I decided to make a list earlier to break down "go in carrier, ride in car, go to vet" into as small of steps as I could think of, for Emma's training plan. There's a LOT of steps! This will likely be our big project for the year. I want to have her as comfortable as possible so we can move forward on a stable setting & not traumatize her.
("Drive to mcds" is going to McDonald's for goodies like chicken nuggets and ice cream! And each step is likely to be high value treats first, then again with regular treats, depending on how it all goes.)
The end gets a bit more vague, as that's likely a long ways off. I'll break it down a bit more when we get further along. I know there will be a whole mess to figure out getting an actual exam on her that isn't just visual. Even if she's anesthetized for it, they still have to be able to do the actual anesthesia somehow. But I'm hoping maybe to get a better idea of how when we get months down the line towards that, and see where she's at overall, and see if the vet has ideas.
For now, we're on step one for the past couple days & it's going well! She's stopped running to her safe spot in a mild panic when I go near the crate, and just watches. Alert, but not overly upset. She approached it twice tonight, not quite up to it to sniff, but definitely checking it out! I think this was a much better step to start at than skipping straight to trying to encourage interaction.
