We We offer help and advice on a wide variety of behaviour issues.

• excessive barking	separation-related disorders	inappropriate toileting	attention seeking	aggression
  destructiveness	fear and phobias	resource guarding	over excitability

Animal Behavioural Problems

When dealing with animal behaviour problems we must remember that domestic dogs are expected to live in our home environment where we try to suppress many of their natural behaviours e.g. barking, jumping up, biting, mounting, stealing food and hunting etc. Most behavioural problems occur because we are interfering and trying to change the way they behave from what is instinctive to them.

Having said this though, I find it remarkable that we can live in harmony with pet dogs if we remember the simple rule that animals learn to do what works for them. If they are rewarded or reinforced for doing a certain behaviour they will continue to do it. This is sometimes a difficult cycle to break, especially as it is not always easy for owners to identify how their dog is being rewarded for their undesirable behaviour. The behaviour however would not continue if they weren't being rewarded in some way. It has to be remembered that our understanding of reward is not necessarily the same as our dogs understanding. An experienced animal behaviourist will look for the root cause of the problem and then solutions to it.

I work only on referral from veterinary surgeons. It may be necessary for a vet to examine your animal before a consultation to eliminate any possible medical causes for your dog's behaviour. Please ring to discuss this with me.

The first appointment will take approximately 2 hours, as I will need to find out a lot about your dog to do a behaviour assessment. I will use the COAPE EMRA approach for this:

Emotion: assessing the emotion behind your dogs behaviour
Mood: assessing your dog's general mood level

Reinforcement: looking at what is reinforcing the behaviour
Assessment

After the first appointment I will then provide a behaviour programme for you to work on with your dog. I will also send a written report to the referring vet. Depending on the type and severity of the problem, follow-up sessions may be necessary. I will also provide telephone and/or email support.

It must be remembered though that changing a well established behaviour takes time and commitment from owners. There is not usually a quick fix solution but with the necessary commitment to carry out the behaviour programme, positive results will be seen, resulting in a happier pet that is easier to live with.