Your dog will not keep the cone on after surgery, and what it can be swapped for is your vet's call

Your dog came home yesterday in a plastic cone. Since then they have walked into 2 door frames, tipped the water bowl over, and had it off twice.

The cone is not there to be liked. It is there so the wound is still closed next week, and that part is not yours to negotiate.

Ask the practice before you change anything

There are other collars and there are body suits. Which of them is right depends on the wound and its position, and that is a veterinary decision rather than a training one.

1. 1

   Call the practice, describe exactly what your dog is doing, and ask what else they are happy with for this wound.

2. 2

   Ask about a softer or shorter collar, an inflatable one, or a body suit, and whether any of them covers the site.

3. 3

   Ask what you should be watching at the wound, and what would make them want to see your dog.

4. 4

   Do not swap the cone for something you have not asked about, and do not take it off because your dog is unhappy in it.

Write the answers down by the kettle. You will be trying to remember them at 11pm.

Living in the cone

1. 1

   Feed from a shallow dish or a flat tray at floor level, so the cone is not in the way.

2. 2

   Use a wider water bowl, or raise it onto a low box.

3. 3

   Clear a route between the bed, the door and the water, and move the furniture your dog keeps catching.

4. 4

   Take the cone off only when the practice has said you can, and only while you are sitting with your dog.

5. 5

   Ask whether you can pad the rim before you do it.

When the practice says lead only

Your dog is 11 months old, feels fine, and has been told to do nothing for a fortnight. That is the hard part of this, not the collar.

1. 1

   Take the walk the practice allows, on a harness and a short leash, somewhere dull. No long line, no off-lead, no other dogs.

2. 2

   Go out more often for less time rather than once for longer, if the practice is happy with that.

3. 3

   Put a gate across the stairs, and put mats down on the slippery run where your dog usually takes off.

4. 4

   Skip the dog park, the ball and the friend's dog completely until your dog has been signed off.

Use the nose instead of the legs

The things that settle a dog without moving them are the ones you need this fortnight. They do more for a bored adolescent dog than a longer walk would anyway.

1. 1

   Scatter half a meal into a towel or a mat and let your dog work through it lying down.

2. 2

   Hide 5 pieces of food around one room, then release your dog to find them at a walk.

3. 3

   Put food under 1 of 2 upturned boxes and let your dog choose. 2 minutes is a session.

4. 4

   Give one long chew a day in the same spot, on something safe and too large to swallow whole.

5. 5

   Ask whether the practice is happy for the cone to come off for that, while you sit with your dog.

Relaxation is trained as a behaviour in its own right, in short repeatable sets below your dog's threshold. Feed your dog on a mat for lying down, 2 minutes at a time, 3 times a day.

Make the collar ordinary, after the recovery

This is the practice to do when nothing is wrong. Once your dog has been signed off, spend a fortnight teaching them that a collar going on predicts food.

Working below the threshold at which your dog reacts is the condition for learning. That means seconds at a time with food arriving, rather than an hour of holding out.

1. 1

   Hold the collar out, feed, and put it down again. 6 reps, and nothing else.

2. 2

   Put it on, feed 5 treats one after another, and take it straight off.

3. 3

   Build to your dog wearing it while they eat their dinner, then while they chew, then while they sleep.

4. 4

   Stop at your planned end point rather than when your dog protests, so quiet is what ends the session.

Do not hold a struggling dog down to get a collar on. Punishment-based approaches are associated with fear, avoidance and defensive aggression, and restraint sits in that territory.

Reward-based methods are what the veterinary behaviour guidance recommends, and behaviour change is built from management plus reinforcement together. Here the management is the gate and the short leash.

Today's version, in one line: call the practice and ask what else they will accept, then scatter half the next meal into a towel.