THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

Hard to imagine we’re on our way to Africa tomorrow. Even though it’s my fourth trip, going to Africa still seems like something I could only dream about, never really do. Of course, the only dreaming at this point is of things I might have forgotten, and worries about leaving the dogs and the sheep. It will be such a relief to finally be on the plane and let it all go. I think of trips like this as white water kayaking (not that I’ve ever done it!)… You prepare carefully and meticulously, then launch into the rapids and go with the flow.

The most fun of the preparation has been reading up on the behavior of the animals we’ll probably see. For example, I’ve been reading about the comparative social systems of Golden Jackals and Black-Backed Jackals (coyote-like canids, common in both Kenya and Botswana). Both form strong pair bonds (I remember a great sighting we had one trip of a pair of Black-Backs doing “tandem scent marking” in which they traveled in single file, and each marking the same spot about every 50 feet.) and both are reproductively more successful if their older litters stay around as “helpers at the nest,” helping to protect and feed the next litter. But it’s more common in Goldens, even though Black Backs seems to profit most if they have helpers.

The researchers note (see Estes amazing book, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals) that Black Backs are much more aggressive to each other as they mature and tend to disperse earlier and more often. It’s unclear why, but it is clear that lions and humans are their main predators, and they need numbers to help protect the young and to protect food sources from hyenas, lions and even vultures.

Although nothing is ever for sure in Africa, we probably will see quite a few jackals, and if we are lucky, some of the harder to spot canids, like Bat Eared foxes (who are terminally adorable). Whether we see African Wild Dogs in Botswana has become quite the question: The Okavango Delta where we will be staying has been inundated with atypical flooding, and the radio-collared pack that normally dens close to where we are staying has moved and is denning elsewhere. People on the ground in Botswana are being wonderful about doing all they can to facilitate our seeing the dogs, but the fact is, the only guarantee in Africa is that there are no guarantees. I sent out an email yesterday to folks explaining the situation, and so far I’ve have gotten lovely responses from a number of folks who completely understand that wild animals are just that, and that we are but visitors into their world. Whatever happens, happens.

The only thing I am sure of on this entire trip is that it will be an amazing adventure.  I’d be stunned if we didn’t get great looks at lions (although their numbers are decreasing due to the use of poison by farmers around the parks), hyenas, and probably cheetahs. Leopards are extremely common, but their success is partially due to their skill at hiding out during the day and it is not common to see them at all. However, on my first trip we actually saw a leopard leap out of tall grasses and kill an antelope, then drag it to a tree. (That was on the way to breakfast, right outside of the lodge we were staying at. Oh my.) I can pretty well assure everyone that won’t happen again, but that something equally amazing probably will!

By the way, I MIGHT be able to get on-line and post from Africa on occasion, and I would love to be able to keep up with your comments, so keep them coming. But no promises, internet connections are tenuous at best when on safari, and you just never know. However, I have written 5 posts to appear when I’m gone, and I hope you enjoy them. Many of them have photos from previous trips to Africa, so in some ways I’ll be keeping you updated. . .

Meanwhile, back at the farm: The flowers are especially beautiful right now, in part due to an atypically cool and wet summer. It is heaven for heat-haters like me and Willie, and for crops like alfalfa and flowers like roses and bergamot. The berries just never stop, and I just can’t stop myself from making a mixed berry pie every week. Here’s berries in the bowl, with Tapioca and sugar, waiting to be dished into the pie shell. (And oh yeah, it’s long gone by now!) No more pies for awhile, but the food on safari is absurd… the tent camps (do not think pup tent, think hardwood floors, bathrooms and gorgeous linens!) put out feasts three times a day. I expect to come back looking like a strawberry (red from sun burn and round).

And here are the ones who make it incredibly  hard to leave. Truth is, tears will flow as we drive away. I have my own version of separation anxiety when I leave the farm and the dogs. Once I’m on the plane I’m okay, but the first fifteen minutes is just awful. It gets bad again after about a week… no matter how wonderful it is I will start yearning for Will and Lassie. I’ll miss Sushi too, but to be honest, it’s not the same as missing my dogs. I feel guilty saying that, but I suspect Sushi would say the same thing; she’ll miss us, but nothing like Lassie and Will.

