Animal Behavior

1. Offered puppy socialization classes or routinely encouraged and referred puppy owners to them while puppies are still in the sensitive socialization period between 4 to 12 weeks of age.

2. More often used nonconfrontational handling and restraint techniques so as not to contribute to defensive aggressive behavior.

3. Discouraged the use of dangerous and harmful procedures, such as scruff shakes and “alpha rolls.”

4. Provided behaviorally sound advice about how to help dogs fit into the social fabric of the family to counter the likening of families to wolf packs, as is common in popular media.

An Overview of Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is only one type of learning that is important in behavior modification. Operant conditioning is based on the fact that the consequences of a behavior will influence its frequency. Behavior that is rewarded will increase in frequency, whereas behavior that causes unpleasantness to the animal will decrease. Technicians must not forget that rewards and punishments can be both external and internal to the animal and not always under the control of a trainer or handler.

Operant conditioning allows for four behavioral consequences, which are diagrammed in Table 11-1. To better understand these consequences, technicians must remember to think of “positive” and “negative” in the mathematic sense of adding and subtracting. Remember that by definition reinforcement increases behavior and punishment decreases it, regardless of whether each is positive or negative.

Thus positive reinforcement increases behavior because something pleasant is added following a behavior. Positive punishment decreases behavior because something unpleasant is added following a behavior.

Negative punishment decreases behavior because something pleasant is taken away (subtracted) following a behavior. Negative reinforcement increases behavior because something unpleasant is taken away or avoided (subtracted) following a behavior. Box 11-4 gives examples of each of these consequences.

An Overview of Social Behavior and Social Hierarchies in Dogs

For many years, in the popular literature and to some degree the professional literature, the dog’s relationship to its human family has been likened to the social structure within a wolf pack. There are many problems with this model including misconceptions about a wolf’s social behavior and that it does not take into account significant differences in behavior between wolves and dogs. A few of these differences are listed in Box 11-5.

Technicians will often encounter dog owners who say they have a “dominant dog,” and this fact is the source of the dog’s problems. This comment is incorrect in many respects, one of which is that it mistakenly implies that “dominance” is a personality trait, rather than the role a dog assumes in a relationship. A dog may assume a dominant role in a relationship with one individual and a subordinate role in another. Roles may change over time, based on who the social partners are and the context in which the interaction or conflict occurs.

For example, a dog may give up his resting place on his favorite chair when dog A or person A asks him to, but not when person B does. If dog B is clearly in a subordinate role with the dog on the chair, dog B will not even ask.

The function of social hierarchies is to prevent conflicts over resources from occurring in a social group. Many behaviors that have been attributed to “dominance problems” have nothing to do with resource allocation and roles and relationships. Examples of these are given in Box 11-6. Dog owners are often instructed to withhold certain privileges (such as sleeping on the bed) and to establish strict rules (never step over your dog, make your dog move out of your way) to establish their “dominance” over their dogs. The fallacies with these recommendations are that most dogs do not view these interactions as competitions, and they confuse “dominance” with obedience.

A dog owner may have little control over her dog (the dog does not respond to “commands,” jumps on people, dashes through the door in front of her, pulls on the leash, barks at the door, even growls at visitors), but still be in a dominant role with her dog (she can easily take food and other items away from the dog, move the dog from the bed or furniture, pet and groom the dog, etc.).

Many dogs are mislabeled as “dominant” when they actually are quite fearful. This was the case with 9-month-old Zeke, a neutered male vizsla that was growling at his male owner when he tried to move him off the bed. Rather than using positive reinforcement techniques to teach the dog to get off the bed, the owner had been grabbing for the dog’s collar and yanking him off the bed. The dog’s body postures while growling were clearly fearful—ears back, head lowered, and eyes dilated—as he sought to defend himself from being manhandled. The confrontation was not about getting off the bed, but one of self-defense.

