Emergency 0113 2369030
Out of hours 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Hospital 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Clinic 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Clinic, Ilkley 01943 609285
Emergency 0113 2369030
Out of hours 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Hospital 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Clinic 0113 2369030
Holly House Veterinary Clinic, Ilkley 01943 609285

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Pet Behaviour and Training

Improving emotional welfare and enhancing the relationship between you and your pet

Pet Behaviour and Training

Improving emotional welfare and enhancing the relationship between you and your pet

We are proud to be one of the only Veterinary Practices within the UK to have an onsite Behaviourist, Hazel Shimmin KCAI(CD), MSc.

Hazel is a Kennel Club accredited and MSc qualified dog trainer and behaviour advisor with decades of experience.  

Whilst we all love our animals, many owners report there are things about their behaviour they would like to change.  Dogs may have training issues such as unreliable recall, excessive behaviour in the house or pulling on the lead or behaviour issues such as struggling when left alone, reacting to dogs on walks, fear of loud noises or finding it difficult accepting people coming to the house whilst cats can struggle living in multi-cat households or may develop other behaviour problems related to anxiety.  Our Dog Trainer and Behaviourist can help you resolve all these issues – no problem too big or too small and no animal too young or old!  All methods used are positive and work to further enhance your relationship with your friend whilst he / she learns how much more rewarding good behaviour can be!

If your pet suffers with any of these, or any other conditions, please speak to the vet or for further information about our Behaviour or Training Services, please contact Hazel:

hazel.shimmin@hollyhousevets.co.uk or call 07977 243226

Pet Behaviour and Training

Behaviour Consultations

Many dogs, despite their owner’s best care, may struggle with certain aspect of living in a human society and as a result can develop behaviour problems. Living with animals with behaviour problems can be very stressful, but fortunately many of these can be treated or managed so that they don’t damage your relationship or restrict your life with your dog. These are best treated as soon as possible and in order to support our owners, we have a full time Animal Behaviourist in practice who will be able to guide your through how to help your dog.

Common Dog Behaviour Problems

  • General Anxiety and Fears and Phobias, including noise aversion
  • Separation Anxiety
  • Excessive Behaviour
  • Repetitive Behaviour
  • Aggression – reactivity on walks, resource guarding, territorial aggression

The cost is £250, which includes a Pre Visit Questionnaire, a consult of approximately 2 ½ hours, a full written Behaviour Modification Plan and follow on support by phone or email.  Further visits, where necessary are charge at £100 per session.

Most insurance companies will cover the cost of behavioural referrals.


Dog Training

All dogs require training to be able to live a full and enriched life within the family. Basic training will not only make your dog more cooperative but should also be fun and enhance your relationship. Many nuisance behaviours respond well to training.

Our qualified dog trainer Hazel, offers one to one training in the home environment or out on walks. The types of training covered are:

  • Basic training e.g. sit, stay recall, loose lead walking, leave it, send to bed
  • Pulling on lead
  • Recalls on walks
  • Attention seeking behaviour e.g. jumping up, pestering

The cost is £45 per hour.

 

Habituation and Desensitisation to Vet Practice & Procedure

For dogs that are nervous only at the vets, with offer habituation and desensitisation visits with a vet nurse where we can take our time to gradually get them comfortable in the veterinary environment and with routine procedures. The dog will require regular sessions and homework will be given to owners for a few weeks to build their confidence and make this a less threatening and more rewarding experience.

 

New Rescue Dog Home Visits

Bringing a rescue dog into your family can be an exciting but challenging time. In order to help him / her settle in as quickly as possible and to help prevent behaviour problems, our Dog Behaviourist offers a special home visit tailored to rescue dogs’ needs.

The cost for this is £65 per session.

 

Pre-Purchase Advice

Getting a new Puppy is a very exciting time, but this is a big commitment and there are lots of things to think about to ensure your get the right match for your lifestyle and to help your new addition to settle in.  We offer a pre-purchase advise session where you can ask any questions you have about which breed, sex or age, where to source your puppy, how to introduce to other members of your household and how to ensure you provide the best care in these early days.

