Being a Good Observer

For over thirty years now, I've been a paid behavioral observer.  I've observed the behavior of everything from rhesus monkeys to cheetahs to snow leopards to client's house pets, and many other animals in between. But, to do what I do now, I need to be a keen observer of human behavior as well; reading human behavior, and how the behavior of my clients affects their companion animals.  Many of my clients have children or grandchildren in their homes too, so even more to observe. While I've often found it hard enough to help adults understand animal behavior, helping kids can be even more challenging, but critical, not just to their understanding of animals but for their safety around those animals as well.

I've recently started working with a new family; they have three kids under the age of 15 and 4 pets, 2 dogs and 2 cats. This is a busy household with a lot going on.  Not surprisingly, there have been a few issues that have cropped up, both among the pets and among the humans caring for those pets. After our first appointment, it was abundantly clear to me that no one in this house ever actually looked at the pets.  Yes, they fed them all, walked the dogs and cleaned the litterboxes, and made sure that there were beds and toys available, no one actually watched the animals do anything.  Even on the walks, the kids and adults were often on their phones. When I started pointing out body language cues and behaviors and what they meant, this family was astounded.  They felt like they didn't see any of the things that I saw.  Time for a homework assignment!  Every human in the household was asked to use their phone to videotape one or more of the animals in the house at some point during the week.  The animals could be interacting with each other, one of the humans, or even out on a walk. The only thing they couldn't videotape was an animal sleeping ( I had to add that extra instruction when one of the kids thought he could get away with that as fulfilling his homework assignment!). Then, at our next appointment, we watched those videos together, first with the videographer describing what he/she observed and what they thought it meant.  Once everyone had "decoded" their videos for me, we went back, and I gave them my impressions of what was going on in the videos.  Needless to say, minds were blown.  Misinterpretations abounded, and not just for the kids.

So, why am I telling you this?  It's important to be a good observer.  This is how you'll know if your pet is bored, tired, hungry, needing a walk, needing a bathroom break, or needing attention. It's how you'll know if they are ill, hurt, or scared as well.  It will also let you know if there are social dynamics that need to change in order to stabilize those existing relationships, making it safer for all involved.  If you don't watch your animals, you'll never know any of these things until it's too late. 

For this family, we are working on changing who is responsible for what so that the care and keeping of the animals is divided more evenly.  No more looking at phones on the walks. I added in some games for the younger child to play with the dogs and cats that will keep him entertained, but also keep him safer around the animals.  Because this is a busy family, I outlined ways to keep the animals safely entertained, even when the humans weren't observing them.  Finally, I reiterated the importance of sleep for all the animals and allowing them safe spaces in their house where they could retreat and rest, undisturbed, thus helping with those nighttime zoomies and short fuses occurring because of nothing more than sleep deprivation for the dogs AND the cats.

I know we are all busy, but taking just a few moments to be truly present and observant during your interactions with your pets will enhance your relationships with them.  You may even find, as my clients did, that practicing those daily observations makes you feel happier and more connected.  And what's not to enjoy about that?

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Ozzie spends almost as much time watching me as I do watching him. I find comfort knowing that he's resting nearby, ready for whatever I want to do once I'm done working.