Similar problems can develop when owners use “scruff shakes,” and “alpha rolls” (throwing and pinning their dogs to the floor) to “discipline” their dogs. Technicians should avoid recommending these procedures and counsel dog owners about these dangers. These techniques do not mimic a dog’s or wolf’s behavior. Although a dog may voluntarily roll on its back in response to a social challenge from a dog in a more dominant role, physically pinning a dog to the ground involves force and is more similar to what occurs in a dog fight than what happens in a ritualized social communicative display.

Technicians are encouraged to learn more about canine ethology by reading items from the Recommended Resources list, especially those by McConnell, Serpell (editor), and Coppinger.

Important Aspects of Social Behavior and Social Hierarchies in Cats

A mythology about cats wanting to be “dominant” over people has not developed the way it has in reference to dog-human relationships. The “don’t pet me anymore” behavior of cats is the one most common problem attributed to a cat’s attempt to “dominant” a person. In this behavior, the cat after permitting petting for a period of time will suddenly turn and bite or attempt to bite the person petting him. More commonly seen in males than females, this behavior is poorly understood, and there has been no observational research to support attributing this behavior to the order of the social hierarchy between a cat and a person.

Both the social behavior and domestication history of cats is quite different than that of dogs, resulting in significant differences in cats’ social behaviors toward people as compared with those of dogs. Cat behavior scientists have speculated that the cat-person relationship is more analogous to kitten-mother, rather than peer to peer (conspecific), as is true for dogs and people (Bradshaw, 1992).

Cats’ social hierarchies appear to be even more fluid than those of dogs. In a study of in-home pet cats, resource allocation was often time dependent rather than one individual always having priority access when in competition with another. For example, cat A might have priority access to the best window perch in the morning, but cat B would have priority in the afternoon (Bernstein and Strack, 1996). In studies of free-ranging cats, males were more likely to leave and avoid a confrontation the closer they were to the opponent’s territory.

Cats do not seem to guard resources in the same way as dogs yet through subtle communication may be able to exclude other household cats from food dishes, litter boxes, and other necessities. Cats do not have ritualized play invitations or submissive behaviors in their social behavioral repertoire, so play “fights” can more easily escalate into real conflicts. Because many aggression problems between family cats are motivated by territoriality and defensiveness, many can be prevented through proper introductions. This is why it is so important for technicians to create wellness plans for new pet introductions, as explained later in the chapter.

Technicians are unlikely to find cats attempting to “dominate” them in the veterinary practice. The most common reason for a cat’s aggression toward people in this setting is fear and defensiveness. Cats do not “scruff” other cats to assume and maintain social superiority, so this restraint technique does not mimic cats’ behavior anymore than scruffing and pinning mimics dogs’ behavior.

Technicians are encouraged to expand their knowledge of cats’ behavior by reading several of the scientific books on cats’ behavior contained in the Recommended Resources list at the end of this chapter. Technicians who will be working with horses and birds should also make use of the suggested readings about the social behavior of these species.

Realistic Expectations

Technicians can routinely tell new pet owners to expect to lose something of value simply because they share their lives and their homes with an animal. To put it in terms pet owners will understand, clients will lose something of monetary or sentimental value (or both) when their pets chew up, tear up, eat, track mud on, shed on, relieve themselves on, and vomit or have diarrhea on their possessions. Most people expect some problem behaviors from puppies and kittens, but surprisingly many owners do not expect their 8- or 9-month-old cat or dog to still be prone to chewing and destructive play behaviors. Even well-behaved pets will inadvertently engage in behaviors that cause damage.

Clients who have recently acquired adult animals often make the erroneous assumption that their new pets are already “trained,” and they will not have to worry about house training or chewing and other destructive behaviors. Adult animals new to the home, however, should be treated just like puppies or kittens for the first few weeks to prevent problems as a result of owners’ expectations that are too high; adult pets often need training and supervision while they are making the adjustment to their new homes.