Do not think the dog’s postures in the photo below suggest that they know I’m leaving and are sad. There’s no question Lassie knows I’m leaving soon on a trip, but in this case they were just bored to tears with me trying to get a picture! But foolish as it is, I can’t stop myself from telling them (as if they read the blog!):

Be safe my friends, I’ll miss you more than I can say.

I’m curious if any readers have some advice for me and a friend of mine. She and her husband have a young German Shorthaired Pointer they’d love to train to hunt, but are having problems finding any professional trainers who don’t use ear pinches, forced retrieves and a basic attitude of “Do it because I say so!” This is not the first time I’ve been asked about positive trainers in this field, whether for retrievers or pointers, and I haven’t had a lot of luck finding professionals who take dogs in and train them using primarily positive methods. If you know the world of hunting dogs, you know that there is a long history of “positive punishment” and dominance-based training in the field, perhaps more so than any other, at least in my experience.

Do any of you, wise readers, know of a professional trainer, or any other resources, in the midwest who primarily uses positive reinforcement? Do any of you hunt with retrievers, or compete in trials or tests? Any ideas for us? I swear I thought there was a series of books by a primarily positive trainers, but for the life of me I can’t remember the author’s name or find the books anywhere…

Meanwhile, back at the farm, the “to do” list for Africa never seems to get smaller. As soon as I cross one thing off, I write two more on. Besides power packing (every ounce is considered at great length, every piece of clothing requires careful thought!), the list of things to do for the farm and the animals never seems to end. But we’re making progress, and I’ve had another training session with the wonderful woman who is farm sitting (who is a Certified Equine Massage Therapist and massages Lassie into heaven; I’m not sure Lassie will be happy when I return!), all the food and supplements for 3 weeks are collected and slowly but surely we’re getting closer to departure. Ewe Martha 2.0 is still having respiratory trouble, along with 2 others, diagnosis is now down to 2 things (lung worms in spite of being wormed w/ 2 different wormers or OPP, an untreatable and ultimately fatal wasting disease)… I will leave with some new medicine and all paws crossed for the old girl.

Here’s a photo of my friend’s GSP. Gotta love the tongue.

At the risk of being self-serving, I wanted to let you know that the Second Edition of Feisty Fido is now available. Little did Karen London and I know, when we took a look at the first version before reprinting it, how much time we’d end up spending revising it. True confession: when a few months ago I re-read the first version, written in 2001, I thought, “Oh my, it is truly time to revise this!.” (Karen had the same response that I did, and, as usual, we were “on the same page” about it, so to speak.) I do think that the booklet has helped a lot of people and a lot of dogs, and that makes me happy, but I am even happier to have an updated, revised, updated and lovingly, tweaked new version available.

For those of you who know the book, here are the primary differences:

1) There is a new section on equipment, that includes front-attachment harnesses and our experiences with harnesses versus head halters.

2) We dropped the release word from the end of the Watch cue. We found that owners and dogs quickly learned that Watch means “turn your head and look at me” but struggled with the “look at me until I release you” aspect of the cue. It seems that letting a dog look at you and then turn back and look at the other dog again isn’t a problem with many dogs, indeed it gives you another chance to say Watch again. We do discuss the exceptions: for example, dogs who are so aroused when they look at another dog that they are unable to contain themselves, even at a distance. Some of these dogs do seem to improve the most if they are asked to maintain the Watch until they are released. But they are by far the exceptions, not the rule and I really like dropping the release aspect of the cue for the sake of expediency. (Note that several readers concurred when I brought this up in an earlier post.)

3) We revised and expanded the section on “Where’s the Dog?,” agreeing with Leslie McDevitt (Control Unleashed) that teaching a dog to look at another dog on cue can be just as useful as teaching them to turn away. Which cue is best, as usual, depends on the dog, and we discuss that in more depth in the new version. By the way, if I haven’t mentioned this before, I used Watch on Willie when he was at his worst with unfamiliar dogs (and “worst” was pretty bad, believe me), then switched to “Where’s the Dog” (which is what I use now, and he goes all gooey and waggy as soon as I say it.) Not surprisingly, I like having both cues in your pocket, but I don’t think that’s necessary for all dogs. I am interested in the fact that both Watch and Where’s the Dog result in the same operant behavior (look at dog, look at owner) and the same classically conditioned response (look at dog, feel good).

