I started working with a new client this week. She told me more than once that she was feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the (often unsolicited) advice she'd received from family, friends, and neighbors, and overwhelmed with what she had read online (she described it as feeling like Alice falling head first into that rabbit hole!). When I was collecting the history on her dog, I was frankly a bit overwhelmed too. She'd tried so many different things, sometimes in combination, other times by themselves, it was truly a wonder that she hadn't made things worse for herself and her anxious dog. When she completed the history, she burst into tears. I felt awful for her and for her sweet dog, who just happened to be curled up next to me on the couch, all 90 pound of him.
There has been a lot of research done on how best to educate and assist pet owners dealing with behavior problems. The bottom line seems to be that pet owner compliance increases with the ease of the suggestions made, meaning if the changes are easy to implement, pet owners are more likely to try them. It's also the case that pet owners will often seek and follow advice given to them from less reputable sources IF that advice is, once again, easy to follow and implement. So what does this mean for someone like me? It means that I do my level best to provide you with the quickest, most efficient path to the result you are looking for. I always try to support my methodology and advice given with the science behind those methods, but I try not to bog people down in the science as that's often where pet owners' eyes glaze over. I like to give people the option to hear more about why the methods work IF they want that, but for those who just want to cut to the chase and move their pet past the issue, I can do that as well. So, why am I telling you all of this and how does it relate to my new client with the anxious dog?
I'm sharing this with you because I want you to be successful and I want your pet to be happy, less anxious, and thrive in your home. What works for one pet owner may not work for another, and I always take that into consideration when working with clients. I also take into consideration what you tell me you will be able to do. It does me no good to make suggestions to you that you feel you will be unable to do, for whatever reason. The goal is a happy pet, not that you did it *my way* per se. Sometimes I have to devise treatment plans that are less than ideal from my point of view, but which are plans that pet owners can, and more importantly, will actually do. You want to make forward progress with your pet, not endure more setbacks, and so do I.
With regard to my new client: We needed to start all over from square one. While some of what she had tried with her dog did have value, she had not implemented those strategies with any consistency, leading her to assume she wasn't getting any results. Because she is someone who loves a schedule (and we already know our pets love schedules and predictability too), I helped her to work out a daily schedule she could follow, both to exercise her dog's body and his mind. By implementing shorter walks, she would be able to avoid that common pitfall of "I don't have time to take him for a walk," and get him out on leash. By adding in play with a flirt pole or some backyard agility and parkour with items she already had, we could get her dog some additional physical exercise when the owner felt she didn't have much time, or didn't want to walk herself. While I was there, we ordered four, interactive food puzzle toys to rotate daily instead of feeding her dog from a bowl. An easy way for her to add in mental stimulation without much effort on her part. Finally, I taught her T-touch so that she could build her relationship with her dog, even while she's on long phone calls with overseas clients or stuck in Zoom meetings. Using T-touch will be relaxing and stress-reducing for her as well as for her dog! And that was it. While I know that there are other things I could suggest that would help this dog, we needed to start with simple, straightforward, easy-to-implement suggestions so that this owner and her dog could experience some success. Once they have that foundation, my hope is that she and I will meet again and we can take those next steps to really help her anxious dog enjoy life more. It's always better to start with just a few, easy changes rather than trying to overhaul it all. Trying to do it all in one session, and make every suggestion, may result in a pet owner feeling overwhelmed and ultimately doing nothing.
The bottom line? You don't have to just live with behavior problems. You also don't have to feel overwhelmed when you do try to make changes. It's my job to provide you with the best options for your pet that will work for you as well. I will always want you to do everything I suggest, but I am also realistic enough to know that that will not always be the case. Better to come up with a plan together that works for everyone, right?
As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
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