Paws for Thought
Ministerial Meandering
Paws for thought
It’s strange; I had thought about writing on the subject of dogs - a topic close to my heart - and was mulling over how to approach it, when my phone rang. Someone has a problem dog - could I come and help?
This is always a privilege and an exercise in trust, from all sides of the puzzle. First, the owner has to trust me, and believe at least some of what they have heard about my work, or seen on my website. Second, I have to trust them to tell me the truth about their dog. You might be surprised at how many owners ‘bend’ the truth about how they handle or treat their dogs, so that I don’t get a bad impression of them. Then the dog has to trust me - and that can take a little time to earn.
Much as I admire some of Cesar Milan’s work with dogs, I do not subscribe to his ‘dominance’ approach. Cesar finds it essential to mentally overpower the animals he works with. He wants them in submission. I do not believe that is the right way to deal with dogs. I don’t want a subservient, cowering cur, I want a willing partner, where we understand each other’s language.
That can take time. I can remember sitting on the floor in a room with a very frightened little dog who was trembling in the far corner. To approach such an animal directly, would be to increase its fear, almost certainly earning you not trust, but a puddle on the floor. It was nearly twenty minutes before the little guy came over to sniff me, and I still hadn’t made any eye contact with him at all.
My first visits to a new client (the owner) and patient (the dog) take me around an hour or more. I need to get a full history of the animal since it was born - if possible - and information on its parents and their characteristics too. This is not going to happen with rescue dogs, but sometimes - if they have been in a shelter a long time - information from the staff of the shelter may be forthcoming.
I always go to the home of the dog. Dogs do not like coming to surgeries, and I don’t think it is fair to my own animal(s) to introduce a new patient into my dog’s home. Furthermore, in the dog’s own home, I can get a good idea of the environment in which my patient is living, and how the family or owner interacts with the dog.
During the time that I am talking to the client, I like to have the dog running around free in the same room - so long as aggression is not the issue! - so that I can see how it reacts to new people coming into its territory. I can also begin to win its confidence, as most dogs will want to come and inspect the newcomer, and so I can demonstrate, by not interacting with it at all, that I am not a threat.
Within most behaviour problems, I have found that feeding is almost always a problem. Proprietary kibble is rarely adequate - even the top of the range (and hugely expensive) ‘specialised’ brands. One of the things that researchers have found over recent years - in the human population as well - is that our gut is a much more important organ than we ever imagined. Certainly, it absorbs our foodstuffs, but it is also an essential endocrine organ. That is, it produces important hormones. In addition, the nature of the bacterial flora within the gut is key to both food absorption, and the adequate production of those unexpected hormones. And hormones - as we all know - influence behaviour. Thus, when addressing a dog with a behavioural problem, a full dietary history is crucial. Many of my dogs with behaviour problems have had them disappear with the introduction of probiotics or some other nutrient - like raw food - into their diets.
When I feel I have got to the bottom of the problem, my plan is to teach the client how to train their own animal. It is pointless for me to be able to handle the dog, if it is not going to live with me. Many owners do not realize that they are going to have to treat their dogs. Why this should come as a surprise still baffles me. But I still love this job.
Philip+