4) We include brief discussions of alternatives like Abandonment Training and C.A.P. and the situations in which we find them most useful.

5) We revised the resource section at the end.

6) We both thought the writing in the first version needing some tweaking, so we wrote, like, sorta better throughout the booklet.

We, as always, would love feedback, so let us know, through the blog or emails, what you think. Before we know it, it’ll be time to reprint it again!  You can also reach Karen, by the way, through her own blog at Bark Magazine’s Blog Site.

Meanwhile, back at the farm: Will and I worked on picking sheep off a fence when another group was beside the fence on the other side. It went well, but it was clear that Will found it stressful. I stopped and let him do an easy, open outrun to end on a relaxing note, and then played lots of tug later that night. Good boy Willie, good boy. (Uh, have I said that before?)

Well, I can’t tell you that last night went smoothly, but my Willie boy tried his best and ended up learning a lot about working sheep last night. (We went to a good friends, Peg, who has a lot more sheep and a lot more land than I do and is extremely generous with her time.) First, Will and I drove a flock of about 35 sheep into a pen at the end of a long field, and then turned and walked 40 yards in the other direction, where Peg had brought out a group of 5 or 6 ewes about 250 yards away. I waited until I was sure Willie had seen them, and then sent him “Come Bye” (clockwise). He began correctly, but then stopped part way there and looked back at the flock he had just worked (who were behind him and me both). I said Come Bye again, and he started right but again slowed and looked back. Eventually  he ended up driving directly toward the flock he was supposed to run to the back of, and actually drove them away from me at one point. I whistled stop, lie down, come bye, etc etc, all to no avail. It was abundantly clear to me that he was completely confused, so I stopped trying to signal him and went to help him.

As I started to walk toward him he got around the sheep and brought them toward me, or more accurately, he ran behind the sheep who were now charging in my direction toward the larger flock behind me. The group he was trying to work ended up smack dab against the pen’s fence, with a few thin boards separating the small and the larger flocks. That was Willie’s next challenge–pulling the small flock away from the large one, and he just couldn’t manage it. He needed to force himself between the fence (and most relevant, the larger flock) and push the small flock away, and he just couldn’t do it. He kept looking at the sheep inside the fence, and as an excessively strong-eyed dog, he simply couldn’t detach himself from wanting to work them too. I suspect it was partly a confidence issue, Willie being a dog full of fears, but the draw of the other sheep was clearly a huge factor as well. I went over and helped and we got it done, but when we tried it again he still had trouble. We’ve worked a bit at this at home, but what we’ve done is new enough that it didn’t transfer to a new context.

Peg and I switched directions to make it easier for Will, but now the sheep were on the upside of a pasture with two hills and big dip in the middle. Will lost sight of the sheep halfway through his outrun and began to run flat (toward the sheep rather than around). He tried to fix it when he got the sheep back in sight, but by then he was too close, and struggled to get control of them once he got around them. He brought them to me eventually, but it wasn’t very pretty. I was sure he had just never been in this situation, (losing sight of the sheep on such a long outrun) so I sent him one more time, and damn if he didn’t run a perfect outrun, take control of the sheep much more effectively (not perfectly, but not bad either) and bring them spot-on to me at a perfect pace. Whew. Good boy, good boy.

Of course, by now he and the sheep were a bit tired (Will over heats pathetically fast, so between runs 2 and 3 he had taken a rest in the shade, drunk water and had water poured on his paws), so that partially explains the quiet pace, but nonetheless, it was a good place to end and I was pleased he had clearly learned from experience. We’ll try again next week if we can fit it in before we go to Africa, but meanwhile I’ll work on the issue of shedding the sheep off of a fence with a flock right behind at home.