Reinterpreting Anthropomorphic Interpretations

Technicians can also help clients understand that their pets’ behavior is not motivated by spite, revenge, rebelliousness, jealousy, or guilt. When owners realize that their pets are not vindictive or mean spirited, do not have a moral sense of right and wrong, or misbehave even though they “know better,” they are usually more willing to work with their pets’ behavior and to listen to possible solutions.

Technicians can tell people that animals do what works for them—to meet a need, cope with stress, or control their environment. Destructive behavior that occurs when a pet is left alone, for example, is not motivated by revenge. Alternative explanations are separation anxiety, playful behavior, or the pet’s realization that unpleasant consequences do not occur in the owner’s absence.

Technicians often have the opportunity to correct pet owners’ misinterpretations that their pets “know better” and look “guilty” when evidence of their misbehavior is discovered. “Guilty looks” are submissive behaviors, such as the avoidance of eye contact, crouched body posture, flattening of the ears, and lowering of the tail when threatened by their owners. When owners discover evidence of misbehavior, they display behaviors, such as yelling, pointing fingers, and staring, that pets find intimidating and that in turn trigger submissive behaviors that are misinterpreted as guilt.

Other examples of how technicians can clarify misinterpretations can be found in Box 11-8.

1. Catch your pet doing something right. (Elicit and reinforce appropriate behavior.)

2. Do not let bad habits develop. (Prevent or minimize inappropriate behavior.)

3. Meet your pet’s behavioral and developmental needs.

4. Use the “take-away” method (negative punishment) to discourage inappropriate behavior.

5. Minimize “discipline” (positive punishment) and use it correctly when necessary.

Step One: Elicit and Reinforce Appropriate Behavior

This step is all about encouraging clients to more often positively reinforce their pets for good behavior and assisting them in finding ways to elicit good behavior that they can reward. Clients need specific instructions about how to proactively get their pet to do what they want, rather than reacting to unwanted behavior. For example, technicians can tell owners to have treats at the door for occasions when people are greeted and to encourage the dog to sit, rather than yelling and pushing the dog off when he jumps up (Figure 11-1).

In some situations eliciting good behavior is integrally connected to meeting the pet’s behavioral needs, another step in the proactive plan. For example, establishing reliable litter-box behavior is primarily dependent on creating a litter box that meets the cat’s behavioral preferences.

Technicians should also instruct owners to reward their pets when they catch them doing something right. It is easy to forget that behaviors that are rewarded are likely to be repeated. This is a powerful behavior modification method to which owners seldom devote enough effort. It is about providing animals sufficient feedback about their behaviors. Most pets are more likely to receive feedback when they misbehave, rather than when they are behaving appropriately.

Whenever the dog eliminates outside, the cat plays with its own toys, the foal nuzzles rather than nips at your hand, the puppy is lying down quietly, or the kitten is resting on a chair because owners expect these good behaviors, they are less likely to provide the animal feedback about them. Instead, good behavior is often passively accepted or ignored when owners should actively reinforce the behaviors they desire.

Reinforcement may consist of a tidbit, presentation of a new or favorite toy, petting, or any other event that the pet finds rewarding. Praise alone, especially when an owner is first establishing a relationship with a new pet, is often not adequate reinforcement. Praise usually first needs to be paired with petting, play, or food for a time to become sufficiently reinforcing.

Technicians may need to educate owners about the value of using food in training. Both food and toys are powerful ways to elicit and reinforce behavior when used correctly. The owner controls access to both, so the old adage that “a dog should work for me, not for food” is a useless argument. Pet owners may also resist the use of food to aid in establishing good behavior because they may believe this results in “he’ll only do it when he knows I’ve got a treat.” Although this can happen, it is due to training errors, rather than an inherent problem with using food. To overcome these errors suggest the following:

Certified Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT) should easily be able to help clients understand these procedures. Their website is listed in Box 11-3.

Step Two: Prevent or Minimize Inappropriate Behavior

When pets do not have the chance to make “mistakes,” it is much easier to create good behaviors. The fewer opportunities an animal has to repeat or “practice” undesirable behaviors, the less likely such behaviors will become habits.

