Animal Agency - Giving Animals a Voice in their Training
Progress. Demonstrate. Achieve.
Explore the optional Vet Ready® Awards and Certification pathway, from Foundation through to Advanced, alongside specialist Clinical Confidence Awards.
Vet Vet Ready® Awards & Certification
The Vet Ready® Award Pathway is optional.
Participants can complete the free Vet Ready® programme simply to develop their knowledge and practical skills, or they can choose to work towards formal certification.
The awards recognise the progressive development of an animal's communication, cooperative-care and veterinary preparation skills.
Vet Ready® Foundation Award
Assessment & Certification Fee £50
Focus: Communication, engagement and basic cooperative behaviours
Programme modules: Modules 1–3
The Foundation Award establishes the core skills needed for further cooperative veterinary preparation.
These skills are introduced through:
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Module 1 – Why Veterinary Preparation Matters: understanding emotional states, communication, stress and fear responses, learning and welfare-centred training.
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Module 2 – Creating the Foundations for Successful Training: engagement, marker training, hand targeting, settling and relaxation.
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Module 3 – Building Trust, Choice and Communication: Bucket Game foundations, choice and communication, building duration, confidence and first cooperative touch.
The Foundation Award assesses whether the animal has developed the basic communication, engagement and cooperative skills needed to begin further veterinary preparation.
The animal should demonstrate:
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Engagement with their handler.
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A reliable response to their established marker and reinforcement system.
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Basic hand targeting / target pole
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Settling and relaxation around their guardian (use of mat / towel optional)
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The ability to work for short periods without becoming overwhelmed.
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Understanding of the Bucket Game or another established communication system.
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The ability to make a clear choice to participate or disengage.
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Brief, voluntary touch in several comfortable areas of the body.
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The ability to work in more than one familiar environment.
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Appropriate recovery following a short training session.
Evidence
Evidence should be collected as short video clips across different training sessions, rather than as one continuous assessment video. Please visit the Members Hub to download the Evidence & Progress documents.
Evidence may include:
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Engagement and marker exercise.
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Targeting.
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Settling.
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Communication and choice.
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Brief cooperative touch.
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At least one skill demonstrated in a different environment.
Vet Ready® Essentials Award
Assessment & Certification Fee £65
Focus: Developing reliable cooperative-care behaviours
Programme modules: Modules 1–7
The Essentials Award builds on the Foundation skills and develops more reliable cooperative-care behaviours, positioning and preparation for handling. Please visit the Members Hub to download the Evidence & Progress documents.
These skills are developed progressively through:
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Modules 1–3: communication, engagement, choice, targeting, settling and cooperative-care foundations.
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Module 4 – Helping Animals Succeed in Different Environments: generalisation, distractions, different people and environments, plus progressive carrier training for cats.
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Module 5 – Preparing for Veterinary Examinations: cooperative positioning, chin rests, standing positions, target positioning, full-body touch and recognising when to pause.
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Module 6 – Preparing for Common Veterinary Checks: cooperative preparation for eye, ear and mouth checks.
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Module 7 – Building Confidence with Routine Care: paw, body, rear-end and tail-area preparation.
The Essentials Award assesses whether the animal can voluntarily participate in a broader range of cooperative-care behaviours, maintain participation for increasing periods and communicate when they need a break.
The animal should demonstrate:
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Reliable engagement.
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Targeting and positioning.
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The Bucket Game or an equivalent communication behaviour.
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Increasing duration of participation.
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Maintaining a position while receiving brief handling.
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Cooperative touch across several areas of the body.
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Voluntary positioning.
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Chin rest for dogs, where appropriate.
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Mat, towel or carrier positioning for cats, where appropriate.
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Handling around different areas of the body.
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Ability to work around mild distractions.
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Generalisation of behaviours to different locations.
Cats – Carrier Progression
Where applicable, cats should demonstrate progressive carrier training, including:
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Entering the carrier voluntarily.
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Remaining comfortable with the door being closed.
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Being lifted in the carrier.
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Short periods of movement around the home.
Progression should be gradual and appropriate to the individual cat.
Evidence
Evidence should be collected across different sessions and may include:
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Positioning.
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Cooperative handling.
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Communication and choice.
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Increasing duration.
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Demonstration in a different environment.
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Cat carrier progression, where applicable
Vet Ready® Advanced Award
Assessment & Certification Fee £85
Focus: Veterinary environment and cooperative care
Programme modules: Modules 1–9
The Advanced Award represents the culmination of the core Vet Ready® programme.