Meanwhile, back at the farm: Besides walks with dogs and working with sheep (and scrubbing water tanks and grinding nails… all the boring stuff we all do to maintain life), lots of time at home is being spent of preparation for Africa. Oh my, hard to believe that in 2 weeks I’ll be with a pack of animal lovers watching hippos in an underwater viewing area in Tsavo National Park.  I won’t be able to send posts from there, so I’m going to write articles before I go, to be posted throughout the time I’m gone. Who knows, maybe I will have internet access in some places.. that would be great fun to write you all from there!

Closer to home, here’s Will and flowers, two of my favorite things:

Yesterday something happened with Willie that reminded me of something most of us already know. . .  the fact that our dogs are continually trying, often desperately, to communicate with us. They can’t use words, they don’t write letters and, thank god, they can’t twitter. But they live in constant contact with members of another species, a species that can either ignore their efforts, or fine tune their abilities to translate what their dog is trying to “say.”

Here’s what happened with Willie: Lassie,  Will and I had just finished a lovely country walk with friends (two and four-legged) and were chatting outside of the house of the mutual friend who owns the property. Picture: three people talking outside of the house, three dogs at their feet, and Willie, the 4th dog, hanging out, fifteen feet away. Willie began to leave the area and walk down a path edged with tall prairie grasses. He quickly moved out of sight, and since there was a wandering, unaccompanied two year-old child in the area, I wanted to keep an eye on him. I called him back and asked him to stand and stay. He did, until I turned my head for a few seconds toward my friends. When I looked back, Willie was gone. I called him back again, told him to sit and stay.

You guessed it. The second I turned my head, Willie was gone again. This continued one more time, which was atypical of Will. Heaven knows he has his problems, but this isn’t one of them. I called him back again, a tiny bit frustrated but mostly confused. Will came up the path and I said something like “Will? What’s going on?”

I wish more than I can say that I could show you a picture of his face when I said that. (WARNING: Anthropomorphic attribution to follow.) What I saw in his eyes was an honest, pleading look that I read as “PLEASE PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME STAY HERE.” His look was so intense I practically have tears in my eyes writing about it. (Okay, I actually did get teary as I typed that, but just for a minute and not very much and just don’t tell anybody, okay?)

“Willie, do you want to go to the car?” I asked, and he turned and ran to the car. I followed him through the prairie grasses, and found him at the car door, looking back and forth between it and me, like Lassie in a movie with Timmy trapped in the well. I put him in his crate and walked back to Lassie and my friends. As I did, I remembered that TWO YEARS AGO, the dog we had walked with today went after Willie over a stick in exactly the same area. There was no contact at all, but an impressive bark/charge that clearly scared Will (he urinated as he rolled over submissively). There has been nothing between the dogs ever since, but they used to play lots of chase games together, and now they don’t.

Will, alpha-wanna-be that he is, will always be a dog with a lot of fears, and as he matures, he tries to hard to find ways to stay out of trouble. He avoids situations of conflict and he play bows frequently (I taught him to do that to help him relax; he does it often now, I think because he’s learned it is a way of managing tension). I can’t help but think what it would have been like for him if I had interpreted his behavior after the walk as a “challenge to my dominance.” What a nightmare for him, and what a betrayal of our relationship that would have been.

This story reminds me of the first time I saw Sandra Davis and Pepper do freestyle. As the music began, Pepper left her side for a few feet and raised his nose up into the air. Instead of correcting him, Sandra stopped the music and said “Pepper, what is it?” She let him move across the floor, sniffing something in the air intently. When he appeared satisfied she called him back, cued the music to start again and blew away the crowd with an awesome performance. I never will forget that reminder to us all to respect our dogs, and to listen to what they are trying to communicate. [By the way, I talked about this once in a seminar in New Mexico, and someone in the audience said “Sandra is right here!”  And there she was, in the audience, and I got to thank her in person. What an honor.)

Meanwhile, back at the farm, I continue my crazed, obsessive gathering of summer’s bounty. There are now 12 quarts of black raspberries in the freezer, along with heaven knows how many packages of strawberries, rhubarb and now cherries that I picked from a generous friend’s tree yesterday. This weekend I’m going after Blueberries at an organic farm down the road. I made a Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry pie yesterday. This ‘eating locally and seasonally’ sure is fun and ecologically a good thing to do, but it’s not helping me control my waistline. Tonight I take a rest for harvesting, and take Will to work sheep at a friends. Oh boy, she has a huge field so we can try a 300 yard outrun. Oh boy, can’t wait, I’ll keep you posted.