A cat that begins to eliminate on the carpet because the litter box does not meet its behavioral needs may quickly develop a surface preference for carpet. If a puppy gets used to pulling on the leash while walking, this can quickly become a habit, making loose leash walking more difficult to teach. Playing with a kitten with hands and feet rather than its toys can result in a cat that bites hands and considers human body parts to be playthings.

The technician should instruct owners that they must manage the pet’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviors from occurring and developing into habits. Constant supervision of young animals and pets new to the household is an absolutely critical component of house training and also of teaching puppies and kittens to chew and scratch their own toys rather than household items.

Supervision can be accomplished in a number of ways, including crate training, use of baby gates to keep the pup in either a puppy-proof area or in the same room with the owner (Figure 11-2), or tethering the dog with a leash and collar to the owner or an object near the owner. Supervision of cats and kittens may mean closing doors to certain parts of the house.

Step Three: Meet the Pet’s Behavioral and Developmental Needs

Animals do things to get their needs met. Technicians can teach owners how to meet their pets’ needs in ways that encourage and provide for desirable behaviors. This is much more effective than owners vainly trying to suppress normal behaviors, such as chewing, playing, or elimination. Instead, these behaviors should be directed onto appropriate targets, or steps should be taken to help the behaviors occur at appropriate times or locations.

Defining a list of widely accepted behavioral needs for pets, although difficult and controversial, has been proposed (Hetts, Heinke, Estep, 2004) and can be found in Box 11-12. This list presupposes that an animal’s basic survival needs for food, water, and shelter have been addressed.

Step Four: Use the “Take-Away” Method (Negative Punishment) to Discourage Inappropriate Behavior

Parents may be familiar with the concept, but rarely think to use it with animals. As a reminder, the “take-away” method refers to negative punishment (see Box 11-4 and Table 11-1). To stop an unwanted behavior, technicians can tell owners how to take away something the animal wants. This is similar to taking away a child’s television privileges as a consequence of bad grades.

If a puppy is playing too rough, rather than yelling, pushing, or slapping the pup, the owner can walk away and ignore the puppy. The puppy learns that rough play loses him his chance to play at all.

If a horse becomes “pushy” when the handler enters the stall with grain, the handler does not feed the grain to the horse and leaves the stall.

If a cat is meowing for attention, the owner can shut herself in another room for 5 or 10 minutes and not allow the cat to join her.

Negative punishment does not involve the application of aversive stimuli, so it is often preferred over what pet owners generally think of as “discipline” (yelling, hitting, pulling on the collar, squirting the pet with water, scruffing, or pinning), which is discussed in step five. However, if the owner cannot control the pet’s access to the “good thing,” negative punishment is not the right choice. Behavior that is internally reinforced because it makes the animal “feel better” will not be much affected by any kind of punishment. Barking and meowing, for example, may release tension as a result of fear or anxiety, so ignoring the behavior will not help decrease the frequency of these kinds of vocalizations.

Examples of situations in which negative punishment can be applied instead of positive punishment are:

The last example is a timeout, a “take-away” technique. Technically, the term is “timeout from reinforcement.” Practically a timeout means that as a consequence of unwanted behavior, the animal is immediately taken to a place where he does not want to be. A kitten that bites during play can be immediately placed in a small, dark room for a few minutes.

Although theoretically a quite useful technique, using a “timeout” effectively often presents some logistical difficulties. One is finding an appropriate timeout location. Putting a dog outside for a “timeout” if it plays too rough inside will stop the behavior at that moment, but will not have any value in preventing rough play in the future if the dog enjoys being outside.

After episodes of misbehavior, owners often confine their pets for hours in a garage, crate, or small room or ignore them for days, thinking prolonged periods of deprivation will be more effective than shorter ones. This is erroneous. Longer “timeouts” are not more effective than shorter ones. Technicians should actually recommend that owners set a clock to remind them to release the animal from its timeout after about 15 minutes.

