Dr. Michelle Rassool

Dr. Michelle Rassool 𝗕𝗦𝗰 𝗗𝗩𝗠 MANZCVS (Vet Behav)
πŸ‘©β€βš•οΈ Behaviour and GP Veterinarian
🐢 Nara - Malinois
🌏 Northcote, Melbourne AUS

Predictors and Prognosis is wrapped!What an amazing day of fabulous education, discussion, and ideas around behavioural ...
03/05/2026

Predictors and Prognosis is wrapped!

What an amazing day of fabulous education, discussion, and ideas around behavioural euthanasia. We had groups of people from shelters, trainers, vet teams and more, sharing in collaboration. While the topic is tough, it's important.

Attendees gained not only frameworks and tools for assessing significant dog behaviours, but also hopefully a few new contacts to lean on in times of need or for second opinions.

I'm so honoured to be able to share my knowledge and discuss research with others, and it's wonderful to recognise how many behaviour professionals from all walks of life are so dedicated to pets in their care.

Massive thanks to Lisa from without who the day would have been a disaster! πŸ’–

Getting ready for our Predictors and Prognosis seminar Sunday, thanks to my amazing sponsors and . Given I use their pr...
27/04/2026

Getting ready for our Predictors and Prognosis seminar Sunday, thanks to my amazing sponsors and . Given I use their products every single day, it's a natural Collab!

It's important to have trust in what you give your dog, and finding companies that align with me is fabulous!

Attendees will be going home with a fun pack of goodies, including my own hot off the press stickers!

26/04/2026

Exercise is essential for dogs, just like it is for us! Benefits include improved mental and physical health, for both dogs and their humans.

However, not all exercise is created equal. On leash strolls are valuable, but they don't fulfil the same way as aerobic exercise such as jogging or sprinting.

Consider exercising your dog like an athlete, with warm ups, cools downs, and gradual increases in activity. It's important to provide your dog at least 20 mins of exercise that makes them puff and pant every day.

Play can be a great way to achieve exercise as well. In combination with low arousal activities like sniffing, exploring and walking, high arousal activities are a great way to give your dog a fulfilled outlet.

25/04/2026

Co-operative care can be a game changer for dogs, especially where they are motivated!

Gorgeous Billie loves food, but gets pretty worried about injections. Over time at her previous vet, even when being held and muzzled, she started to growl and turn with attempts at injections, and was actually getting worse over time.

At her last visit to , we started to work on teaching Billie how to accept an injection with the least restraint we can.

We are adding the syringe in as a 'prop' in this exercise, to start mimicking what will happen during a real injection. We don't want to start too hard and fast though, so you'll see me just holding the syringe, but not touching her with it. Over time we will add a skin pinch, and a touch with the point of the syringe itself.

Billie is such a keen learner, and loves food, so this training plan will likely suit her! Not all dogs are the same, and we might help another dog differently.

Keep up the great work Billie!

20/04/2026

There are so many ways we can approach handling and caring for our dogs, and one way I'm loving exploring is co-operative care. Teaching operant or voluntary behaviours allows us to turn our dogs into willing participants in their care!

In this video, I’ve been teaching Nara to rest her upper jaw on my fingers, so I can inspect her (very big!) teeth and back of her throat. See how hard she's working to keep her tongue still? Bless!

It’s still important for us to teach our dogs how to manage restraint (and to learn how to restrain comfortably and safely ourselves!). The more tools we have in the toolkit, the more likely we are to get our dog through a health problem or examination confidently.

There will almost certainly be times where we can’t ask our do’s to collaborate in their care, but setting up drills and practice scenarios will go a long way to getting them confident with handling.

The first time your dog needs to be handled or restrained, should ideally be with you at home, not in a stressful scenario.

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10/148 Arthurton Road
Northcote, VIC
3070

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