 

Puppy Home Visit

Here at Holly House Vets we understand that your puppy psychological welfare is just as important as their physical health and many new owners have lots of questions about how to ensure they are providing the best care for their new pup.  For owners who would like a little more personalised support with their new puppy, we offer a 1½ hour home visit with our behaviourist. These sessions allow plenty of time to answer all your care and management questions, to review your home set up and discuss common issues such as socialisation, puppy biting, toilet training and getting started with training.

The cost for this session is £65 and include a copy of our Puppy Booklet.

 


Puppy Owner Advice and Guidance Sessions

Getting a new puppy is an exciting time, but it can also be quite overwhelming and even experienced owners forget just how much hard work youngsters can be. All owners want to give their new addition the best start in life, but with the amount of information available and with best practice constantly changing, it can be hard to be confident you are making the right decisions.

We offer two lecture / discussion sessions where you will obtain up to date information and the opportunity to discuss your questions and experiences with a vet nurse or behaviourist, as well as other owners. It can be reassuring to see that most owners have similar issues!

Puppy Session cover:

1.  Health Care and Nutrition

2.  Management, training and behaviour

The cost for the 2 hour lecture session is £15.

Looking for more pet advice? Please visit our dog advice pages

 

Puppy Classes

Early training and socialisation is very important for all dogs to help them grow into well adapted and well behaved members of society. These first training classes, for pups from 12 weeks to 6 months, give you and your puppy the opportunity to meet other pups and owners.

Classes are fun, using only positive methods and focussing on play between owner and dog. You will have the opportunity to take the Kennel Club Good Citizens Puppy Foundation Certificate.

The cost of the 6 week course is £65 (10% discount for Pet Health Club members).

Course Content

  • Understanding basic principles of positive dog training
  • Training through play and games to make it fun and keep your dog motivated
  • Socialisation and confidence activities
  • Handling, health checks and familiarisation to practice equipment
  • Attention and response to his/her name
  • Positions and stays
  • Loose lead walking
  • Recall
  • Settling and being relaxed

Behaviour Consultations

As solitary predators, many cats may struggle with living in a human or multi-cat household and as a result can develop behaviour problems. These can cause further stress but fortunately many of these can be improved or resolved with enhanced environmental management and behaviour modification. Our Animal Behaviourist will be happy to support your through the process. 

Common Cat Behaviour Problems

  • House soiling and marking
  • Aggression - towards owner or other cats
  • Repetitive behaviour – excessive grooming, pica
  • Fear and Anxiety, including attachment problems
  • Destruction

The cost is £195, which includes a Pre Visit Questionnaire, a consult of approximately 2 hours, a full written Behaviour Modification Plan and follow on support by phone or email.  Further visits, where necessary are charge at £95 per session.

Most insurance companies will cover the cost of behavioural referrals.

 

Pre-Purchase Advice

If you are thinking about buying a kitten, our pre-purchase advise sessions can talk you through all considerations such as breed and sex, ensure you are well prepared for bringing your kitten home and how best to introduce him / her to your household, especially if you already have other cats. Cats have a very special relationship with their environment and ensuring your have provided all the resources they require and they are situated in appropriate locations will help your kitten to feel at home and secure as quickly as possible.

 

Kitten Home Visit

We recognise that many new owners have many questions about how to ensure they are providing the best care for their new best friend. Cat behaviour is fascinating but often very subtle and can be difficult for new owner to interpret. We offer a 1½ hour home visit with our behaviourist which will be bespoke to your needs but typically may cover things like care and management, and discuss common issues such as socialisation, provision of resources, environmental management and appropriate play

The cost for this session is £65.