It brings together the communication, cooperative-care, handling, generalisation, transport and veterinary-environment skills developed throughout the programme. Please visit the Members Hub to download the Evidence & Progress documents.
These include:
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Modules 1–7: developing and generalising the animal's cooperative-care repertoire.
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Module 8 – Bringing Skills Together for Real-Life Situations: transport, veterinary environments, waiting, maintaining learned behaviours away from home and progressive cat carrier and travel preparation.
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Module 9 – Bringing Your Skills Together & Planning Your Progress: bringing skills together, reviewing progress, building a training portfolio, recording achievements and understanding progression pathways.
Handling
The animal should demonstrate appropriate preparation for:
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Head and front-end handling.
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Eye-area handling.
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Ear handling.
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Mouth and lip handling.
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Paw handling.
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General body handling.
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Rear-end and tail-area preparation.
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Cooperative positioning.
The emphasis is on voluntary participation, communication and appropriate emotional state, rather than simply tolerating physical handling.
Veterinary preparation
The animal should demonstrate the ability to:
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Maintain cooperative behaviours during handling.
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Work for an appropriate duration.
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Cope with realistic but appropriately graded distractions.
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Recover following interruptions.
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Generalise previously trained behaviours outside the home.
Dogs – Veterinary Practice
Dogs should demonstrate the ability to:
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Enter the veterinary practice calmly.
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Use an established hand target where appropriate to move between areas or position themselves.
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Settle appropriately in the waiting area using their established settle behaviour.
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Walk through reception and navigate normal activity without significant or sustained signs of distress.
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Step onto the veterinary scales voluntarily or with minimal guidance.
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Remain settled while waiting.
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Respond appropriately around unfamiliar people, sounds and smells.
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Maintain previously trained communication and cooperative-care behaviours.
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Recover appropriately following normal activity within the practice.
Veterinary Environment
The aim is not simply for the dog to remain physically still. The dog should demonstrate an emotional state that indicates they are genuinely able to cope with the environment, rather than appearing frozen, shut down or unable to communicate.
Cats – Veterinary Practice
Cats should be gradually prepared for the full veterinary journey, with each stage introduced at a pace appropriate to the individual cat.
Preparation may include:
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Voluntary carrier entry.
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Remaining comfortable with the carrier door closed.
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Being lifted and carried in the carrier.
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Moving around the home in the carrier.
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Introducing the carrier to different environments.
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Going outside with the carrier.
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Spending time in a stationary vehicle.
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Introducing the sound of the vehicle engine.
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Very short journeys.
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Gradually increasing journey duration.
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Arriving at the veterinary practice.
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Remaining appropriately settled in the carrier.
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Being weighed in the carrier, where appropriate.
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Settling in an appropriate waiting area or quiet waiting space.
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Gradually building confidence around the sights, sounds and smells of the veterinary practice.
There is no expectation that all stages will be achieved within a particular timeframe. Cats may require considerably more gradual progression, and some individuals may need repeated practice at each stage before moving forward.
The assessment recognises the training journey, not simply the cat's ability to arrive at a veterinary practice.
Veterinary Environment
The cat should demonstrate an emotional state appropriate to the environment, without significant or sustained signs of fear, distress or inability to cope
Emotional state and handler responsiveness
For both dogs and cats, assessment considers more than whether a behaviour technically occurs.
The animal should demonstrate:
Voluntary participation
Does the animal choose to engage?
Communication
Can the animal communicate "yes", "not yet" or "stop"?
Emotional state
Does the animal remain reasonably comfortable and able to cope?
Recovery
Can the animal recover following a small challenge or interruption?
Handler responsiveness
Does the guardian recognise the animal's communication and respond appropriately?
This may include providing a break, increasing distance, reducing the difficulty or adapting the activity.
Generalisation
Can previously trained skills be demonstrated in more than one context?
A settled animal is not simply an animal that is physically still. Vet Ready® assessment considers the animal's behaviour, communication and emotional state to determine whether they are genuinely able to cope with the situation.
Advanced Award Veterinary Sequence
For dogs, the veterinary component can be summarised as:
Target → Settle → Weigh → Wait → Recover
For cats:
Carrier → Weigh in carrier → Settle → Wait/quiet space → Recover
The actual veterinary examination and clinical procedures are not required for the Advanced Award.
For example:
"Can calmly present their paw and allow gentle handling."
This may form part of the Advanced Award.
Whereas:
"Can participate in nail clipping."
This would be assessed through the Nail Care Clinical Confidence Award.
Similarly:
"Allows cooperative positioning and gentle handling around the eye."
This may form part of the Advanced Award.
Whereas:
"Can participate in administration of eye medication."
