When you have a problem behavior in your animal, you have probably asked
a number of individuals for help. You may have gotten advice from your
veterinarian, tips from a trainer and the “sure fire way” to
fix it from a friend. And yet your problem remains. Why? You are frustrated,
and inclined to think that there is no help for your pet if these avenues
haven’t worked.
The consultation process allows me to get the information from you and your pet to make a behavioral diagnosis. This cannot accurately be done in a few minutes. A diagnosis is necessary to determine the underlying cause of a behavior. Not all dogs are barking for the same reason. If the reason is not known, the barking will not subside. Not all cats stop using the litterbox for the same reason. Without discovering why, the soiling will continue. Diagnosis is an important part of the consultation. I always work with your veterinarian to rule out any medical reasons that may be responsible for the behavior.
From the diagnosis, I will develop a customized plan for behavioral therapy. By working with a degreed professional, you are guaranteed that the approaches used with your pet will be from the most up to date scientific information. My plans are divided into three areas: management, modification and medication. Management deals with the environmental changes and equipment that may be necessary to keep the pet safe while behavior modification takes place, or may be necessary to effect behavior changes. Modification refers to the specific interactions, training and conditioning that your pet may need to improve the situation. Medication is not usually necessary (less than 15% of the time). When necessary, I view it as a temporary measure to allow learning to take place. Once this has happened, often the dose can be tapered and the animal can be removed from medication.
A consultation begins with a pre-consultation phone interview, to ascertain whether a consult is an appropriate avenue for your pet. You will receive a pre-consultation questionnaire to fill out and return prior to our meeting. Spending the time to think critically about your pet’s problem prior to meeting allows me to diagnose the problem more quickly and spend our time together working on the solutions to the problem. An initial consultation takes 1.5 – 2 hours. During our meeting I will: assess your pet’s temperament, diagnose the problem or problems, design a customized behavioral plan for you to follow, and teach you how to implement that plan. Several days following our consultation, your will receive in writing : the diagnosis, behavioral plan, and any special instructions or things to watch for. Included in the initial consultation package is three months of telephone or email follow-up to make any necessary changes to the plan.
This package is for clients who have additional problems with the same pet, problems that have changed significantly or not resolved in the desired way since the initial consultation. A consultation takes place (as described above), and three months of telephone or email follow-up are included as well.
This is for clients for whom distance is an issue, or for whatever reason, do not want a face-to-face consultation. This is especially good for many cat problems, who view travel or intrusion by a stranger as a highly unpleasant thing. This type of consultation is not appropriate for aggressive animals. The format of the email consult is similar, except that I don’t meet you or your pet in person. Diagnosis, written information and follow-up are included, as described above.
Behavior problems usually don’t develop overnight, and while an immediate fix is what you desire, they don’t resolve overnight either. Habits are hard to break, and it takes time for the animal to learn a new behavior in the place of the old one. That said, usually there is an improvement in behavior within a short period time, and then the continued improvement to a “maintenance state” takes longer. Each animal and each problem is different.
To book a behavior consultation at CSU please call (970) 491-4477
For information about the prices of each package please email: Jennie.Willis_Jamtgaard@ColoState.EDU
