Prelude

Before you on board a client: The first step is to schedule a consultation, complete a wound pathology and prognosis

This way, you will know how to develop your program and customize it specifically to meet the needs of this client/family.

During your prognosis, if you suspect an underlying medical issue, have that cleared and integrate it into your program. Many times when dogs react with aggression to humans or other dogs, the dog may be in physical pain.

The second step should be going over the trigger analysis, establishing goals, and proposing a program customized for the specific client/family.

For eg. The program I developed for Samantha, Alec, and their dogs Sage and Acer is an 8-week customized program, including 6 weeks of K9 Nose work, and 8 weeks of private lessons and zoom support. It is a multi-dog family, with both dogs being fearful of humans and have been aggressive towards other dogs (refer to Sage Prognosis). It is important that I cover all the bases with them in behavior with both human and dog-to-dog, so that when the baby comes, everyone in the family can stay safe.

I meet with them in their home, in public real world areas, and their office space (where their dogs have had conflict). Always choose the confrontation environments last (When they are in the last few weeks and have been desensitized and know verbal cues). Otherwise those environments can trigger another aggressive episode. Advise parents to keep dogs away from environments where they have had aggressive confrontations.

Sage has a two tier prognosis: The first is dog-to-human aggression, and the second is for dog-to-dog aggression. Acer is the same except he has a bite scale of 2-3 for other dogs. Preparation for the baby training will start after this program.

On Boarding Clients

Re-assess the Client’s Compliance Level. If the client is willing to learn, follow your directions, and put the time and effort into helping their dog—improvement is inevitable. Unfortunately, if the client is non-compliant, and does not do the work necessary to initiate change, you may consider referring out. From one professional to another, it is important to consistently check that your clients goals are in line with your goals and mission. When you first start to take behavioral cases, it is wiser to start with a four week trial period then work your way to 11 weeks.

*Important: Do weekly checks of any confrontations which occured or any patterns of behavior taking hold. Start all calls off with weekly wins. Name a win for the week. You can even have the client choose a word for the week. “My word this week is patience.”

Create a 3-Tier Strategy For Insurance

We can discuss this in class on Thursday, January 27th

Weeks 2 & 3

For example, If for weeks 2-3, your goal is to teach the pet parents how to create a management/prevention plan you will need:

• Containment Strategy

• Chew Toy Training

• Crate Training

• Proper Equipment: Gates, kennels, fencing, and the like.

• Communication tools and cues.

• In addition to training such as

  • Passive Socialization

  • Classical Conditioning

  • Desensitization/Counter-Conditioning

  • Clicker Training

  • Verbal Cues

  • Bite Inhibition Training

  • Manners

  • Spatial Awareness

  • Self Discovery

  • Outlets for Mental Stimulation

  • Outdoor Play

  *Sometimes the biggest challenge is arranging the client and dogs needs in order of priority. Writing a priority chart is so helpful. There are many apps which provide this service for free such as: Trello

In week three you can introduce concepts of passive socialization and start to introduce tools which will help desensitize later.

*Tip: Have resource material, user friendly tools, and software ready for your client to comprehensively learn from week-to-week. Reiterate what was taught in 1:1 sessions in a voice memo or email. Provide weekly modules they can complete to stay on task and meet weekly goals.

Before taking on any behavior case, ask yourself three main questions.

• How compliant is this client? From a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most compliant. I would strongly warn you not to work with a client who is less than an 8 in compliance.

• Why do you want to work with this client? Keep in mind that not every case is meant for you to work with. Many times this particular client, family, and dog were meant to find the right specialist, and you might just be the person to connect them to this professional.

• How do you know when to say NO? Practice Discernment: Know when to say NO. Reasons to not take the case:

  • This is beyond your capacity as a professional

  • The client is not compliant.

  • More than three red flags. Red flags can include the client not respecting your time, your expertise, your prognosis, and crossing boundaries with you. It also includes the client not practicing or putting effort in.

Ellen Assignment 1/21/22

Ask yourself these three questions when screening clients:

1. What level of compliance am I willing to work with?

2. What is the likely hood of this perspective client finishing their program? How can you prepare a three tier strategy to ensure the client does not stop receiving the guidance and education they need?

3. What are my deal breakers?

Chirag Patel On Human Constructs