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Puppy primer or propaganda?
By Kim Campbell Thornton
May 14, 2007
By seeking the advice of a trainer or behaviorist early in your pet’s life, you can inoculate him against behavior problems, just as you inoculate him against disease.
“Think about the pet’s behavioral health in the same way you think about his medical health,” says Sheila Segurson, a veterinary behaviorist at Sacramento Veterinary Behavior Services in California.
“People need to make regular behavior appointments with a trainer or behaviorist. A skilled behaviorist can see the early signs of problems that with a little bit of work can make such a difference in being able to resolve the problem before it becomes so significant that it’s difficult to do so.”
The above paragraphs were cut from my current column. The editor thought they “promoted behaviorists.” Call me crazy, but isn’t that maybe a good idea in a column about the large numbers of pets euthanized in shelters after being left there because of behavior problems?
Especially for new pet owners who have a cute puppy that will grow up to be large or, worse, some might say, an independent thinker? Even toy dogs can cause big problems when they’re allowed to rule the household (I will protect the names of the not-so-innocent relatives I’m thinking of).
Once in a great while, there are days when I miss being The Editor with final say over the words in a story. This was one of them.
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What did your editor have in mind as an alternative.
Granted - there is no centralized accreditation organization for behaviorists, and literally anyone can hang out their shingle and call themselves a “behaviorist” (just as literally anyone can hang out their shingle and call themselves a “trainer”) and sometimes bad advice can make a situation worse. So I would agree that someone seeking a behaviorist needs to do so with due diligence and a lot of homework. And unfortunately, you can’t find capable behaviorists in every area of the country (at least not yet).
If either one of those things were what concerned your editor, s/he could have found a far more productive way to address his/her concerns than simply cutting an informative paragraph.
It makes me really sad how many dogs and cats are euthanized every year just because people don’t know where to go for help.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 14, 2007 @ 8:21 am
Couldn’t help but post a comment here. I volunteer as a pet psychic and I meet lots of people at big dog events wanting suggestions to “fix” their pets bad behavior. I always ask their pet’s name - and ususally they have stong names, spoiled names, or names that I believe portray the owner’s attitude of “dog is the boss”. So I suggest they find a new name - and of course this is resisted. Mad Max has always been his name and always will be. Owners can be very stubborn sometimes. Once a couple said the Boston Terrier was tearing up the couch when they left him alone. The poor dog didn’t like being alone and went nuts when the owner’s left. I suggested they get rid of the couch first off and spend more time with their pet. We can’t get rid of the couch, they said, it’s our couch.
I think it’s a good idea to call in professional help - if it’s good help.
Long story short,
Comment by pet psychic — May 14, 2007 @ 9:09 am
I hired a dog behaviorist once. She had some good points about a couple of my females getting into it - actually almost drawing blood - and she taught me to walk away - such odd advice. And sure enough while the doggie expert and I were sitting at the dining room table talking, both females went at it right under the table - and I followed her directions and we hid in the hallway. Guess what? Both dogs stopped their altercation and calmly came looking for us. They do alot for attention. I have many books on just this subject and would not hesitate to call in another expert if needed.
Comment by Linda — May 14, 2007 @ 9:53 am
are there trade associations that behaviorist can belong to (as a good place to start researching)?
Comment by lablover — May 14, 2007 @ 10:22 am
The SPCA usually has some good trainers and their methods aren’t harsh either.
Comment by Terry — May 14, 2007 @ 10:26 am
Here is one:
http://www.animalbehavior.org/.....ctory.html
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 14, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Kim-I read the full article, quite nice. But I do agree with your editor. Most problems that I have seen are the result of neither the dog nor the owner having gone to obedience training, and most often the owner has no clue how to lead the pack. So to get issues taken care of at the earliest point I think that your editor wisely shifted the focus to “training”. Maybe if you had focussed on the need for obedience training and given other training resources (books, websites etc) and then as a last resort calling a behavioralist the editor would have been a little lighter on the editing. The other point that you could have made is that sometimes the behavior that you don’t like is breed-specific (dog and cat) and can only be eliminated marginally in many cases, so the moral is for prospective pet owners to do their homework and not take the leap based on “cute puppy/kitten” emotion of the moment.
Comment by Shawn — May 14, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
Many many dogs spend lonely lives at home, inside or outside, and they will do almost anything to connect with their owners.
I turn down activites at night because it’s not fair to my dogs to be left without me during the day and then at night too, even though they have each other, they still need and require my attntion and love.
My neighbor got a watch dog, inside, but she and her family were gone day and night, martial arts or kids field games, and the poor dog actually dog holes in the front door trying to escape. I feel sorry for all the lonely dogs.
Dogs need their owners love and attention, training, walks, baths, and games.
Comment by Linda — May 14, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
Lots of thoughtful comments. Thanks! The frustrating part of writing a column is the word count limitation. 800 words doesn’t always leave much space to include everything the writer might like to cover. The paragraphs in question were cut from the very end, and the importance of training and the issue of choosing an appropriate breed were both addressed earlier in the article. And when people call a trainer or behaviorist as a last resort, the problem is often so entrenched that it’s more difficult to deal with. Mainly, though, I find that people often just want an easy answer that doesn’t require any effort or expense on their part.
Comment by Kim Thornton — May 14, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
Comment by Kim Thornton — May 14, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
“Mainly, though, I find that people often just want an easy answer that doesn’t require any effort or expense on their part.”
People who opt for that route are sadly missing out on perhaps one of the most valuable perks of having a pet companion. When working with my dog in obedience, conformation and CGC training, an intrinsic bond has developed that is indeed priceless. Those who choose the easy route will never know what they are missing and that is beyond sad - both for the pet parent and for the furry kid.
Comment by Ally — May 14, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
I was re-reading Linda’s post about dealing with her two dogs fighting - how the behaviorist had her just walk away. And I want to point out that this is a situation where having the *behaviorist* come in, see the situation firsthand, and then make recommendations is essential. I wouldn’t want folks reading this who have dogs that aren’t getting along to decide “Oh, I’ll just walk away from them”.
It is NOT universally “the thing to do” to walk away from two dogs who are getting into it. It works amazingly well in a lot of situations, but a KNOWLEDGEABLE behaviorist needs to observe the situation firsthand, notice many of the subtle nuances in the dogs’ behavior, the environmental cues, the interactions with the owner, and so on to determine whether any given situation qualifies or not. Walking away might be the appropriate thing to do. Or the appropriate thing to do might be something else entirely.
This is a classic example where the input of a knowledgeable behaviorist is invaluable.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 15, 2007 @ 4:17 am