Why virtual consultations for dog behavior modification?
Aussie dog waiting for virtual assessment with behaviorist.
It doesn’t seem possible that a virtual behavior consultation for a dog’s behavior could be effective. Yet it is incredibly so and a growing way of providing high quality professional behavior modification help for a client’s dog or cat.
We were skeptics too. Although some dog training professionals were providing virtual services prior to the COVID pandemic, most training was done in person and that’s how we ran our business too. But the pandemic allowed us to get creative so we could continue to help clients as we navigated the new world of contagious disease. We began offering our training through Zoom and a whole new world opened up for our clients.
What is a behavior assessment?
First, let me cover what a behavior assessment is. One common view of an initial consultation with a behavior professional or trainer is that the professional will come in, see the dog’s behavior, and come up with an immediate solution that solves the problem. After all, this often happens on TV right! Real life assessment of pet behavior, especially complicated behavior such as fearfulness and aggression is much less dramatic than that.
Even when we did initial assessments in person, we never deliberately tried to make a pet feel fearful or show aggressive behavior, or any of the behaviors that might be the reason why a client reaches out for help. We don’t need to see the behavior to understand why it’s happening and how to help clients. We rely on the behavior history a client provides us, videos they can share with us (if they have these available and do not create ones that put their pet or others at risk), any observations we can make of the dog’s normal state. The most important thing that helps us understand a pet is our knowledge of animal learning and how fear and aggressive behavior develop. We have worked with literally thousands of dogs who have similar issues. We have a deep knowledge and understanding of the motivations of both dogs and cats. We use all this information to create behavior modification plans that help clients and their pets.
Due to the lack of regulation in the pet training industry, clients often come to us seeking clarity about the diverse methods and opinions they hear from uncredentialed individuals. The initial assessment is a place where we can have a discussion about realistic expectations for their dog’s behavior. We can discuss common myths about training that may impact the training progress. These discussions do not involve direct interaction with their dog or cat so they can easily be done virtually.
An assessment typically involves gathering information from a client (see the blog on our assessment process) and viewing the house layout if that’s relevant for the issue. In the initial assessment, we provide education about body language (so clients understand what their dog is saying) and discuss an immediate plan to keep everyone safe or improve their quality of life that doesn’t rely on training the pet. With our virtual assessments we are easily able to share relevant videos and information that demonstrate some of the strategies that are going to be most helpful to our clients. After completing a behavior assessment with us, our professionals will provide an individualized training plan that is accomplished over several training sessions.
Virtual assessments allow safe understanding of dog’s aggressive behavior.
The benefits of virtual assessments
When we did our initial assessments in person, we often had to spend a great deal of time getting the dog comfortable with our presence. Especially since pets showing fearful and aggressive behavior are one of our specialties. Many of the client dogs we met were uncomfortable with strangers coming into the home. Sometimes we had to have the dog in another room or outside because their stress was so high with a stranger in the room. Or we had to go outside to continue a conversation with the owner. This made gathering the information we needed from the owner difficult as we had to attend to the stress of the pet. And even if the dog was comfortable with unfamiliar people, the excitement of having a guest in the house changed their behavior so it could sometimes be difficult to get the information we needed to do a thorough assessment.
The second issue was the level of stress and danger to both our pet clients and our staff. Our staff members have had close calls with a dog that had an aggression history. Dogs that jumped up in our faces when the owner accidentally dropped the leash. Or a dog that escaped through a pet gate and charged a staff member. Dogs that were fearful might bark non-stop during a session, despite having them in another room or outside. The stress level of the pet would not diminish while our staff focused on getting a behavior history from their owner. Virtual assessments allow us to gather all the information we need to make a safe and non-threatening entry into the home when we implement the training plan.
Third, in person assessments were very stressful on our human clients. If a dog was showing aggressive behavior toward one of our staff members, clients were often distressed, sometimes embarrassed, sometimes angry. All appropriate emotions when they are concerned about safety for others or the quality of life of their pet. These emotions impacted the type of information we could gather from them about their pet’s behavior. It would make it difficult to concentrate on providing us with the information we need to create a customized and effective training plan for their family.
Our unique hybrid assessment structure
Now with several years of experience using a virtual assessment model, we have created a unique hybrid process. See our video on the virtual assessment process. Our dog or cat behavior professional is on Zoom gathering information about the pet’s behavior. Our professionals then introduce critical information about the nature of fear, the development of aggressive behavior, the impact of genetics, prior training, and the needs of the pet on any training plan. A training assistant is present at the client’s home (if the client is within our service area or agrees to a travel fee if they are outside the service area). The assistant is only needed for a brief part of the initial assessment to carry out deliberate interactions with the pet to determine the dog's starting point for training or to assess potential triggers. The assistant may try a training exercise to determine a dog's responsiveness to training. The assistant is typically only present for about 15 minutes of the one hour session. Once we’ve gathered the observational information we need the assistant is dismissed, and the behavior specialist can then continue with explanations and demonstrations.
What is a virtual dog or cat assessment? Find out how virtual assessments are done, how your training professional observes your dog's behavior, what we can learn, and how training is done by LOMA Behavior and Training's behavior professionals.
A few FAQs
Why do you charge the same if you aren’t coming to my house?
Professionals typically charge for their expertise, the number of years of experience they have gained, the education they have received, the ongoing education they continue to pursue. All this expertise is the same, no matter how the service is provided, whether the professional is in a client’s home asking the questions or on a screen asking the questions. How the training is delivered depends on the needs of the pet firstmost, the needs of the pet’s owner, and the logistics of the situation (out of area, lack of access to high quality behavior services in some areas).
I live by myself. How am I supposed to handle my phone or computer and my dog?
There are a variety of quick and easy tricks for using a mobile phone hands-free. Our favorite one is sticking the phone in a cup, usually a coffee cup that allows the phone to stand up so the camera can capture the activity while the client can continue speaking to the behavior professional. It can also be positioned in a variety of locations, giving the behavior specialist a good view of the client and pet. Watch the video we’ve created to see an example of how a single individual provides a clear view of her working with her dog.
The bottom line: Is it effective?
Yes! As noted above, virtual assessments and training sessions actually have advantages over in-person training. We were surprised that it was more effective with anxious, aggressive, or reactive dogs because we can get more information without a stranger in the room. It lets us see pets in their natural states when they are not highly agitated. We can also start the learning process quickly, instead of waiting for a client’s pet to get comfortable with one of our staff. From our many positive Google reviews, we are confident we have developed an effective service that starts with a virtual initial assessment for dog and cat behavior (behaviour) modification.
More evidence of its effectiveness is present among veterinary behaviorists and credentialed behavior consultant professionals around the country. Many now offer a virtual option for clients:
Dr. Chris Pachel, board certified veterinary behaviorist
Behavior Vets, a team including board certified veterinary behaviorists, veterinarians specializing in behavior, and applied animal behaviorists
Canines In Action, owned by Laura VanArendonk Baugh, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and esteemed Instructor for the Karen Pryor Academy For Animal Training and Behavior, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP
Malena DeMartini, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and separation anxiety expert
If you’ve been looking for high quality dog behavior consulting services, call us. Set up your initial assessment and get started. We are here to help whether you live in San Antonio or beyond.
About the author: Dr. Lorraine Martinez is the founder of LOMA Behavior and Training LLC and has been helping dogs and their people since 2002. She earned a PhD in psychology from the University of Washington and went on to graduate with distinction from the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training. She is a Behavior Consultant affiliated with the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior and is a Fear Free Certified Professional.