Would belong within the Eye Care Clinical Confidence pathway. See below for information on Clinical Confidence Awards.
Evidence & Skills Portfolio
Vet Ready® certification is designed to recognise progressive learning, rather than a single high-pressure assessment. Participants should build a Skills Portfolio throughout the programme.
Foundation Portfolio
Evidence collected during the early modules, demonstrating communication, engagement, targeting, settling and choice.
Essentials Portfolio
Evidence collected as cooperative-care behaviours become more developed, including positioning, handling, duration, communication and generalisation.
Advanced Portfolio
Evidence collected throughout the later stages of the programme, demonstrating application of cooperative skills to realistic veterinary preparation, environmental distractions and, where applicable, veterinary transport and practice environments.
Evidence should be gathered progressively across different sessions and environments.
The portfolio can then be submitted for review once the participant has completed the required criteria.
Assessment Approach
Vet Ready® awards are animal-centred rather than simply pass/fail behaviour tests.
Assessment considers the quality of participation and the developing relationship between the animal and their guardian.
The assessor considers:
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Voluntary participation.
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Clear communication.
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Emotional state.
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Recovery.
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Guardian responsiveness.
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Generalisation.
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Appropriate progression.
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The quality and consistency of the partnership.
*The aim is not to assess whether a guardian can make an animal perform a behaviour.
Vet Ready® assesses whether the animal and handler have developed cooperative veterinary-care skills that can support safer, more predictable and welfare-conscious experiences.
Vet Ready® Clinical Confidence Awards
Clinical Confidence Awards are specialist, individual training pathways designed to prepare animals for specific veterinary or husbandry procedures.
Clinical Confidence Assessment & Certification Fee £45 per Award
Training is provided through personalised 1:1 sessions or block-booked husbandry training.
Training fees are separate from Vet Ready® certification fees and are available through The A.B.C.'s Animal Training services.
Available Clinical Confidence pathways
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Blood Sampling Confidence
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Temperature Check Confidence
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Vaccination & Injection Confidence
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Eye Care Confidence
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Ear Care Confidence
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Dental Care Confidence
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Nail Care Confidence
How Clinical Confidence Certification Works
Clinical Confidence Awards combine personalised training with practical application in a veterinary (or home for dental care) setting.
The animal is first trained to participate cooperatively in the relevant type of handling or procedure. The required behaviour is then observed during appropriate veterinary care when the procedure is genuinely required.
Where veterinary-setting evidence is required, a veterinary surgeon or veterinary nurse can observe the animal and confirm that the required cooperative behaviour was demonstrated.
Once the behaviour has been observed and confirmed, the relevant criterion is checked off as completed within the Vet Ready® certification pathway.
Vet Ready® awards the certification once all required training and evidence have been completed.
The veterinary professional is not awarding the Vet Ready® certification. They are simply confirming what they observed in the clinical setting so that the relevant Vet Ready® criterion can be recorded as completed.
*Vet Ready® does not require an animal to undergo an unnecessary veterinary procedure for the purpose of assessment. The clinical behaviour is observed and checked off when the relevant procedure is genuinely required as part of the animal's veterinary care.
Maintaining Clinical Confidence
Clinical Confidence is not a one-time training exercise.
Behaviours that are not regularly practised can weaken over time, particularly when the actual procedure may only occur occasionally.
Once an animal has completed a Clinical Confidence Award, owners should continue to maintain and periodically refresh the trained behaviours at an appropriate level. This helps keep the behaviours familiar and supports continued confidence until the relevant veterinary procedure is required.
For example, an animal may complete the Blood Sampling Confidence Award when there is no immediate need for blood sampling. The underlying cooperative positioning and handling behaviours should continue to be practised without performing unnecessary clinical procedures, so that the animal remains familiar with the skills if blood sampling is required in the future.
When an animal is unwell
It is important to recognise that an animal who is unwell, injured or experiencing pain may not be able to perform behaviours they have previously learned. This does not mean their training has failed.
An animal's physical and emotional state can affect their ability or willingness to participate, and veterinary professionals should always consider this when handling an animal.
However, previously developed strong, positive associations with relevant behaviours, positions and handling can provide familiarity during an otherwise difficult experience.
Familiarity can help reduce the uncertainty and additional stress associated with veterinary procedures, supporting welfare when an animal is unwell. Stress itself can negatively affect animal welfare and may be detrimental during illness and recovery.
*The aim of Vet Ready® is therefore not to make an animal comply with handling regardless of how they feel. It is to give them familiar, well-practised skills that can support calmer, more predictable experiences when veterinary care is needed.