Introducing a New Vest to Your Service or Support Dog

There can be a variety of gear that you may want to get for your dog, such as an emotional support dog vest. However, when it’s time to introduce any new piece of gear to your dog, this can create quite a stressful situation for your dog and yourself. There are ways to help you and your dog through the process. Here are some tips for introducing a new vest to your emotional support dog or service dog.

Don’t Rush the Process

While one of the top recommended tips of introducing your dog to a new vest is to start young, many people with service or emotional support dogs didn’t get the dog during their puppy stages. Even some who did, in fact, get their dog during the puppy years, there may come a time, down the line, when they need to introduce a new piece of equipment to the dog. A key thing to remember is not to rush the process. This will only create more stress for you and your dog. Allow the dog to move at their own pace and appeal to their natural curiosity.

Appeal to Your Dog’s Natural Curiosity

A good first step in introducing a new vest to your dog is to appeal to your dog’s natural curiosity. Sit it out and allow them to come into it first. Don’t force it own them, but allow their natural curiosity to take control. Allow them to look over the equipment, sniff at it, and just get used to it being around. A good tip here is as your dog is sniffing, you may want to give them some treats to let them know that them exploring the vest is encouraged and approved of by you. This is an important step to take before attempting to use the vest on the dog. If your dog has never seen a vest before, and in some cases, even if the style is drastically different from the last, this can be frightening to your dog at first. This first step will help to make the process more friction-free.

Stay Steady and Calm

Eventually, your dog will grow accustomed to having the vest in their environment, their curiosity will fade, and it will be just like any other item in the room. Now you can try to put on the emotional dog support vest, but remember to keep your emotions stable. You can pet the dog or even use your voice to calm them if necessary, but remember that pet dogs are very attuned to human emotions, and emotional support dogs are even more so.