I imagine you’re about as thrilled to touch your dog’s backside as your dog is having it touched. Unfortunately, the life of a house dog is rough and sometimes a butt needs wiped. Just like you might turn around and slap someone who pinched your butt while you’re walking down the street, your pup may nip if you touch their butt unexpectedly.
Desensitizing your dog to having their butt handled will make it easier for your groomer or vet to express the anal glands if needed, to comb the hair of a long haired chihuahua, or to wipe a dirty bottom.
You’ll also want to be able to touch the bottom as a sort of warm-up to touching the tail. The tail is a very sensitive topic for many dogs, and warming up to being touched on the backend is a great precursor to tail touching.
Butt Scratch but Better
A great starting point for introducing butt handling is the base of the tail. Most dogs already loved to be scratched right here, and so finding out they’re going to be rewarded is just icing on the cake. Pair the butt scratch with a treat and repeat this about 10x.
If for some reason your dog does not love being scratched here, find a point where your dog doesn’t mind it—higher up on the hip perhaps, or even the lower back. Progress one inch down, watching for signs your pet no longer likes it, until you reach the base of the tail.
At the next session, do the base of tail scratch and a treat as a warmup, maybe 2 or 3 times, and then move to the side and down just a little bit, no more than an inch. Repeat this 10x.
Pay Attention to Cues
The goal of desensitization is to get your dog used to something they’re not wild about in a positive way. As we’re changing from a normally friendly area (a base of tail scratch) to something less friendly (even just an inch away) your pup may not be so wild about it.
Let’s review some mild signs that your dog isn’t quite on board with a change in location:
- Going from panting to suddenly snapping mouth shut
- Lip licking
- White visible around the eye
- Sitting down hard
- Spinning butt away
- Tail tuck
- Tight lips
- Showing teeth
- Growling
- Snapping
- Biting
Ideally, you will never see the last 4 reactions. Instead, you’ll move back if you see even the mildest signs of disapproval from your pet, and only try again after a few more positive associations at a level they’re fine at. This isn’t something that can be forced.
You should keep touching and rewarding the same area until your pet clearly doesn’t care if you are touching there or not. Only then should you move to a new location on your dog’s bottom.
Continuing Down the Sides
Back to training butt desensitization, when your pup is just as fine with you lightly touching the top of one butt cheek, you can move down an inch. On a chihuahua, this should probably put you in about the middle of their back pants.
Pair touching here with a reward, rewarding quickly after touching so your dog associates the reward with the touch. Do a minimum of 10 repetitions, with checks for any signs your pup does not like it, before continuing.
Once your dog is completely happy with being touched at this middle point, it’s time for the bottom of the back pants, just above the top of the hock. Again, pair touching here with a reward until your pup is happy to be touched here.
Switch Sides
Once your dog is completely fine being touched lightly all the way down the back pants on one side, it’s time to desensitize the other side of his rear. Start at the very beginning and work the opposite side of the rear as if your dog has never experienced getting their rear touched before.
Dogs do not generalize well, so it’s helpful for them to be trained in something “new” (the other side of their bum) as if they hadn’t just had one side of their butt cheek desensitized.
Though it’s likely this side will be easier than the other side, not rushing the process and taking your time desensitizing the rear will make our next subject—the tail—easier.
Similar Posts:
- Introduction to Tail Desensitization
- How to desensitize your dog to mouth handling
- Touch Desensitization: Feet
- Introduction to Ear Desensitization
- How to Teach Your Dog to Use a Scratch Board