Step Five: Minimize “Discipline” (Positive Punishment) and Use It Correctly When Necessary

When the other four steps are followed, discipline becomes less necessary.

For punishment to be used effectively and humanely, several criteria must be met. Some of the more important criteria for effective punishment are as follows.

1. How well the animal meets the criteria for a behaviorally healthy pet

2. Family conditions or changes that put pets at risk for surrender

3. The pet’s daily routine, lifestyle, and whether its behavioral needs are being met

4. Identification of early warning signs and problems

5. The pet’s behavior observed at the veterinary hospital

How Well the Animal Meets the Criteria for a Behaviorally Healthy Pet

For each behavior listed in Box 11-16, owners can be asked to rate their pet’s behaviors on a 5-point Likert scale (always, usually, sometimes, rarely, or never). Technicians can discuss in depth those behaviors that owners rank as “rarely” or “never.” Certain behaviors may be sufficiently important to discuss, even if an owner rated them as “sometimes.” A pet that is only “sometimes” friendly with people may have an aggression problem that requires immediate assistance. A checklist form of these behaviors can be downloaded for free from www.AnimalBehaviorAssociates.com.

Family Conditions or Changes That Put Pets at Risk for Surrender

A move, addition of a new baby, a change in a family member’s schedule, vacation, remodeling, and the addition or loss of another family pet are all examples of changes that frequently trigger behavior problems. If impending changes are identified, additional behavioral services can be provided to pet owners to help them proactively prepare their pets and minimize the potential negative effects on the pet’s behavior. Examples of questions to ask are provided in Box 11-17.

The Pet’s Daily Routine, Lifestyle, and Whether Its Behavioral Needs Are Being Met

Recent research shows that where a pet spends its time during the day may be a risk factor for relinquishment. One study revealed that dogs who were confined in crates, left outside, or confined to a small part of the house on a routine basis were at a greater risk for surrender to a shelter than those who had free run of the house (Patronek et al, 1996a). Similarly, cats that were allowed outside were also at a greater risk (Patronek et al, 1996b). Thus it may be important to find out where the pet spends most of its time.

Problem behaviors can occur when an animal’s behavioral needs are not being met or when the animal is getting its needs met by using inappropriate behaviors. Technicians can inquire about the pet’s behavioral needs based on the categories in Box 11-12. Box 11-18 gives examples of questions regarding the pet’s routines and whether the pet’s behavioral needs are being met.

Identification of Early Warning Signs of Problems

Owners often do not interpret behaviors as early warning signs of potential problems, such as the following:

The important point in these examples is that the owners would never think to discuss these behaviors with the technician because they do not see them as problems or potential problems. People surrendering their pets to a shelter had often experienced some lifestyle change that either prevented them from continuing to tolerate the problem or, as in these examples, resulted in the same behavior becoming less tolerable (DiGiacomo et al, 1998; Scarlett et al, 1999). A behavior assessment can be used to detect these situations and identify problems or potential problems earlier.

Box 11-19 gives examples of questions that technicians can ask owners for the purpose of identifying these warning signs. Things owners mention that the animal does not like and activities that elicit fearful, threatening, aggressive, or avoidance behaviors may later be associated with full-blown behavior problems.

The Pet’s Behavior Observed at the Veterinary Hospital

Technicians should make note of the pet’s demeanor at the veterinary hospital. This is important not only in assessing the pet’s behavioral health, but in keeping the staff safe when handling the pet. Occurrences of fearful, threatening, or aggressive behavior should be put in the patient’s record, shared with the staff, and discussed with the owner. It is a good idea to mark the front of a fractious or dangerous patient’s file with a hard-to-miss symbol so that technicians are aware of the patient’s behavioral history before attempting any interactions. In addition, technicians should receive clear instructions or protocols from the veterinarian as to what they should do differently when a patient identified in this way comes into the hospital.

