advise please

[meggit]

ive come home from work tonight to find that buddy has gunky eyes they are not swollen or watering and dont seem to be bothering him (hes not rubbing his head on the carpet or anything like that) its just green gunge shall i just clean them with water or do you think its a vet needs to see him job what ever it is its both eyes and it wasnt there this morning

[Mattie]

If he has conjuntivitis water could make it worse, milk at room temperature will be better but think I would get them checked by a vet if they are bad.

[meggit]

well took buddy to the vet and the opinion is some kind of allergy as it came on so quick and is in both eyes so hes got some drops for his eyes. It should be so much fun trying to put them in

[Wicket]

Meggit, you could use the positive reinforcement techniques to help him with the eye drops. Having worked in an animal hospital as a kennel worker, I had give dogs and cats medicine on a daily basis and some weren't all too pleased about it. I'm suggesting this on the assumption your dog doesn't completely freak out when being touched and has previous experience with you touching him. You might need a helper since holding treats/clicker/eye drops at the same time is hard to do. If this turns out to be a long term issue, you'll definitely want to this to be a good experience for the both of you.

Here are some ideas for you and friend/relative:
1) Click + treat when you touch your dog's face neck and then spreading the eye area open with your *clean* fingers using your index finger and thumb. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the dog is comfortable with the gesture on both eyes. Again, these don't have to be perfect first and stop before he gets stressed out. Figuring what to do with your hands can be confusing but click to associate touching the face and then more perfectly as he and you make the appropriate adjustments.
2) Once your dog is comfortable with you touching his face, let him smell the eye drop container (not the card board box). If he responds well to it, give him a treat whenever he sees to help him associate it with good things. Keep up step 1.
3) Once the dog is comfortable with touching and seeing the eye drops, give him the drops once he's calm and still. As the drop hits his eye, have your friend click + treat. Since you should have the gesture down, the eye drops should be quick and easy. Give him the jackpot of the best treats ever or whatever motivates your dog.
4) You can add a verbal clue eventually like "eyes" if he responds well and is reliable.

Other tips:
-Don't say "come" with his medications unless he has already associated this object with good things
-Most dogs are sensitive about their faces and may paw/mouth/growl at you to stop. Make sure your dog isn't too stressed that he feels the need to bite/nip to protect himself from the weird human touching his face.

Doing this will also help him at other places where he needs to be touched on his face/eyes like the vet's office or groomers.

[meggit]

thankyou wicket for the advice im lucky buddy dosnt mind me touching his face as ive made sure of things like that from day one using positive methods as you never know whats going to crop up. but i will use your advice for putting in the drops as i dont want him to run everytime i have to this

[Wicket]

Meggit, how are the eye drops going? Is buddy doing better?

[meggit]

thanks for asking wicket his eyes are much better now not red and gungy any more and he did really well when having the drops put in bless him

[Wicket]

I'm glad his eyes are better and did well with putting them in!