Professional Help with Behavior and Training Problems

There are several categories of issues that people can have with their pet. We will be discussing three main categories of training to deal with these issues – obedience training, behavior training, and temperament training. Obedience training issues are some of the easiest to work with. Often, people obedience train their dogs in order to establish control over their dog’s behavior. With obedience training, we can teach a dog to get into a position, have him hold that position, run back to us when we ask, and walk next to us when on a leash. Dogs easily learn to do what we want because it gets them what they want faster! With obedience training, dogs and people pretty much train each other.

Behavior training issues represents a huge number of Pet Behavior Solutions’ cases. Behavior training is about establishing order, rules, and boundaries in the household. Some examples of behavior that falls into this category are dogs that are destructive, not housetrained, and generally unruly. This is the second easiest type of training. Dogs are great problem solvers and they readily learn how to navigate our rules and boundaries. They learn these things because it works better for them to do it our way. The catch is that we have to have a very clear and consistent set of rules and expectations and the dogs must clearly understand the consequences, both good and bad, of following or not following those rules. We have to be patient when working to resolve these issues. This type of training takes time because we are establishing new routines to replace the old routines. Change takes time. With a little patience and consistency order can be restored!

Temperament training involves working with emotions. When bad behavior stems from emotions it is very challenging for everyone involved. Behaviors such as aggression, anxiety, fears, phobias, nervous behaviors, reactivity, etc. fall into this category. Emotions are at the core of the animal’s behavior. When working with pets with these problems, the motivation of the behavior must be addressed. Almost all cases stem from some sort of anxiety – even with aggression. People often think that aggressive dogs are just being dominant but that is rarely true. Truly dominant dogs tend to be confident, have an authoritative attitude, and provide appropriate social consequences. We rarely have problems with truly dominant dogs. Conversely, aggressive dogs tend to be insecure, have a domineering attitude, are socially incompetent, irritable, frustrated, and angry. It is this inner conflict that we have to address in order to change the behavior.

Working with emotions is rewarding and challenging. The reward is when the pet stabilizes and things starts to improve. The challenge is that it can take a long time and a lot of patience as there is no quick fix. Working with emotions requires a lot of understanding, management, and dedication to the treatment protocol. In cases involving aggression, often the safety and liability risks are very high and that necessitates a lifelong commitment to behavior modification and management. Finally, protocols must have steps that build on each other. Behavior modification is a process.

Emotionally motivated behavior can be worked with successfully! The biggest barrier we see is (understandably so) impatience and frustration on the part of the owner. This leads to a breakdown in the consistency of the treatment protocol and more confusion and anxiety for the dog.

I encourage each of you to ask about help for any issues you may be having with your pet. There are so many things that can be done to work with your pet and life is just too short and too chaotic to live with behavior problems. Let us help you get the balance back in your life!

Incorporating Children in the Care of Pets

Along with the happiness and fun pets bring to our lives comes the responsibility of providing a lifetime of care and well-being. Caring for a family pet should be a family job! Children can and should participate in the care of a family pet. Helping with the routine care of a family pet can enable children to become self-reliant and learn about responsibility. One way to make pet care an educational and fun family project is to set up a token economy. This can also help children learn to count, add, subtract, and the basics of making a budget.

The first step is to establish the minimum care needs of the pet. Children can help identify these basic needs, which include food, water, "poop patrol" and litter box or cage cleaning. After you've determined the pet's minimum needs, brainstorm a little more. Create a second list of the extra tasks that can be done to assist in the care of the pet (e.g., brushing, bathing, training, exercise).

Once you have determined the tasks required for the pet’s care, you can set up your token economy. First, select some type of token (e.g., checkers, marbles, stickers). Children will earn tokens by participating in the pet's care. Parents and children should work together to assign a value to each task. Token values may be determined by the difficulty of the task or the time it takes to complete it. Changing the pet's water may be worth one token, but bathing the pet may be worth three.

Providing for basic needs (those tasks on the first list you created) is a responsibility that comes with owning a pet. This responsibility is the price of all the pleasure that the pet provides. Children should not earn tokens for providing basic care. Instead, they may earn tokens for tasks that go above and beyond basic care (the tasks from the second list). Occasionally we all slack in our duties. We may decide to play hooky from work to enjoy a day at the lake. However, we do this with the knowledge that we are making a choice and will have to deal with the consequence. Children need to learn this as well. If a child slacks off on "poop patrol" one day, she is fined the value of that task.

A weekly chart showing everyone's jobs can be hung on the refrigerator. This chart can be used to track completed jobs, as well as tokens earned or lost. Children should be in charge of keeping their own tokens. Lost tokens should not be replaced. On a specified day (e.g., once a month) children will use their tokens to "buy" privileges.

Privileges can include an extra half-hour before bedtime, extra TV or game time or anything that the child finds motivating. Each privilege should be assigned a value that fits its desirability. A day at the water park should cost considerably more than candy. Children can also be given the option of skipping a scheduled cash-in day in order to buy a bigger, less common privilege later.

Owning a pet is a joy, but it is also hard work. Children can derive self-worth and confidence from successfully caring for their pet, while learning about the responsibility involved in pet ownership. This benefits the entire family, including the pet!