Sharing essential skills to keep dogs safe and healthy is fundamental to the K9HS ethos and embraces our philosophy that we are “all about the dog”.

A proactive approach to canine healthcare involves exploring a wide range of essential key skills to promote the best possible care for dogs. This ensures canine therapists and those working with dogs are up to date with both emergency procedures and canine health knowledge, as well as reviewing hands on skills. Current canine first aid is constantly evolving and advancing alongside the amazing progress in veterinary medicine and science.

Therapists, veterinary professionals, trainers and owners all wish to offer the best possible canine care and know how important it is to regularly update and up-skill in a constantly evolving veterinary world. This is also a valuable asset for all those who share their lives with dogs in the home and work environment.

A professional mindset embraces the idea there is always something new to learn and this links seamlessly to a proactive dog centred practice and a desire to keep dogs safe. Building skills and confidence to find solutions and take appropriate action in an emergency situation safeguards both dogs and owners.

Canine injury detection using a proactive approach of early detection to minimise and prevent issues arising is ideal, rather than responding to problems once they become established.

A dog centred approach to general fitness and good health uses a wide range of health checks as an integral part of monitoring every dog’s health status.

These health checks are utilised in canine rehabilitation, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, general healthcare, and in the athletic dog as part of conditioning, fitness and optimising performance.

Understanding how to use health checks as a regular monitoring process is a very useful practical skill that owners can develop as part of the overall healthcare approach for their dog.

Canine First Aid box

When working with dogs it is always best to be prepared since you never know what can happen. Having everything you need in one place can be a life-saver in the event of an emergency. Organising a canine first aid box is straight forward and means you are prepared for all eventualities.

You can also put together a travelling first aid kit to keep in your vehicle for when you when you are out and about. It’s easy to assemble your own kit and we share some of the most important items to have in the list below.

Make sure that you choose a storage place for your canine first aid kit that’s convenient and easy to access. It should be dry and cool which would rule out certain areas such as bathrooms.

Emergency numbers

When it comes to certain emergencies, you will need to rely on professional help so it’s important to have convenient access to the phone numbers that count. You will need the number of your local veterinary surgeons practice or their emergency line in case they’re closed. You could include your local poison control centre or hotline number as well.

Clear instructions on how to get to the emergency vets will be useful in case someone else has to drive there. For your home kit it is a great idea to keep your dog’s paperwork in a file next to where you keep your first aid kit along with your dog’s passport, vaccination and medical records.

Another useful idea would be to consider making your own annotated storyboard or video of you practising CPR and bandaging as it would make a useful memory jog for you, just in case!

We also suggest you store a blanket and a spare dog lead and harness in your car.

 First aid content list

• Gauze swabs
• Sterile dressings of varying sizes
• Padding bandage rolls of varying sizes
• Conforming bandage of varying sizes
• Cohesive bandage of varying size
• Antiseptic wipes 
• Ice pack in freezer to reduce swelling
• Non-latex disposable gloves
• Scissors (with blunt ends)
• Sterile saline solution (sold at pharmacies) to flush out wounds, eyes or mouth
• Tweezers to remove insects / thorns / splinters
• Tick remover
• Micropore tape
• Muzzles or equipment to make a home made muzzle
• Foil blanket to keep dog warm
• Thick large towel (to transport the dog)
• Copy of canine emergency numbers