Here’s Will and Lassie this morning, chewing on their stuffed Kongs, and illustrating for all the world to see that I didn’t vacuum the rug this weekend.

The seminar in Arroyo Grande was great fun; the hosts at Gentle Touch Pet Training could not have been kinder, more supportive or better organized. The afternoon half day session on Play was a joy–and all that work creating a new seminar felt well worth it by the end of the day. During the Play Seminar and the Dog-Dog Reactivity sessions I got lots of questions from the audience, some of which I was able to answer that day, but some of which I didn’t get to. I thought I’d address some now, since there were some great ones that I thought deserved an answer.

One written question related to dogs who are over reactive when they see other dogs: “Is there ever a point where you give up on behavior modification and recommend strict management only?” Good question, yes? And the answer is YES and NO. There are certainly times in which I recommend strict management practices must always be followed. For example, I showed a video of a dog named Oscar, whose owners worked with me for over two years. Oscar was adopted from a shelter, taken to dog training class a few weeks later, walked into the door of the classroom and immediately crushed the skull of a young beagle after briefly sniffing it. What a nightmare. However, because of the dedicated work of the owners, Oscar changed from a dog who became physiologically hysterical when he even saw a dog blocks away, to a dog who was able to be loose in my pasture with Luke and Lassie. Except for one thing: Oscar had on a muzzle, and I strongly recommended that Oscar never ever ever be let loose around an unfamiliar dog without a muzzle. Not after causing that much damage, and not after starting as a dog unable to control himself at just the sight of another dog.

But I said “Yes” AND “No” because there are very few contexts in which some behavior modification isn’t useful. Oscar would never be let loose with unfamiliar dogs or taken to a dog park, but he could be taken to the vet clinic without causing a scene, and walking him on a leash was no longer a nightmare. For any dog, I would base my recommendations on how serious the problem was, how much time and interest the owners had to do behavior modification, and the goals of the owners. Bottom line, I’m always an advocate of “better safe than sorry.”

I’m not sorry we got to go to the central coast of California though. It was gorgeous, and we spent an ‘animal rapture’ hour watching Elephant Seals a few miles north of San Simeon (we skipped the Hearst Castle in favor of the seals, pretty clear where our priorities lie!). This time of year the sub-adult and adult males are on the coast to shed their coats (they actually lose an layer of skin too, and look pretty tacky before they are done.) The young males especially spend some of their time sparring together, in preparation no doubt for the breeding season to come this winter. Some of them weren’t doing much self-handicapping, we saw quite a few with bloody necks, although nothing like the wounds seen when they are fighting for real.

Here’s an older male (you can tell by the size of their ‘noses’.. their noses start as little Jimmy Durante buds and grow each year to absurd proportions). This one was all by himself, but making a heck of a racket as he displayed in the waves. (By the way, you can’t get an idea of size in these photos, but males can grow up to 6,000 pounds! These animals are HUGE!)

These two young males (see their smaller noses?) were quite the pair, bellowing and mock biting at each other for the longest time. There were 2 other pairs doing the exact same thing right beside them. Jim got this picture, and about 150 more! It was an amazing experience to watch them, and if you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Breeding season is in February, I’d love to go back and watch, then drive up the coast to see the Monarch butterflies hibernating in Big Sur.

I can’t write much, I’ve been deep in preparation for the new seminars I’m doing in Arroyo Grande at Gentle Touch Pet Training this Sunday and we’re leaving for the airport in a few hours. Predictably, we are in the usual flurry of last minute packing, house sprucing and training of new house sitter. As much as I hate leaving Lassie and Will (I’m sorry Lassie, I’ll be back soon, I promise), I am truly looking forward to this trip. Both 1/2 day seminars should be great fun. The half day Play Play Play seminar is completely new, and I can’t wait to present it. (And will be available as a DVD sometime soon, I’ll keep you posted!) I am also, admittedly, relieved that I’ve got it finished, at least until I decide to tweak it some more on Saturday. (These things are never finished, are they?!)  The seminar has tons of video (it took me 3 hours to burn the videos onto 5 different DVDs. It takes an absurd amount of time to create videos for seminars, although you’d never know it when you see it. On Wednesday I spent 3 hours creating less than 3 minutes of video. Good grief.) and I am looking forward to discussing the ever-burning question to all of us immersed in dogs: what play is appropriate and healthy, and what is over the line? When do you intervene? And how?

