Our friends at Chewy.com graciously offered me a bag of Orijen Freeze-Dried dog treats in exchange for a product review. We love trying out new treats and always have to have some bite-sized treats on hand for walks and evening calming activities, so how could I say no to that? I decided to enlist Fozzie as my research assistant, as he is the most picky of my three canines. In addition, Fozzie's nails really needed doing and I knew I would need a high-value treat to make any headway on that front with my anxious Fozzie-man.
Although I tell my clients with nail clipper-averse dogs to work on desensitization and counterconditioning a little bit every day with their dogs, I am very bad at following my own advice and my pups don't get their nails worked on nearly as often as they could.
With the result that Fozzie is still a nervous Nellie when the nail clippers come out.
So we went through the process, showing him the clippers then giving him a tiny bit of Freeze-Dried Alberta Wild Boar.
Though Fozzie does enjoy many treats, these treats really seemed especially desirable and cranked up his motivation to endure even those terrifying nail clippers.
To help him out, I massaged his paw, did some nice TTouch all over it and continued giving him bits of freeze-dried heaven. In the end, the freeze dried treats won out over Fozzie's fear and he let me clip a few of his nails. But just a few.
Then the mailman came, presenting another opportunity to see just how appealing Orijen Freeze Dried treats are to Fozzie.
Fozzie has this fabulous habit of going absolutely nuts when the mailman comes, lunging and barking at the window and making a huge fuss.
Although I try to keep him inside at that time of the afternoon, he still puts his paws up on the window and has a fit.
But even his laser-like concentration on the mailman was not laser-like enough once the freeze-dried treats came out.
Wow, excellent job letting him get a few nails clipped. Those treats look droolingly delicious!
ReplyDeleteAll we could say is YUMMY
ReplyDeleteBenny & Lily
That's awesome! What great progress you made Kirsten!! I bet with a little of that every day you'll have him handing you his paw. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYum, that is good news.
ReplyDeleteNot only delish, but very helpful. Well done, Fozzie.
ReplyDeleteThese treats look great. The pups are now on a wild boar based food so I've found its another protein source they do tolerate and I'd like to try it.
ReplyDeleteI've often lamented on your blog that Hades has major nail clipping issues--well he's now gone to the groomer twice no problem! They take his time with him but he doesn't scream like he does at home and they don't have to muzzle him. Success! We always bring along some of his favorite treats, though!