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For puppies and adult dogs that have good bite inhibition and are not too anxious or stressed to take food from your hand, then classical conditioning is incredibly easy and will effectively help your dog form a powerful positive association with any potentially scary stimulus, making sure that stimulus doesn't later become a trigger for stress. 

So many puppies and dogs become increasingly wary and stressed as they grow older. Ideally, most classical conditioning is going to be preventative. We're going to take our time, work slowly and progressively desensitize each body part that may cause anxiety when handled. Eventually, your dog will thoroughly enjoy hugging, stroking and petting, and, as a result, they will also enjoy being restrained and examined.

Let's start by classically conditioning your dog to thoroughly enjoy being handled. 

Gently take your dog by the collar. Praise your dog and offer a piece of kibble. Repeat this sequence at least a half dozen times.

Touch your dog's left ear. praise and kibble. Look inside their left ear, praise and kibble. Massage their ear, praise and kibble. Repeat this several times and then, repeat this process with the right ear.

Examine your dog's teeth, praise and kibble. Repeat several times

Stare into your dog's eyes for a second, praise and kibble. Then two seconds, praise and kibble. Then three, then five, then eight and so on, always praising and offering kibble. Repeat this until your dog lovingly gazes into your eyes.

Examine your dog's left front paw, praise and kibble. Examine each toe, massage between the toes, always praising and offering kibble. Then repeat this process with the their right front paw, their left hind paw, their right hind paw. Remember, most dogs have two ears and four paws.

But only one tail, and so, hold their tail, praise, and kibble. Give your dog a short hug, praise and kibble. Then a longer hug, praise and kibble, then a much longer hug, and so on.

Cradle your dog in your lap and rub their chest, belly and groin and continue praising and offering kibble one piece at a time. 

This whole process should only take five or ten minutes but during that time you should give your dog a LOT of kibble, probably 100-150 pieces. For this reason, you should only use kibble that is part of your dog's daily food ration, and consider using a kibble that is easily broken into two, four, or even eight little pieces, such as Ziwi Peak, Kiwi Kitchen or Jiminy's.

It is so important that your dog is completely relaxed with you and other family members, otherwise it will be stressed and anxious when restrained and examined by visitors, veterinarians or strangers

If at any point your dog stiffens, struggles, resists, or stops taking food, make a note of it and revisit that area but work at a much slower pace and perhaps with higher value food rewards, such as augmented kibble, to hedge your bets and really make a fabulous impression!