I’m also looking forward to the 1/2 day on Dog-Dog Reactivity. I’ll be doing some of what I’ve always done (a la Feisty Fido) and some new things inspired by Karen’s and my revision of the Feisty Fido booklet, Second Edition. (Coming out next week, oh boy! I’ll keep you posted on that too.)

Meanwhile, back at the farm: Here’s the Black Raspberry, Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie I made on Sunday. One of you asked for the recipe: It’s simple, just use the Joy of Cooking’s recipe for Rhubarb/Strawberry Pie but substitute the raspberries for one third of it. The only trick I know is to use Tapioca as a thickener when you’re using rhubarb. I’ve never had any luck at all with corn starch or flour, (although lots of other people seem too, go figure… cooking must be like dog training!)

It rained hard again this morning; I don’t remember a summer when we’ve had so much rain. That’s a good thing for the farm, I don’t have enough pasture for my little flock and rain keeps the grass growing as fast as the sheep can eat it. We are all enjoying the bounty of summer; this is the trail behind the house to the orchard pasture, and it is edged with buckets of black raspberries. (Would that they came in buckets, instead of interspersed with lots of prickers and a bevy of mosquitos!) I’ve been picking like a fool, and so has Jim, and so far we have 6 quarts of berries in the freezer, along with 9 quarts of strawberries and 5 of rhubarb. I just love the idea of making pies in the icy dead of winter, with fruit from the lush of summer.

xx

Thanks to those to of you who have commented on this issue. It is such an important one, and I value the conversation we are having. For what it’s worth, here’s what I think:

First off, I think that the most important factors related to who is qualified to treat a behavioral problem is their KNOWLEDGE and ABILITY, not their degrees or credentials. I am not dismissing the value of credentials, believe me, I busted my tail for my Ph.D. and I am very proud of it. I have tremendous respect for others with advanced credentials, and describe some of the vets that I work with as walking on water. I also add CAAB after my name with pride, just as I have tremendous respect for DVMs who are Board Certified in Behavior. But that said, who do you want helping you rehab a rescue dog who growls at visitors? Any dog trainer? Any vet? Any CAAB?  No.. you want someone who understands canine ethology, as well as operant and classical conditioning, who can read communicative signals from dogs extremely well. You want someone with experience working with dogs with behavioral problems, who can refer to a vet when necessary, and someone you can relate to (and who can relate to you), who does a good job being your coach, teacher and cheerleader all at the same time. What qualifies someone to do that? Knowledge and ability, yes? But knowledge of what, and ability to do what? Here’s some thoughts–not inclusive probably, but good enough to continue our conversation. I’ve restricted it to dogs here primarily for the sake of simplicity, but also because they are more commonly presented for behavioral problems:

MINIMAL KNOWLEDGE TO WORK WITH CANINE BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS:

1. Canine ethology, including the influence of genetics on behavior, developmental influences (in utero, neonatal, early social development), normal social structures of dogs in different contexts, communicative signals (these need to be known in depth, such that a 10 millisecond and 2 millimeter change of a dog’s lips is clearly noticeable and meaningful to the observer), play behavior, predatory behavior, agonistic behavior. I’m sure I’ll add more to this list as I continue to think about this.  You?

2. In-depth knowledge of operant conditioning (including + and – reinforcement and punishment, when they are best used or avoided); in depth knowledge of classical conditioning, counter classical conditioning and desensitizing (and the difference between and when to use each one over the other).

3. Experience applying #’s 1 and 2 to behavior problems in dogs, ideally by first learning basic training and handling, and over time assisting with a knowledgeable, skilled and experienced mentor on simple behavioral problems, working up to more serious ones.

4. An in-depth understanding of what behavioral problems are often caused by or correlated with medical problems, including a good working knowledge of structure and function, basic physiology and what behavioral problems always require an appointment with a veterinarian.

