Austin’s only Fear Free Certified Practice
Austin’s first Fear Free Certified Practice
What it means to be Fear Free
Fear free means holding each pet’s emotional as well as physical wellbeing in mind at all times. It’s not possible to treat one without the other. We have learned to recognize even subtle signs of fear, anxiety, and stress in pets in our care.
Fear Free Certified Team
Being Fear Free Certified Professionals means our team is well educated in canine and feline body language. We understand how to identify and reduce fear, anxiety, and stress during your pet’s visit. We use compassionate handling techniques along with lots of positive reinforcement in the form of treats and toys! We don’t push your pet to do anything they feel is scary or fearful. We will treat your pet on the floor, in your lap, or even outside, if that helps alleviate stress in your pet. We communicate what we are doing every step of the way.
Fear Free Certified Team
Being Fear Free Certified Professionals means our team is well educated in canine and feline body language. We understand how to identify and reduce fear, anxiety, and stress during your pet’s visit. We use compassionate handling techniques along with lots of positive reinforcement in the form of treats and toys! We don’t push your pet to do anything they feel is scary or fearful. We will treat your pet on the floor, in your lap, or even outside, if that helps alleviate stress in your pet. We communicate what we are doing every step of the way.
Fear Free Certified Practice
Practice Certification takes Fear Free implementation to the next level. Fear Free Certified Practices implement Fear Free into all aspects of their business: culture and leadership, client education, staff training, facility, and patient visits. To be a certified practice you must pass an online assessment and onsite visit with a Fear Free Practice Certification Veterinarian. Fear Free reviews their certified practices every three years to ensure they are continuing to meet their rigorous standards.
Star of Texas is honored to be Austin’s first and only Fear Free certified practice since 2018.
Happy Visits
Happy Visits are a trust building service we provide for our patients to maintain a positive association with veterinary visits. During our happy visits, we avoid any potentially stressful events such as needle pokes, temperature taking, or restricting their movement such as they would experience during a traditional vet visit.
Generally, these upbeat visits consist of large quantities of Easy Cheese, peanut butter, and squeaky toys but this can be anything that is considered “the best” from your dog’s perspective. The trust we build with your pet during these frequent sessions can be used later on to desensitize them to things they find stressful such as nail trims, vaccinations, and restraint.
Before starting a Happy Visit the veterinary staff will judge your pet’s comfort level. Depending on what your pet is comfortable with, we may walk them around this hospital, visit exam rooms, or play in the backyard! Hopefully we will do a little more at each session than the previous one until your pet is comfortable being in the veterinary hospital. Like most training sessions, Happy Visits are recommended in frequent, short sessions to keep your dog focused and from becoming overstimulated or bored. Visits typically last about 10 minutes and are recommended as frequently as is convenient for you, typically weekly to monthly.
Happy Visits
Happy Visits are a trust building service we provide for our patients to maintain a positive association with veterinary visits. During our happy visits, we avoid any potentially stressful events such as needle pokes, temperature taking, or restricting their movement such as they would experience during a traditional vet visit.
Generally, these upbeat visits consist of large quantities of Easy Cheese, peanut butter, and squeaky toys but this can be anything that is considered “the best” from your dog’s perspective. The trust we build with your pet during these frequent sessions can be used later on to desensitize them to things they find stressful such as nail trims, vaccinations, and restraint.
Before starting a Happy Visit the veterinary staff will judge your pet’s comfort level. Depending on what your pet is comfortable with, we may walk them around this hospital, visit exam rooms, or play in the backyard! Hopefully we will do a little more at each session than the previous one until your pet is comfortable being in the veterinary hospital. Like most training sessions, Happy Visits are recommended in frequent, short sessions to keep your dog focused and from becoming overstimulated or bored. Visits typically last about 10 minutes and are recommended as frequently as is convenient for you, typically weekly to monthly.
Victory Visits
A Victory Visit is a scheduled session of positive reinforcement and desensitization to common items in the clinic. This helps build a positive relationship between your pet and the clinic over time. These sessions may look different for every pet, working towards goals like mock exams, blood draws, nail trims, etc. These visits typically last 15-20 minutes, and we strive to schedule these during the calmest hours at the clinic.
Trust and positive association take several visits to acquire. For many pets we are trying to undo years’ worth of negative experiences. At each visit we take small, gradual steps toward our end goal. These small improvements may seem insignificant at first, but they will be the building blocks for larger improvements down the road. Desensitization is a way for us to present stressful things in smaller, controlled sessions to your pet while positively rewarding them for being brave. In some instances, we may even get your dog to enjoy what used to make them fearful!
The more frequently these sessions occur, the more trust and positive associations we will build. Each pet’s progress will depend on their previous experience, personality, age, and amount of training.
If your doctor has previously recommended any anti-anxiety medications for veterinary visits, please give them accordingly before visits. Likewise, if your pet is less stressed when wearing a Thundershirt® or with nutraceuticals on board, please use those!