Are Veterinary Behaviorists Worth It?
So your dog has been referred to a Veterinary Behaviorist…
…and you are feeling down and defeated.
Brie Blakeman, CBCC-KA,CPDT-KA
─ Noble Woof Dog Training Portland, Oregon
You look them up just to discover they are quoting upwards of $1,000! How is that for a hit when you’re already feeling down?
You’re going to have to pay $400 an hour to consult with the behaviorist and they’ve also told you that you will likely need to pay for bloodwork and maybe some other vet expenses on top of that.
You think to yourself, “Is it really worth it? Maybe I will just try training with a trainer and see what comes of that first.”
You haven’t yet exhausted all options so you assume that the most logical first step is to “give it your all” with a training before pursuing such an expensive endeavour.
Making that choice is not without logic. I understand that choice. But I think it’s important to know the full scope of what taking that trajectory could mean for you and your dog.
One big problem I routinely see with choosing to exhaust all other options first, is that you may actually land in a place where you are emotionally, and financially depleted, and have seen little progress during the behavior modification process. This usually lands you and your dog back in the same place you started. After all the money and time spent, you still have to pursue working with a Veterinary Behaviorist.
FOr this reason Our recommendation would be…
…to start with a veterinary behaviorist right away if you can.
Here is another big reason why.
I completely understand feeling heartbroken at the recommendation of a Vet Behaviorist, especially when we live in a society that does not value mental health or invisible disease as possible causation to behavioral challenges. We live in a culture of “if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” Societally, we are also still dismantling decades of stigma and misinformation around mental health diagnosis such as anxiety, depression, ptsd and more. Many people still believe that pursuing therapy or taking medications to treat these mental illnesses is “spot treating” instead of treating the root cause. However, if there was more education around what stress and anxiety does to our brains on a physiological and biological level, I think that stigma would quickly melt away.
Even more so with animals than humans, we struggle to believe that what is happening on a covert neurological level might greatly influence what happens on an overt behavioral level. We’ve been taught that dogs are just dogs, and when their behavior is not favorable they’re just misbehaving. Then, when we aim to change their behavior without great results, they are just being “stubborn”. These two constructs are used time and time again to justify harsh training methods that actually just suppress the behavior while worsening the internal root cause of the behavior landing us with a fearful and shut down animal who is internally suffering, but knows that expressing that suffering externally is not safe. It’s the ‘ol American “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentally.
When we fail to see our dogs as sentient beings who can suffer from anxiety and trauma we fall into the trap of taking their behavior personal, holding it against them, or reducing into stagnant over-simplifications such as “he just needs training.”
So, with all of this at play, when someone suggests that a dog might be experiencing undiagnosed chronic pain, or undiagnosed anxiety, it makes sense that we might experience a whole host of emotions ranging from doubt, to anger, to sadness. The whole thing is already stressful and now you have to sort through your own emotions while also making a lot of big decisions.
As a trainer who specializes in working with reactive and aggressive dogs I am at the center of these challenging emotions with clients all of the time. Here is the thing…
A referral to a vet behaviorist does not mean that your dog is hopeless
It does not mean your dog doesn't have the ability to make great progress and live a normal, vibrant and happy life. It just means that in our (your vet, or trainer’s) experience, you will achieve your goals so much more quickly, and with less stress if you start with a Veterinary Behaviorist from the beginning. Some dogs can make progress without a VB, but many really struggle.
Why you might be getting a referral to a Veterinary Behaviorist
At Noble Woof we refer to vet behaviorists up front when certain aspects of a dog's behavior indicate that progress would be made most efficiently that way.
One reason I might refer to a VB (Vet Behaviorist) is because the amount of triggers, and the variety of triggers your dog is routinely upset about exceeds what can be reasonably removed from your dogs daily world. Any good behavior modification trainer will sit you down at your consultation and say something like, “The first step is to prevent your dog from getting triggered by ceasing exposure to all triggering situations and stimuli as much as possible.” If that sounds impossible to you, even after they’ve given recommendations on how you might achieve this, you likely need to consult with a VB who can help your dog.
