Cooperative Care: Consent, Choice, and Practical Application featuring Jessica Benoit (RVT, VTS, CPDT, KPA CTP)

Tails from a Vet Tech

This week, Jessica Benoit joins Tabitha to discuss cooperative care.

Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences. The animal either gives consent by performing a behavior or is easily distracted by food during a veterinary procedure.

Many animals feel fear, anxiety, and stress at their veterinary visits and with husbandry procedures. Cooperative care techniques provide animals with some choice and control which decreases fear, reduces stress, and increase comfort for the animal. Cooperative care gives the animal a voice and a choice and a way to say, “no, not right now” or “I’m not comfortable”. Empowered choice of the animal met with respectful actions of the handler builds the animals trust in the handler and in the care process itself. By having your animal become a willing participant of their own care, their confidence will increase, thus increasing their tolerance of future handling and veterinary care.

Jessica and I discuss what is cooperative care, benefits of cooperative care, applications of cooperative care in the veterinary setting, and more!

Also, keep an eye out for future cooperative care online and in-person events from Jessica (CVC Animal Training) and I (Chirrups and Chatter)

About our guest:
Jessica graduated from the NAIT Animal Health Technology program in 2010. She is a Registered Veterinary Technologist and the co-owner of Companion Veterinary Clinic, a Fear Free Certified Practice in Alberta, Canada. She is a Veterinary Technician Specialist in Behaviour, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. Jessica is also a Fear Free Certified veterinary professional, trainer, and speaker.

Jessica developed the training and behaviour program at Companion Veterinary Clinic in 2013, developing curricula for dog training classes, kitten classes, trick training, and offering private training and behaviour modification sessions.
Jessica enjoys educating and sharing her knowledge through speaking engagements which include Doggone Safe presentations for children, guest lecturing for post-secondary institutions, providing client education seminars as well as continuing education events for veterinary professionals. In addition, she provides mentorship for veterinary technologists and trainers interested in animal behaviour. In her spare time, she loves reading and being outdoors with her husband and two children, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and 13 chickens!
Related Show Resources:

• Companion Vetinary Clinic CA (Jessica's business):

https://www.companionvet.ca/training/

• Cat and Dog Behavior Consulting and Education US (Tabitha's business):

https://www.Chirrupsandchatter.com

• Cooperative Veterinary Care Book by Alicea Howell and Monique Feyrecilde:

https:

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