When technicians observe dangerous or threatening behavior from a patient, they must discuss this with the veterinarian. The veterinarian must in turn share this information with the owner. Under the veterinarian’s direction, technicians may be asked to discuss these problems with the owner. Veterinarians and technicians can prepare a script for the conversation with the owner. Examples of discussion points are listed in Box 11-20. To gain a sense of the breadth of the problem, technicians should also ask the owner whether the pet has displayed similar behavior in other contexts.

Interpersonal Skills to Use During Behavior Assessment

Using the Results of Behavior Assessments

The behavior assessment should be made a part of the pet’s permanent record, and the technician should discuss the results with the veterinarian. An action plan could include a medical examination, an in-house behavior consultation, referral to a behavior consultant, referral to a dog trainer for obedience classes, dissemination of educational materials, or a recommendation for particular behavior-management products. The veterinarian may ask the technician to present or assist in presenting all or part of this action to the client. Technicians should be sure that they understand what role they play in delivering this information and avoid taking it upon themselves to develop any part of this action plan—including referrals—without approval from the veterinarian.

Follow-Up for Behavior Assessments

Once the veterinarian has created an action plan, technicians can be responsible for conducting behavioral follow-up telephone calls, just as many currently do for medical cases. After routine surgeries, suturing, or dental procedures, technicians are often given the responsibility of calling clients to inquire about the pet’s status and progress. Behavior issues deserve the same type of follow-up. Technicians can call the client to determine whether the pet owner followed through with the suggested referral, implemented any training or behavior modification techniques that were suggested, or purchased behavior-management products that were recommended. Technicians can also help owners implement a behavior modification plan created by the veterinarian or outside behavior consultant. Few veterinary practices have routine procedures in place to follow up on behavioral problems in the same way they follow up on medical problems, so well-informed technicians have the opportunity to set important precedents.

Understanding Social Conflict Behavior

When animals feel threatened or challenged in social interactions, they have a variety of choices as to how to respond. These choices are called agonistic behaviors. By understanding the choices animals may make in social conflict situations, technicians can often decrease conflict, more humanely handle and restrain animals with less use of force, and be safer themselves. The most common agonistic behaviors technicians are likely to see in a veterinary medical context are described in following sections.

Using Puppy and Kitten Classes to Socialize Young Animals to the Veterinary Practice

Puppy and kitten socialization classes, which have already been mentioned, are one way to help create positive expectations and associations with the veterinary practice. These socialization classes can help young animals become familiar with the sights, sounds, and smells of the practice under enjoyable conditions. During class, young animals can be put on the scale and an examination table and subjected to brief handling procedures paired with treats and petting. This allows them to become somewhat familiar with the staff and with the physical environment. When they come for their next appointment, they will be entering a familiar environment, expecting the same sort of pleasant experiences they had during class and will therefore be easier to handle.

When difficult-to-handle adult animals are identified, technicians can suggest that veterinarians encourage “remedial” socialization visits. Owners are asked to bring the patient in for a brief visit during which only “good things” happen. Perhaps the animal is petted, given a tidbit, and placed on the scale. With each succeeding socialization visit, the staff handles the animal a bit more and creates situations that the animal might experience during an examination.

Using Behavior Assessments

Technicians should be aware of the results of patients’ behavior assessments (Boxes 11-17 through 11-19) before handling them. By a forewarning about what a pet does not like, how the pet reacts to everyday handling, and whether the pet has shown aggressive or threatening behavior under certain circumstances, the technician can be better equipped to prevent the patient from becoming fearful and stressed. Technicians must be sure to take the time to include information gleaned from behavior assessments in the patient’s record. Not doing so puts fellow staff members at risk, and the value of behavior assessments will be lost if the information is not recorded.

