Training humans to train pets

It has been said that 90 percent of all American families are dysfunctional — a major socioeconomic issue that permeates human domestic life.

Given the upheaval in human behavior, it is no surprise that we encounter many behavioral issues in clinical medicine.

In part stimulated by Peter Vollmer (author of the Super Puppy book), our practice undertook a study involving pup-personality tests and pup development within various environments in the 1970s.

We tracked 1,200 pups for roughly 10 years.

We came to a variety of conclusions and some of the findings were presented in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Vol. 196, No 11. pages 1781-1785) and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) (1991, pages 279-281).

We found that:

• Genuine medical conditions and problems sometimes are the source of unpleasant animal behavior, although they are in the minority.

• It is clear that the huge majority of problematic animal behavior is created by humans.

• In clinical medicine, pets usually present with their problematic behavior long after the first signs appear.

Because of this pattern, the real challenge is not to figure out how good or troubled pets arrived at their maladjusted state; that's relatively easy.

The difficult task we face is creating an environment and situation for families that turns troubled pets into happy creatures.

Easy-to-use steps to modify behaviors

A first step in addressing undesirable, established animal behavior is to consider each individual's genetic and evolutionary background as the basic template.

Role of evolution

In the evolutionary sense, horses are range animals. Is it any wonder they do not mingle well with barbed wire and get a little crazed when kept in barns?

In the wild, horses wander over vast areas, so parasites had to adapt to survive long periods without a host.

So can we be surprised at the magnified disease role that assorted parasites now have in a horse's life pattern?

Horses grazed on range grasses many hours a day. A horse can eat twice what is needed in merely two hours a day, so is it any wonder that the bored horse develops aberrant behaviors?

In the evolutionary sense, wild dogs nourished themselves by feeding on whatever came along.

They needed to binge when the opportunity arose because the long, cold winters would mean slim pickings.

So is it any wonder that canine obesity is seen today?

All things being equal, the canine pack size stays the same year to year. New pups enter the pack each spring, but come winter there will be those that don't survive, because the strongest leader personalities eat first and leave the weaker to perish.

So, is it any surprise that strong alpha dogs take over some human/canine packs?

Feral dogs eat a wide variety of items and every coyote skull I have encountered has worn, but otherwise perfect, teeth. So we question today's domesticated-canine diets as a possible source of the many dental disorders we see today.

Set up the plan

How about cats? These evolutionary loner creatures walked to seek nourishment. So should we be surprised when we see increasing obesity and related medical issues, like diabetes, in our sedentary feline pet population,?

Feral cats must learn to defend and care for themselves, because they are not protected by being part of a flock, herd or pack. So we cannot be surprised at their well-developed, aggressive tactics that cause injury to humans.

A good barn cat feasts on a variety of vermin and birds, yet look at their lovely teeth. Then look at the teeth of our typical house cat without the benefit of a natural diet. Yuk.

Consider pet birds. Dr Ted Lafeber, one of the fathers of modern avian medicine, shared with students that birds will starve when fed typical pet-store fare. That was in 1973. So what do most pet stores still sell? Seed diets. So is it any wonder that we still see a variety of nutrition-related problems in pet birds?

Pet birds, locked in a cage or wandering about a home without direct sunlight, seldom get rained upon, so they may develop husbandry-related problems.

Then we take a flock animal and, largely, leave them home alone. Is it any wonder that they develop aberrant and unpleasant behavior patterns, like screeching and self-mutilation?

We must consider these basic evolutionary issues within the context of behavior-modification programs.

What are we to do? What steps should we recommend to owners? I offer some suggestions.

Training the client

The challenge is training the client to train the pet, which can be accomplished in most situations if we simplify the lessons.

We must make behavior modification approachable for families.

One method is break the larger issues into smallish steps to enable the pet and the family to learn together.

For aggressive dogs, a simple tactic is to train them to eat each meal — better yet, each bite — from the hand of the designated leader of the household, and do this for a minimum of one month before moving to the next task.

Another method is to give specific "homework."

Encourage clients to remain consistent.

Animals learn the inconsistencies of human behavior. The stallion will learn that it is OK to display when a stud chain is off, so the stud chain must always be on — even if never needed.

Humans can learn habits, and in reality much of our human behavior is rote. The same goes for animals. Cats that learn to use a litter box will seek a litter box. So for cats using various corners of the house, the family can create a pattern of litter boxes. A household might need to set up four litter boxes for a single cat.

On a lighter note, and maybe a sad note, humans are the only creatures who knowingly persist in doing unpleasant things. Animals do not persist in doing so, so for them we can delete the word and deed of "discipline."

Suppressing undesirable traits

The term that best fits for modifying animal behavior is suppression. We suppress undesired behavior; we are not disciplining.

If a dog jumps on one's legs, a gentle nudge away will stop the dog. If the dog persists, we must consider that the nudge might have been reinforcement, so a stronger suppressing nudge may be needed.

Template for behavior consultation

Anything that is not suppressed is reinforced.

Animals will not continue to do something unpleasant.

So how does a practitioner set about helping pet owners?

• Formulate concepts and plans for each family within the creature's evolutionary roots.

• Plan to spend three months to a year to achieve peace in the family.

• Remember that an absolute "cure" is desirable, but most families will be happy with partial success.

For an aggressive dog, most families are happy with a significant reduction in the unwanted behavior. The same sentiment holds true for a cat that will use its litter box(es) most of the time, or a bird that mostly stops screeching or a horse that mostly stops weaving.

• If drugs are used, do so only in conjunction with changes in the pet's lifestyle.

Dr. Riegger, dipl. ABVP, is the chief medical officer at Northwest Animal Clinic Hospital and Specialty Practice. Contact him by telephone or fax (505) 898-0407, Riegger@aol.com or www.northwestanimalclinic.com. Find him on AVMA's NOAH as the practice management moderator. Order his books "Management for Results" and "More Management for Results" by calling (505) 898-1491.