No longer exposing them to things that set them off is an essential step so that the brain can destress enough to receive new and healthy information about their trigger. When a dog is constantly in a frantic, reactive or overstimulated state, even just at home, this indicates that the brain is frozen in a fight or flight survival pattern. Medication is likely needed to help open some new doors for your friend.
Nobody can learn to see their reality in a new way when they are in the midst of an ongoing panic attack.
Anxiety and fear change the brain
There are simply limits to how far many dogs can get with behavior modification alone.
Studies show that anxiety can be an adaptive reaction to stressful and unpredictable life events. But depending on its duration and intensity, anxiety produces cognitive impairments including deficits in cognitive flexibility and decision making.
There are simply limits to how far many dogs can get with behavior modification alone when extreme stress or fear is actively interfering with learning and decision making. When a dog is getting routinely triggered, counter-conditioning and desensitization are simply not effective. With the help of a VB there is still a great chance you could turn things around, with minimal stress, and the least impact on your wallet as possible.
In these patients, the addition of behavioral drug therapy can significantly improve response to treatment. -Ilana Reisner, DVM, PhD, DACV.
When underlying anxiety is reduced, the dog is more receptive to learning and its behavior can change more reliably in the long-term. -Ilana Reisner, DVM, PhD, DACV.
As one owner of a fearfully aggressive dog reported after 2 months of fluoxetine administration, “I feel like it’s opened a door to her brain.” -Ilana Reisner, DVM, PhD, DACV.
BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS THAT OFTEN BENEFIT FROM MEDICATIONS INCLUDE
The most common behavior issues requiring treatment include:
Separation anxiety
Noise phobias
Fear aggression
Compulsive behaviors (e.g., acral lick dermatitis/granuloma, tail-chasing)
Fearful events (e.g., veterinary visits, grooming appointments, nail trims)
Anxiety when being boarded or during travel.
OTHER INDICATIONS FOR BEHAVIOR MEDICATIONS
Some other reasons behavioral medications might be beneficial include:
Dog has generalized anxiety and is not getting trigger by any specific thing or event (this can only be diagnosed by a VB)
Regularly getting triggered by noises that occur routinely within the environment the dog is living
The dog is displaying aggression in many different contexts regardless of triggers
The dog is suffering from chronic pain with no obvious diagnoses
The dog is not resting well at night or during the day
Myths Debunked
THIS BLOG ARTICLE does a fantastic job of debunking some very common misconceptions about the use of behavior medications for behavior modification.
Some myths debunked in this article include:
My pet’s much-loved personality will change.
Drugs are unhealthy or unsafe.
My pet will be sleepy all the time.
Behavior change is not simple
It is important to point out that behavior change takes time and is not simple. If you have ever tried to change your own behavior or shortcomings, you likely have first hand knowledge that it is not that easy. Behavior change is complicated and learning is non-linear. As such, it would be misleading to leave you thinking that EVERY dog who goes to work with a vet behaviorist is suddenly and dramatically "cured." It isn't that simple, and I don't want to paint a false picture. Some dogs present behavior puzzles that are very unique and hard to decode, and ongoing troubleshooting will be necessary. But such dogs have even more of a reason to work with a Veterinary Behaviorist. Progress without one is extremely unlikely, and the risk of behavioral and emotional fallout only increases as time goes on.
This article is not a prescription
We are not veterinarians, and this article should not be take as veterinary advice for your individual animal or any animal you work with in a professional capacity. The most we can do is refer you to a veterinary behaviorist, or invite you to have a conversation with your pets establish veterinarian. This article is written based on our experience and routine collaboration with veterinary behaviorists, but every case is individually unique.
We most commonly collaborate with Animal Behavior Clinic and Synergy Behavior Solutions here in Portland, Oregon.
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