Establish a Positive Expectation in the Waiting Area

The emotional reactions patients have in the waiting or reception area will affect their arousal level when they are examined. If experiences in the waiting area increase patients’ arousal, patients will be more difficult to handle. Such experiences, particularly with cats, are common triggers for aggression later redirected toward technicians. Technicians can assess the waiting area from the patients’ point of view. What do the animals see and hear when they first enter the door to the veterinary practice? Does the staff approach too quickly? Is a dog close enough to sniff and frighten a cat in a carrier or to lunge at another dog?

Manage the Environment

Animals that are upset or overly excited should be moved out of the waiting area as quickly as possible. This not only helps to lower their arousal, but also prevents them from agitating other patients. Technicians can move these animals into an examination room as soon as possible or even an office area if an examination room is not available. See-through cat carriers, such as wire crates, should be covered immediately so that cats feel safer. If the practice’s location and weather permit, technicians can suggest that owners leave patients in the car until their appointment time or take dogs for a walk around the building or parking area.

Structural barriers, such as half walls (Figure 11-18) that create individual cubicles, are helpful additions to reception areas. Plants or other inanimate objects can be used to block patients’ views of one another. Chairs can be arranged to create more space between patients and placed back to back so that pets and their owners are not sitting across the room facing one another. Owners can be asked to position their pets or their carriers so that the animals are facing them (or a wall) rather than another patient. Ideally, cats and dogs should have separate entrances or at least be segregated into different sections of the waiting area.

Interactions With Staff: Greetings

Technicians must know how to approach patients in a nonthreatening way. The behaviors most people use to greet dogs are all, to the dog, offensive threats. These postures are listed in the left-hand column of Table 11-3 and illustrated in Figure 11-19. Cats also tend to perceive these postures as threatening.

Technicians must develop the habit of using nonthreatening behaviors when greeting patients. In general, these are the opposite of the behaviors described previously and are listed in the right-hand column of Table 11-3 and illustrated in Figure 11-20.

When possible, technicians can allow the pet to approach them rather than invading the animal’s personal space. These nonthreatening behaviors make an immediate, significant, observable difference in patients’ behaviors.

Before petting a cat, the technician should first allow the cat to sniff either a finger or an inanimate object, such as a pen (Figure 11-21). This mimics a typical friendly cat-to-cat greeting of sniffing noses (Figure 11-22). Many cats do not like to be stroked down their backs or patted on the head, particularly by an unfamiliar person. Instead, technicians can rub cats on their scent glands located on their cheeks and in front of their ears (Figure 11-23).

Because cats are extremely sensitive to odors, technicians should wash their hands before greeting a cat and consider spraying Feliway (Abbott Laboratories) on their hands. Feliway is a synthetic analog of the cat’s facial pheromones and is said to have a calming effect on cats when they are in unfamiliar surroundings. Feliway can also be sprayed on an examination table or in a holding cage before the cat is placed in it. (This product has received mixed reviews and may work best to prevent the cat from becoming aroused, rather than to calm it once aroused.)

Interactions With Staff: Use of Food

Creating a Good First Impression in the Examination Room

Fearful and threatening patients respond better if they are allowed to approach a person, rather than the other way around. With dogs, the technician and/or the veterinarian should enter the examination room first so that the dog is coming into their space rather than vice versa. If the technician has already placed a problem dog in the examination room, one strategy might be for the technician to take the dog out of the room to the scale to be weighed. While the dog is gone, the veterinarian can enter the room and sit down. Fearful dogs may tolerate handling better if they are examined on the floor, rather than the table. Both dogs and cats may be more comfortable on a nonslip surface, so technicians can place a rug or mat on either the floor or the examination table to provide better traction.

Be Proactive Rather than Reactive

Because initial friendliness is not always predictive of how an animal is going to react to restraint and handling, the technician should not assume an animal will be tolerant and should not move too quickly when initiating handling procedures. Erring on the side of caution is better than being bitten. To continue to help animals maintain relaxed, friendly attitudes about the upcoming examination, the technician can offer a tidbit with one hand (Figure 11-26) while doing one of the following:

Pairing the touch of potentially sensitive areas with something positive for the patient can help decrease fear or anxiety. Although it could be argued that this requires additional staff time, it may require less time for one technician to conduct these proactive handling exercises than the extra time required when patients become unmanageable.

