Hiring a professional

I use social media quite a bit more than I should. It's a great way to share information and connect with people. The downside, (other than spending too long staring at a screen) is seeing posts from often well meaning people about how to treat your pets' medical or nutritional issues without seeing a vet and giving advice about behaviour without a proper assessment and in some cases without proper or current knowledge.

Some of the posts and threads leave me lost for words at times...those of you who know me, will vouch that I like to talk so speechless is not a natural thing for me!

Sometimes this advice is great, sometimes it's downright dangerous. The reason us as professionals take our work and continued professional development so seriously and charge a fee for our work, is because we are not dealing with a blocked loo or a computer that won't work. We are dealing with animals and pets. Living, breathing, sentient beings often with TEETH and who speak a different language, owned by people who are often so emotionally entangled in their pets' behaviour they are at their wits end. These are not cars or floor tiles, these are animals (and just as importantly, people)!

They are not guided by the same ethics and moral codes as people. Although some people's ethics are arguably questionable, they are people and can be talked to and reasoned with in most cases. Dogs and animals don't have that luxury. We are also working with those animals' caregivers, along with the plethora of personalities and behaviours that people have. We train pets and counsel owners.

What is a pet professional?

As professionals we have taken the time, money and effort to learn our chosen profession and how the subjects we are learning about behave instinctively and through learned experience.

We learn how and animals (and for me, humans) behave, how they communicate with other and with other species, how they learn and what makes them tick. We learn how to counsel people and how to break down instructions to give to clients. We learn how to run a class in a conducive, effective and safe way that all who attend learn and flourish, develop correctly and hopefully into well mannered canine members of society. We learn how to quickly spot the difference between a training issue and a behavioural issue, then what to do with this knowledge and how to apply it to resolve the behaviour and improve the relationship between dog and family, or who to refer to if we can't help.

We also learn how to communicate with our customers and our peers, we learn behaviour from all angles, not just how animals interact, but their pathology, etiology, genealogy, physiology, nutritional needs and more. We learn which pharmaceuticals may be best to modify a behaviour with clinical support from vets, we learn how to spot if pain is a presenting factor in a behavioural issue and we learn more every day about the emotional lives of animals from scientific research and our own observations.

So, getting advice from the internet is all well and good, but the internet has many opinions. It has misinformation and outdated theories. You often open up cans of worms by asking a question on social media, get a smorgasbord of different advice and sometimes trolling to boot if you're really unlucky.

What should I do instead of asking Dr Facebook then Katie?

Here is my probably unpopular suggestion....if you are experiencing a behaviour or training issue, ask the internet who to refer to for professional opinions.

Ask who is the best person for the job, the internet, or an experienced, insured professional with a recognised qualification, recommendations from clients and other pet professionals such as vets. Someone who is qualified to apply behaviour and training correctly, without endorsing pain or aversive methods. Someone who will refer you on should your case be beyond their remit. Someone who understands the personal agony that clients often face; they are usually at their wits end, embarrassed, harassed and broken by the time they contact us (we also then need interpersonal, counselling and customer service skills). Someone who will guide them through the process and use their hard earned behavioural knowledge gleaned from years of study, hands on experience and mentorship from peers. I have learned from some of the top names in the industry, they didn't get there by being pretty or by knowing the director of a TV channel. They say it takes around 7 years to gain enough skill and knowledge to be a really good behaviour professional.

15 years and lots of mistakes in the past and lessons learned the hard way, I am inclined to agree. Don't get me wrong, in this currently an unregulated industry and I am perfectly aware of the snake oil sales men and charlatans, I am aware that some professionals are not suited to their job and some shouldn't be charging people money for their hack jobs. Buyer beware.

How to hire the chosen pro

Here are some great resources for finding a suitable professional and what questions to ask - 

http://4pawsu.com/trainers.htm

http://www.petprofessionalguild.com/Top-Ten-Questions

If you like your chosen pro, find out how they like to be contacted and their hire process, everyone is different.

In summary then, on the internet, ask “who can I hire to help me”, rather than how can I stop my dog, cat, horse...from doing xyz. And obviously, do contact me if you want ME to help you!

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