Behaviourists can charge what they like and can set up without qualifications or experience, unfortunately.

The tide is starting to change, but very slowly. Those working in the field who are reputable would love to see licensing come into play so that dog owners can at least be assured that the person they are seeing has some form of accreditation.

How to choose a good behaviourist? Talk to them. Ask what experience of 'your' breed and 'your dog's' problem they have. Talk to your vet and ask what reports they have had about the persons work from their other clients.

Costs? You'll only find that out by calling and asking

What to expect? Again, that varies from behaviourist to behaviourist. Many are also trainers so combine behaviour analysis with training and their remedial programmes reflect this.

OMFG you have a fear aggressive bitch and her attitude was to take a very dominant collie out and put her in her place, Im gob smacked, that is shocking, the only way to help dogs that are fear aggressive is bit by bit introduce them to calm, non aggressive dogs that will not respond to her aggression, bit by bit its a long haul for dogs like these and any set back can be devistating for them, Im lucky to have two rotts that I can use to see how bad
the fear/aggression in dogs is,
If someone wishes to come to the training club with a dog that has shown aggression in the past I use my own dogs to see how bad the problem is, but would never use a dog that will put a dog in its place!!!!! royce and mea are great if a dog shows aggression they take the attitude of "fine then whats the problem, dont play" and just walk off to play alone, even if the other dog is really having a go at them, if its not to cheeky can I ask how much they charged for service's?
Hope things are alright now with your bitch, thanks for your post, X shona X

I've had two "experiences" of behaviourists.

I saw Roger Mugford about 8 years ago for dog/dog aggression - can't remember how much it cost. Although he didn't "cure" our doggie of the aggression, he gave us the confidence and skills to be able to manage his aggression much better (we weren't very bright dog owners at that stage ) resulting in a happier relationship with our doggie and much safer walks and time in public. Unlike many dog/dog aggressive owners, we no longer felt housebound or restricted in where we could take him in public.

I read the behaviourist's report who saw Beau six months ago with his previous owners (our recent re-homing) and I'm amazed that she had the gall to charge for so little information, especially as it was blatantly wrong or impractical.

What you say is unfortunately very true, Dougiepit, and one of the reasons for failure stated by behaviourists is "owner non-compliance" .

I have someone next door to me. He's every so nice, was given a bc x siberian husky pup by his girlfriend for his birthday present and has had problems with the dog over resource guarding. He tended to be rather confrontational with his dog and used to listen to other dog owners in the park a lot. I had helped him a bit in the very beginning when the dog was a pup and showing this problem, but he had his own take on what I'd said to him and still tended to do things his own way.

On my suggestion he got in a good behaviourist a few weeks ago (someone he paid would be someone he listened to more I hoped) ...but I am worried it was too late, as I haven't heard the dog barking or seen her at all in the last week. I haven't seen him to speak to him but am dreading it in some ways as I got fond of the dog.

Can you tell me,
What should people look for in a behaviorist? what qualifications should they have? and what should they charge? this will enable me to give some info to people who are looking for a behaviourist.
Also how do you spot a fraud?

I agree with Brierley really - talk to them and find out their experience and methods. I'd avoid certain franchises, (BB) as members don't even have had to have had a dog of their own. Ideally, I feel in this day and age, they should have hands on experience, have trained their own dog to a good level, and also have studied learning theory so they understand how dogs learn.

I would totally avoid anyone who used electric collars or methods such as jerking and shouting at the dog (and owner! )

Wys
x

Hi Wysiwyg, Your compleatly right about owner non compliance, even at normal training classes, when I see a problem developing with a dog and talk to the owners about it they seem to have so many excusses for the dog, the problem is often that as the problem is not yet fully visable to the owner they refuse to take advice. Then a short time later they have a big problem and its harder to stop the problem once its established, I feel some owners are blinkered when it comes to there dog, often prefering to avoid the situation than deal with it, where I prefer the opposite approach and put the dog in the situation time and again and work the problem through, untill the dog is happy and well behaved, this often takes a lot of work and commitment on the owners part, this is where they would rather throw money at the situation and hope for the best,
This is not true of some owners but sadly it applies to far too many.

Going back to one of your previous posts, I assume you are a dog trainer (as in training others to train their dogs)?

If so and one of your clients does decide to go to a behaviourist, I'd go along with them so that you can gauge for yourself how effective the advice offered is.

Any reputable behaviourist should welcome your attendance

Hi Brierley, I do train dogs/owners but I would say its something I fell iinto, over the years I have helped friends and family with dogs, but after breeding my first litter of pups 2 years ago I decided that I should offer puppy socialisation classes and training to the pups I had bread. The problem being that often other dog owners are not keen on allowing rotts to play with there dogs (not even rotty pups) which makes socialising very difficult, I feel a pup which is well socialised can be easyer to train. So I got a hall and people heard about the training and it grew from there.
If anyone is visiting a behaviourist I will ask to attend and it a good point you made about a good behaviourist being happy about me being there, It could rule out any behavourist that is not happy to have me present, thanks
shona

Hi, Last year I owned a cocker (Bella) and we had a few problems with her that KC resisted trainers could not help with, (they tried)
Firstly she was frightened of all dogs, she had a type of panic attack if she met any other dog. This was so bad you could not take her for walks or ever let her of the lead.
We contacted a behaviorist who was recommended to us.
The visit cost us £80 and I must say he did help with some minor issues we had. He stayed at ours for 3 hours, he even brought his own dog with him and alas he could not make any change to Bella's fear. He lived local to me so we arranged to take our dogs for a walk together every morning, which we did for 3 months, sometimes twice aday.
Even after all his help misty did not change. (he did try)
As we go away to shows in our caravan (at least 15 each year) Bella was teriffied all the time, so we decided to find Bella a new home were she could be comfortable, this we did and the person we gave Bella to was disabled, he had a very large back garden and because of his disability he could not take any dog for a walk, This suited Bella, it was a hard decision but we felt this was right for her.
Sorry if i have waffled on to much.
But to answer you question, I was happy with the service I received.
Just incase any one wonders, we had Bella from 9 weeks old and she was never attacked or even approached by any unknown dog.

Thanks Gaz
sorry you had to re-home bella, sometimes the hardest decision (for the owner) is the best for the dog, It sounds like you tried very hard and to the credit of your behaviourist so did he, I take it you were not charged anymore than the initial consultation fee yet he put a lot of effort into trying to help you both, he sounds like a genuine dog lover that does not like to give up on a problem,

Did you breed bella yourself? was she always afraid of other dogs or was there a trigger incident?

thanks shona