I have been telling my staff I want to do this for years, and it’s finally happening! There is a training and certification program created by a veterinary behavior specialist called Low Stress Handling. It teaches alternate ways of treating and restraining dogs and cats that are less scary and more calming. Obviously, we employ many of these techniques in house calls as it is.
This year our staff (techs AND doctors) will undergo the training to become Low Stress Handling Certified. This will help improve house calls (wait, can they get any better?), as well as allow us to provide a low stress brick-and-mortar vet clinic. We’d be the first Low Stress Handling certified veterinary practice in the greater St. Louis area. Both Dr. Laura and I are excited to learn new techniques, and use them in both a house call and clinic setting.
You might not have heard of Low Stress Handling. It’s been around for years, and just as it was starting to gain popularity, the creator, Dr. Sophia Yin, unexpectedly died. The curriculum had been developed, but it lacked the spunky person behind it to get the word out. I was actually scheduled to attend one of her presentations, was super excited, and she died 3 months before coming to St. Louis. Thankfully, the company has brought on other veterinary specialists in the past years, and the certification is available just as Dr. Yin created it.