Having the tools at your side to deliver the Low Stress care experience is important, especially when creating a new culture of care. It is important that the treats, paper bowls, towels and other tools are stocked every night just like the cotton balls, alcohol and syringes.

In most small animal practices, the intake is done by the technician. Weight check, temp, heart rate, and history are performed by the veterinary technician.  With the advances of Low Stress Handling® skills, there may be some variation on how intensive the technician will be in gathering these vital signs prior to the veterinarian stepping into the room.  There is acknowledgement of the stress level of the patient, so the technician may forego some of the intake exam to reduce stress and allow the veterinarian to triage care. I always felt it was all fun and games until the doctor

As the discipline of reducing stress during veterinary care grows, it helps to have a place where you can find resources.  In this post, I have gathered the handouts, blog articles, book chapters, and on-line course content descriptions in one place to help you provide a better care experience for your patients. At my practice, Okaw Veterinary Clinic, I found that hanging a framed copy of both the dog and cat body language posters helped me and my staff recognize brewing fear and aggression before it escalated. The posters are available to purchase in packs of 100, which make great

Featured Low Stress Handling Clinic:Zionsville Country Veterinary Clinic (Whitestown, IN) I met Dr. Shari Lyons many years ago at a women’s veterinary practice owners retreat in Louisville, Kentucky. I lost touch with her over the years, but we reconnected when she contacted me about bringing more Low Stress Handling® training into her clinic. As a way of kickstarting that process, she attended my first Master Class Weekend in Tuscola, IL, and she brought photos of her clinic, as attendees tend to do, to discuss ways to enhance the space for a less stressful veterinary experience. Her new clinic had been

In this article I will address what techniques help reduce stress in emergency care, how you can achieve patient cooperation when you do not have the ability to use food rewards, address staff safety, and why the experience in an emergency setting affects an animal for all veterinary care.

As I am leading handling labs in Low Stress Handling, I have come to realize the tremendous impact hands-on learning has to actually feeling confident using Low Stress handling techniques. This type of learning is also called tactile learning – because you literally feel the process of what you are learning.