5. An in-depth understanding of the most common diagnosis of behavioral problems, what behaviors are ’symptomatic’ of these problems, and best practices to solve them. This includes knowing what these labels  mean, how useful the labels actually are (not always) and how to help the client understand what we can and can’t know about what is motivating their dog.

MINIMAL ABILITY TO WORK WITH BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS

1. Anyone who wants to work with dogs with behavioral problems, in my opinion, should be a good trainer, with the ability to read a dog and know what he or she is ready for (or not), knows how to use their actions, including movement and voice, to influence a dog’s behavior, can read visual signals extremely well and is able to interpret them correctly (ie, dog tongue flicks when asked to lie down). No one should ever give a client instructions about what to teach their dog, without being able to demonstrate how to do it successfully to the same dog, in the same context as the clients.

2. Consultants absolutely must have fantastic social skills with people, and be able to create a welcome and supportive environment for the client. Specialists who are great with dogs but not with people are not suited to do behavior consulting, period. There is no equivalent of surgery in behavioral treatment and rehab, in which the specialist never has to interact with the ‘patient.’ You’re either really, really good with people, or you’re in the wrong field. (Could I make it more clear how strongly I feel about this?!) The most common complaint, after 22 years, that I hear from clients is that the trainer/behaviorist/veterinarian was rude/busy/disconnected/shaming etc etc etc. I do not know this for a fact, but I believe that part of the bit of good I’ve been able to do in the world is because I like people as much as I like dogs, and I want to help them both.

3. The ability to take all the knowledge listed above and customize it for each case. Cook book solutions don’t work very often, and I’ve seen client after client who came to me after being given some handouts and some generic advice about this or that, which didn’t end up being very helpful. Being a behavioral consultant means knowing how to successfully influence the behavior of two species, and that means knowing how to present information in away that clients can use and adopt.

4. The ability to say, without hesitation, “I don’t know” and “I was wrong.” I have no respect for any professional who doesn’t know what he or she doesn’t know, and always love it when a doctor or vet says “I don’t know.” Music to my ears, and critical to being a true professional.

5. The ability to stay connected with a network of knowledgeable people, including trainers, behaviorist and veterinarians. It takes a village, that’s all I can say. I am incredibly lucky to be a community with some kick ass western vets, highly qualified Chinese Medicine vets, some great trainers, canine massage therapists, etc etc etc. I am grateful every day for being in contact with other CAABs, for connections with some fantastic Veterinary Behaviorists and for the opportunity to keep learning more every day of every week.

As I said earlier, I’m sure I’ll think of several more things to add later, but I need to get back to working on my new Play Play Play Seminar that I’m doing in California next week (write a comment if you’re coming!). I want to end by supporting what many said in their comments about the value of a team of people helping dogs and the people who love them. I agree whole-heartedly that all three fields, vet medicine, behaviorists and trainers need to do more work together to advance the field. I do not think every animal with a behavior problem needs to see a veterinarian, any more than every one who needs marriage counseling needs to get a full physical from their general practitioner. Neither do I believe–and I suspect there will be many who disagree-that GP vets should expand their knowledge base to become skilled in treating behavioral problems. Good grief, it is hard enough for them to stay up with advances in medicine. What I do think is that they should learn enough to understand the complexity of behavior, to know what they know and don’t know, and how, when and who to refer to. Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorists and CAABs are a fantastic resource for GP vets, and they would do well to work with them more often. Veterinary Behaviorists especially have so much to teach standard practice vets about psychopharmacology and behavioral medicine. Trainers and behaviorists need to reciprocate by understanding that some behavioral problems are directly or indirectly caused by medical problems, and work as closely as possible with those in veterinary medicine.

My last point is that, ever the optimist, I think it’s great that our field is progressing to the point where we are having conversations like this! I would LOVE to hear your comments about what I’ve written.. additions, deletions, objections, agreements, etc…. Don’t hesitate to join in, I think this is an important conversation.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, here’s from a walk Will, Lassie and I took Monday evening, at a friend’s beautiful farm just down the road from mine:

And here’s another one from the same walk, which might just be one of my favorite photos of Willie of all time (so far!):