Out of all the husbandry procedures, teaching dogs to tolerate having their eyes examined and also accepting eye drops is one of the most difficult ones.
Eyes are nothing to be complacent about. If you see any signs of an eye infection or change in the eye, it’s straight to the vet.
Certainly in humans, seeing the eye dropper bottle coming towards your eye can be scary and stressful, but for dogs, they don’t know why it’s happening and can become very fearful.
This is where cooperative care comes in! Teaching your dog to tolerate an eye dropper or ointment tube coming towards their eye is a great goal to strive for.
Getting Your Dog Used to Eye Handling
Starting with puppies, if you can include gentle eye exams with your everyday handling is a great start.
- Gently have one hand at the side of the face and the other very gently lifting the eyelid for a split second, then mark and treat.
- Gradually increase duration by adding a pause of 1 second before marking and treating.
- You can include lifting the top eyelid and moving the bottom eyelid down.
Teaching a chin rest is a fantastic way to start to add stillness and duration. Watch this video to see how you can teach your dog this useful skill.
Watch Now: Chin Rest Video
Getting Your Dog Used to Eye Drops or Ointment
If course with eye ointment or drops, the dog being still is perhaps the most important skill to teach, otherwise the medication will end up all over your dog’s nose or face, or you could do damage to the eye if your dog moves suddenly.
- Once you have stillness and duration, start adding a practice tube or bottle gradually by at first holding it at a distance where your dog can see it in their peripheral but is not worried. Mark and treat.
- Gradually bring the tube closer until your dog can be still with the tube just near the eye.
Ultimately, you want to be able to practice before you need it, so consult with your vet if there is something such as saline that you can practice dropping in the eye.
Otherwise, getting stillness with a tube near the eye is a great goal! It will make it so much easier to administer medication when needed.
Helping Your Dog Feel More Comfortable
Cooperative Care Training can help your dog become more confident and comfortable with procedures like ear handling/cleaning, grooming and nail trimming, while reducing the fear, anxiety and stress often associated with these husbandry procedures.
Read our collection of articles on Cooperative Care in Dogs to learn how you can use cooperative care training to make everyday grooming and health care less stressful for your dog.