 

Kitten Owner Advice and Guidance Sessions

We want to ensure you have all the advice and information you need to offer a high standard of care for your new kitten. Our Advice and Guidance sessions give you the opportunity to get all the most up to date information you may need and also to share your experiences with other new owners. A Vet Nurse or Behaviourist will go through topics such as Behaviour, Health Care and Nutrition and there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions. 

The cost for the 2 hour lecture session is £15.

Looking for more pet advice? Please visit our cat advice pages

Case Studies

In the press

"Hazel gave me a lot of confidence in what I was doing with Nala, she was friendly and relaxed finding out what I wanted to know, while giving advice about how to manage my puppy. The session was not rushed and I felt that I came away with training advice that has been invaluable."

February 2021*****

"Hazel's support with our puppy has been invaluable. We initially asked for her help as our puppy appeared anxious and we were struggling to leave him alone. Hazel visited our home and gave us guidance and practical tips that we could implement straight away, having almost immediate impact. 

A couple of follow-up visits have benefitted us greatly with knowing how to handle our puppy whilst out on walks. We would highly recommend Hazel's services."

February 2021*****

"Hazel's approach to training made things a lot easier for us as well as Sushi to learn what she should and shouldn't be doing. Things have improved so much since we had our sessions. Everything she did to help us train Sushi was very clear to us and easy for us to replicate."

February 2021*****

"2 weeks before Bonfire Night, Hazel came to visit our family dog, Jarvis, due to his fear of fireworks. Hazel gave us some techniques to cope but even though we did not have much time to prepare before Bonfire Night itself, an improvement in Jarvis was visible. We continued with the training and saw an even bigger improvement by New Year's Eve."

February 2021*****

"I asked for help with training my 3 year old lurcher, Poppy. I had been finding her difficult to take out and let off lead as she was roaming far and wide and barking randomly at people at any time. Hazel has had a few sessions with us, and I feel like we have learned a lot. She has shown me how to keep Poppy's attention, how to re-engage with her and most of all she has helped me to understand when Poppy is nervous and how to help her more fully. She has shown me how to make sure that Poppy is always under control. 

I feel like I have learned a lot from Hazel and especially things that I had no picked up from the many general dog training classes we have taken. I have been delighted to have been working with Hazel, it's really made a difference to my confidence and understanding. Poppy is paying more attention to me and improving in her response to recall and interation. 

February 2021*****

"I struggled to get my hyperactive pup to calm down and listen to commands. I tried lots of different techniques from the web and had little to no success. I'm so happy I contacted Hazel - my dog's behaviour has improved massively after only 2 sessions! The sessions are tailored to you and you are shown exactly what to do. Toby's getting better and better, walks are far more enjoyable with him. I highly recommend Hazel for anyone that's having training issues to go for this, you won't regret it!"

February 2021*****

"Hazel has given us fantastic support with our puppy, from basic training to help with challenging behaviour.  She showed us very practical training techniques that were easy to follow, whilst also helping us to understand what our puppy was thinking and feeling and how we needed to adapt our own behaviour to help him feel safe and develop.  Hazel’s approach is both practical and compassionate: her primary concern was the welfare of our dog, but she also understood how we felt as first-time dog owners dealing with challenging puppy behaviour.  We can’t praise Hazel highly enough. And our puppy absolutely loves her!

Thanks again for your support. We couldn’t have done it without you!"

March 2021*****

Hazel has been working with our puppy Ralph and us since he was 12 weeks old.  

As first time puppy owners, Hazels advice and support has been invaluable. We really feel Ralph has benefited hugely from his training. Hazel's advice is practical and realistic, but also fun and Ralph absolutely loves his training sessions.  

Each session we have so many questions which Hazel always patiently answers. Although the practical training tips are very useful, the reassurance we receive that our puppy is 'normal' is also really important!

I would highly recommend Hazel to anyone who is thinking about getting a pup! 

March 2021*****
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Company's registered name: Independent Vetcare Ltd
Registered number: 07746795 - Registered Address: The Chocolate Factory, Keynsham, Bristol BS31 2AU
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