{"id":2797,"date":"2021-12-06T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/"},"modified":"2024-09-04T19:56:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T19:56:45","slug":"fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><strong>Sandra Toney<\/strong>Hanover Veterinary Hospital in Cedar Lake, Indiana, has the distinction of being the first veterinary hospital in the Northwest Indiana region to become Fear Free Practice certified.<\/p>\n<p>Lindsay Pollard, FFCP (Veterinary), the hospital\u2019s practice manager, says they began trying out some Fear Free methods after hearing about the concept. \u201cA few of\u00a0our staff members obtained individual\u00a0certifications,\u201d Pollard says. \u201cAfter learning more and attending a few conferences where Fear Free was highlighted, we decided to go all the way.\u201d Hanover Veterinary Hospital completed the program to become Fear Free certified in December 2018.<\/p>\n<p>When deciding to become a Fear Free Practice, the biggest difference has been in the way he interacts with the animals after certification, says owner Jeremiah Bieszczak, DVM. \u201cThe biggest change has been reading body language and emotional state\/stress level and addressing that instead of pushing through it. We are better able to read pets and have more tools and knowledge to deal with these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many long-term clients are delighted with the constructive visits they\u2019ve had with Fear Free, and new clients are thrilled with the difference between them and their previous veterinarian, says Pollard. Oftentimes they mention the care and compassion used when handling their pets. Pollard feels they\u2019ve made much progress with many of the patients since becoming Fear Free certified.<\/p>\n<p>Fear Free helps all pets, but scared pets often need Fear Free much more to turn their lives around. Pollard has one patient in particular whom she\u2019ll always remember and says Fear Free methods changed everything for this dog.<\/p>\n<p>The pet was a 14-year-old female shepherd mix. Sally, who has since passed away, desperately needed help. \u201cPrior to our Fear Free certification, both Sally and her owner, Sara Zilz, dreaded coming to the vet. She also had some fear aggression and anxiety issues at home. She had a very high FAS and was fearful to the point of aggression,\u201d says Pollard. \u201cOur exams with her were very limited at best and it took several staff members to accomplish anything with her at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sally had been adopted by Zilz from the humane society when she was 9 weeks old. She didn\u2019t notice any problems with Sally until she took her for training and Sally became spooked by large signs in the store hanging over her head. Then she began showing other fearful behaviors. Zilz says Sally disliked smoke from the grill and even hated when someone blew out a candle. She started having food-guarding issues and was even afraid of shadows on walks.<\/p>\n<p>Zilz says she never thought about potential problems at the veterinarian\u2019s office. \u201cI had her boarded at Hanover. Dr. Bieszczak came out when I picked her up and nicely said something along the lines of \u2018She needs to be medicated before we will take her for another boarding.\u2019\u00a0This broke my heart.\u00a0I did not realize she was that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A veterinary technician named Bobbi became Sally\u2019s best friend when she was boarded.\u00a0Bobbi would sit in her kennel with her and try to get her to come out.\u00a0She wouldn\u2019t even go outside to potty.\u00a0 Bobbi called Zilz several times and asked if she could do some things to help her.\u00a0After that, Bobbi became Sally\u2019s veterinary technician of choice.<\/p>\n<p>After they became Fear Free certified, Bieszczak started Sally on fluoxetine, an anti-depressant. This medication was a game-changer for her. Pollard says they also started doing happy visits with Sally, using treats with her during exams and treatment, and including calming pheromone\u00a0products during her happy visits and exams\/treatment.\u00a0 They also tried to keep the same staff member\u00a0working with her all the time, and kept detailed notes on her likes and triggers, constantly adapting their plan and approach to better suit Sally individually.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe made more progress with each happy visit and regular visit until eventually she was happy to see several staff members,\u201d Pollard says, \u201cand she was happy coming into the building. Sally would readily accept most treatment from us with the help of some treat distractors and enforcers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt one point, I felt everyone wanted to give up on Sally.\u00a0Once I saw the Hanover Veterinary Hospital staff was not giving up on her, I knew things would be okay,\u201d says Zilz.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was reviewed\/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and\/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.<\/em><\/p>\n<h6 id=\"h-steve-dale-cabc-certified-animal-behavior-consultant-has-written-and-contributed-to-many-books-about-pets-hosts-three-radio-shows-contributes-to-veterinary-practice-news-catster-and-others-is-on-the-board-of-directors-of-the-human-animal-bond-association-and-winn-feline-foundation-and-is-chief-correspondent-for-fear-free-happy-homes-he-speaks-at-conferences-worldwide-his-blog-www-stevedale-tv\">Sandra Toney has been writing about cats for over 25 years and is an award-winning member of Cat Writers Association and Dog Writers Association of America. She has written for many print and online magazines about cat health and behavior as well as authoring eight books. She lives in northern Indiana with her cat, Angel.<\/h6>\n<h6><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n<h6><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fear Free helps all pets, but scared pets often need Fear Free much more to turn their lives around. Pollard has one patient in particular whom she\u2019ll always remember and says Fear Free methods changed everything for this dog. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[133,134,194,283],"content-type":[47],"duration":[53],"membership-type":[75,125,78,79,80],"profession":[41,39,40,37,36],"species":[31,34],"topic":[27],"class_list":["post-2797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-dog","tag-fear-free","tag-pets","tag-success","content-type-blog","duration-5-minutes-or-less","membership-type-animal-trainer","membership-type-certified-practice","membership-type-groomer","membership-type-pet-sitter","membership-type-veterinary","profession-groomer","profession-practice-manager","profession-support-staff","profession-technician-nurse","profession-veterinarian","species-canine","species-feline","topic-success-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fear Free helps all pets, but scared pets often need Fear Free much more to turn their lives around. Pollard has one patient in particular whom she\u2019ll always remember and says Fear Free methods changed everything for this dog.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fear Free\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-06T08:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-04T19:56:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"351\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tbe_admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tbe_admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/\",\"name\":\"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-06T08:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-04T19:56:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35bff8c8b7f8addbc63d72a9543f0f1e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg\",\"width\":618,\"height\":351},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Fear Free\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35bff8c8b7f8addbc63d72a9543f0f1e\",\"name\":\"tbe_admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df317f5eeb4863c421687d054ae671ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df317f5eeb4863c421687d054ae671ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tbe_admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/fearfree-starter:8888\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/author\/tbe_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free","og_description":"Fear Free helps all pets, but scared pets often need Fear Free much more to turn their lives around. Pollard has one patient in particular whom she\u2019ll always remember and says Fear Free methods changed everything for this dog.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/","og_site_name":"Fear Free","article_published_time":"2021-12-06T08:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-04T19:56:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":618,"height":351,"url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"tbe_admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tbe_admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/","name":"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital - Fear Free","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-06T08:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-04T19:56:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35bff8c8b7f8addbc63d72a9543f0f1e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/C61F6C740B6042EEB0F3EEEC01BAB312-1-e1638153288554.jpg","width":618,"height":351},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/2021\/12\/fear-free-success-story-hanover-veterinary-hospital\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fear Free Success Story: Hanover Veterinary Hospital"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/","name":"Fear Free","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35bff8c8b7f8addbc63d72a9543f0f1e","name":"tbe_admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df317f5eeb4863c421687d054ae671ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df317f5eeb4863c421687d054ae671ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tbe_admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/fearfree-starter:8888"],"url":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/author\/tbe_admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3583,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions\/3583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"duration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/duration?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"membership-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/membership-type?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"profession","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profession?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"species","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/species?post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fearfree.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}