Calm Canine Clinics: Reducing fear and anxiety in practice

The veterinary clinic can be a stressful environment for many of our patients, and any resulting fear and anxiety can have long-lasting impacts on their emotional and physical wellbeing, and can compromise the safety of both owners and staff members. Creating a Calm Clinic environment is essential in conditioning a positive emotional and physical response in our patients when they visit us, which in turn facilitates a calmer and safer practice environment for owners and staff.

This one-day course with experienced lecturer, RVN and behaviourist Charlie Wright explores ways to reduce fear and anxiety in canine patients in the practice. By recognising species-specific factors that influence the biological stress response and the behavioural coping strategies of a patient, we can tailor how we approach patients, manage the environment, and design behaviour-focused services within the clinic.

Every staff member plays a crucial role in helping to create a calm clinic environment, so this course is open to the whole team, including vets, vet nurses, management, veterinary care assistants and receptionists.

Topics covered include:

• Recognising species-specific challenges
• Adapting our approach to focus on emotional health
• Overcoming barriers in canine stress reduction
• Facilitating caregiver compliance
• Running canine behaviour services
• Training dogs for examination and procedures