time, the bar for slight discomfort will be higher โค๏ธ๐พ BUT that doesnโt mean weโll push him to the highest limit each time, the reps are 10:1 of easy or smaller stress levels to higher stress.
In this clip, Terence is having his chest shaved for an echocardiogram. Youโll see a small moment where he glances at the vet, licks his lips, then checks back in with me โ and I donโt stop the process there.
Thatโs intentional. This isnโt a cooperative care session where he controls the pace โ itโs a counterconditioning moment designed to help him cope and build confidence while something mildly uncomfortable happens.
Instead of pausing at the first sign of uncertainty, I let him work through it while keeping focus on me and the toy. He chooses engagement, earns his reward, and learns that he can handle that pressure and recover โ thatโs resilience in real time. If this were his first time with this level of pressure, I would have rewarded as soon as he checked back into engagement. But as weโve worked to build him beyond this and itโs perhaps the clippers have hurt a ni**le (which I knew would be momentary), I chose to let him process it and time in engagement with me pass before rewarding him to build that resilience.
๐ก Counterconditioning changes how a dog feels about something. Cooperative care teaches them to participate voluntarily. Both are valuable โ but here, weโre reinforcing engagement and neutrality during a necessary and prolonged test.
The result? He completed a 20-minute echo without stress, and celebrated throughout by playing with me, the vet and techs.
Where time allows, counter conditioning or cooperative care training are fantastic tools to help a dog averse to touch or examination.