Behavioural Consultations
Does your dog snarl, bark and lunge at every person or dog he sees?
It is frustrating, distressing and even embarrassing when your dog behaves like that every time they see another dog or person.
Your dog gets labelled as being aggressive and the whole town start talking about you and your dog behind your back,
you can feel the stares of judgment on your back as you drag your barking and lunging dog past, ashamed of your dog’s behaviour.
You start walking your dog in the middle of the night just to avoid the gossip and stares.
Dogs bark and lunge for a variety of reasons.
I see many dogs that are simply not comfortable around other dogs, frightened and just want other dogs to go away and leave them alone.
I see dogs that bark at other dogs when they are on a lead, because they are frustrated that they just go and can’t go and say “Hi”.
Whatever the reason for your dog’s reactivity, I have developed my Triple C Training Programme to help you turn your reactive dog in to a confident & calm canine.
Access To the Triple C Training Programme is available after a Behavioural Consultation to determine the reason for your dog’s reactivity.
- What to expect from a Behavioural Consultation
Consultations are pre-booked appointments, lasting approx 2 hours, that usually are carried out in the comfort of your home or at my training venue, Milborne St Andrew Sports Ground. During the consultation it is preferable that the whole family is present. I will take a full history of the problem you are experiencing and assess your pet’s behaviour.
When carrying out a Behavioural Consultation I consider the whole dog and don’t just look at the problem behaviour as a stand alone issue. My consultations will take into account your dog’s emotions, their day to day life style, diet and exercise regime. During the consultation I will follow a consistent approach which is called EMRA. EMRA stands for Emotional, Mood State and Reinforcement Analysis.
This means that:
- I will assess and analyse how your dog feels on a day to day basis – look at you and your dog’s life-style – are your dog’s emotional and physical needs being met?
- Determine how your pet feels when the problematic situation occurs
- Look at why your dog is continuing to do the problematic behaviour
Each Consultation is therefor divided into 3 parts:
1. Fact Finding.
In this part of the process we are exploring whether there a defined cause for the problem behaviour, and we will discuss in detail the nuances of your dog’s problem behaviour so that I get a good view of the issues we are dealing with. In addition we will discuss your dog’s daily routine and analyse whether all the emotional and physical needs of your dog are being met.
2. Observation.
During this part of the consultation, I will assess how your dog feels when he is engaged in the problem behaviour and I will also analyse what is maintaining the behaviour. This means that I will be looking at what your dog finds rewarding in the behaviour.
3. Management.
The third and last part of the consultation looks at what initial management is needed to reduce the problem behaviour. This may include, but is not limited to:
- Putting safeguarding measures in place, depending on the problem this may include muzzle training, setting up a gated community or using crates to keep members of the family safe etc.
- Reduce your reactive dog’s exposure to those things that cause the behavioural problem.
- Consider whether medication is required to help us rehabilitate your dog. This would have to be discussed with your vet.
What happens after a Behavioural Consultation
Once the behavioural consultation has been completed I will complete a report of my findings and then work out a training plan to assist in the behaviour modification of your dog. If needed I will speak to your vet about any behavioural medication that we can try to reduce anxiety and improve your dog’s ability to learn the alternate behaviours we will be teaching as part of the rehabilitation program. I will normally get the full in-depth report, including your rehabilitation training plan to you in 7 to 10 days from our consultation. A shorter behavioural report will be sent to your vet for their records.
Depending on your Behavioural Package you will be entitled to at least one progress call, where we will discuss how things are going and make any adjustments to the training plan needed. You will have full email support for one month following your behavioural consultation.
I also offer one-to-one Triple C training packages to support and help you turn your Reactive Dog in to a Calm and Confident Canine.
I can also help with other behavioural problems, including but not limited to Separation Related Disorders, Excessive Barking, Puppy Biting, Destructive Behaviours and Resource Guarding.
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