Behaviour Consults
It is difficult enough deciding what is best to feed your animal let alone knowing what constitutes normal behaviour, and with ever changing lifestyles it can become increasingly difficult for animals and humans to co habit harmoniously.
As a qualified behaviourist I can help you understand your animal’s sometimes bizarre, embarrassing or infuriating behaviour!
For dogs I can help with issues such as sound phobias, separation problems, destructiveness, and resource guarding. We are unable to offer help with dog to dog aggression cases due to lack of facilities
For cats I can help with issues such as inappropriate toileting, scratching, overgrooming and inter-cat aggression.
I offer one to one behaviour consultations which are often preferred over a class situation as it provides a more relaxed and thus better learning environment with fewer distractions and immediate attention to detail. These can be carried out at home or here at the surgery.
A full clinical history will enable me to assess your animal’s general mood state, its emotional need to do that behaviour, and what reinforcement does the animal receive for doing that behaviour.
Once we have established potential causes, we can work together to produce suitable lifestyle changes and behaviour modification or retraining programmes, using kind and fair training methods.
As a veterinary nurse I also understand that some behaviour problems arise from medical conditions or pain, as such, a clean bill of health is crucial.
Unfortunately, we cannot magically erase a behaviour that has had months or even years of reinforcement, therefore in order for any programme to be successful it requires hard work and dedication from all members of the household.
Please complete the questionnaire and return to the surgery. Include as much detail as possible, no matter how daft it may seem, please be honest and truthful, the more information we have the better. In some cases, it is advantageous to witness the behaviour first-hand, if a behaviour is occurring at home or out and about that you feel we will not witness during the consultation please bring along video clips. However, as some behaviours cause fear, distress or even injury to those concerned, everybody’s safety is paramount so please do not recreate scenarios for this purpose. Once I have your completed questionnaire I will contact you to organise an appointment, however if you have any questions please contact the surgery on 01449 676966.
Training Consults
Alongside our puppy pre-school (course of four puppy classes designed to help your puppy start its education with basic commands and games, and subjects such as canine body language) I also offer one to one consultations in your own home to help your puppy settle into their new environment and help with areas such as toilet training, biting, teaching to settle, socialisation and confidence building.
As your puppy reaches adult hood I offer adolescent training consults, at home, out and about on walks or here at the surgery, for jumping up, leave, walking on loose lead, travelling in the car, and recall as well as mental stimulation such as scent work.
If you would like to discuss this further or organise an appointment please contact the surgery on 01449 676966
Helen Moss RVN DipCABT (COAPE) NOCN