Create a Protocol for Handling Exercises to Be Practiced at Home

For patients that, from past experience, are known to be threatening, aggressive, or generally difficult to handle, technicians can give clients a step-by-step plan to accustom their animals to basic handling procedures. Initial steps in this process would be similar to those listed in the previous section. As the pet begins to become more comfortable, owners can gradually do more, such as hold a paw rather than just touching it, squeeze the foot, and so on while pairing these procedures with something that the pet enjoys. Technicians can encourage veterinarians to partner with certified trainers, certified behaviorists, and others who can easily create these types of handling programs for clients.

Dealing With Threatening and Aggressive Animals

There are two issues in threatening situations: the technician’s safety and well-being and the animal’s safety and well-being. Good behavior skills should minimize the occurrence of those situations in which emergency restraint must be used for safety reasons.

When handling animals, it is best to assume an attitude of cautious calm (Hetts, 1999), as follows:

The minimal amount of physical restraint necessary for the technician’s safety is the maximum that should be used. For example, if a dog or cat tries to bite, it is usually appropriate to stop and muzzle it rather than increasing the level of physical restraint. Additional information on animal restraint can be found in Chapter 7.

The goal of restraint and force is to keep personnel safe while they are performing necessary procedures. It is not to “teach the animal a lesson” or “show him who’s boss.” The technician should keep in mind that using physical force may allow one to do what needs to be done at the time, but the price may be creating an animal who becomes increasingly difficult or even impossible to handle during future visits.

In addition, the animal’s behavior may be adversely affected in situations outside the veterinary hospital. Animals that have had a bad experience with restraint and handling have been known to become threatening or fearful toward people they are not familiar with, in reaction to quick arm or hand movements in their direction, and more difficult for their owners to restrain and groom.

These outcomes can occur after only one bad experience and become more and more likely with repeated ones. If owners observe an episode of what, to them, appears to be unnecessary roughness, it may also cost the practice clients.

The case of a veterinarian who was charged (and later acquitted on appeal) with cruelty to animals for hitting a dog in the face when it tried to bite him clearly illustrates that the issue of animal handling and restraint is an important one, not only to the veterinary profession but also to the public (Nolen, 2000). Rather than increasing the level of interactive, social restraint, technicians may want to use, and encourage veterinarians to use, appropriate equipment that can be less intimidating to the animal and safer for technicians and other staff members. Examples of such equipment are described in the following sections.

Dangers of Problem Solving Without Adequate Preparation

Attempting to problem solve without being prepared is not helpful to the technician, the client, or the pet. Behavioral consulting requires knowledge about animal behavior and animal learning, having sufficient time to obtain a behavioral history and explain detailed recommendations to clients, and being available to follow up after the initial consultation. Attempting to problem solve without sufficient preparation can have the following unwanted consequences.

Worsening Problems

A playful kitten was pouncing on its owner’s ankles as he sat in a chair. He was told to grab the kitten by the scruff of the neck, throw her into a room by herself, and leave her there for several hours. The kitten did not learn to stop pouncing on the owner’s ankles. Instead, she learned that whenever her owner reached for her, she needed to defend herself. She began to hiss, scratch, and bite whenever the owner tried to touch her. The problem had escalated from simple play-motivated aggression, which might well have resolved on its own, to a much more difficult, defensive-aggressive behavior problem.

Self-Assessment

As technicians work with the veterinarian to determine what their role in problem resolution will be, the self-assessment questions in Table 11-4 may help guide decisions. Can the technician correctly analyze the reason or motivation for the behavior by knowing what questions to ask in a thorough behavioral history? If the technician cannot answer yes to most of the questions in Table 11-4, then problem solving may not be an appropriate role at this time.

Referring Behavior Cases