Exercise 1-10: Ears
Dog holds head still for physical manipulation and visual inspection of each ear.
Handler encourages the dog to hold its head still (may use chin rest or light restraint), lifts or touches each ear, and looks inside for 3 seconds.
Exercise 1-10: Ears
Dog holds head still for physical manipulation and visual inspection of each ear.
Handler encourages the dog to hold its head still (may use chin rest or light restraint), lifts or touches each ear, and looks inside for 3 seconds.
Purpose: An ear exam is part of routine veterinary visits. Your vet will lift each ear and look inside. Some breeds, and some individual dogs, tend to have frequent ear infections that are very painful and require treatment. Familiarizing your dog with basic ear exams is a good plan should future treatments be necessary.
Equipment: Treats.
Exercise set-up: The dog can be in any comfortable position. The handler should be facing the dog. A chin rest or light muzzle/head restraint may be used during the exercise.
Scoring: In order to pass this exercise, the dog must hold his head still and allow the trainer to touch each ear or lift the ear flap, and look inside for at least 3 seconds.
Non-qualifiers: The dog does not hold still (gentle verbal encouragement is allowed) for the exam. The trainer does not physically hold or move the ear. The trainer does not gaze into each ear for at least 3 seconds.
Tips: Some dogs can be very uncomfortable having their ears manipulated, so take it slowly. Work first on reaching for the ear, then touching it, then moving it.
Video example:
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