By Eileen Anderson and Angelica Steinker
© Angelica Steinker
The fundamental goal of any behavior modification program should be to improve the dog’s1 and owner’s emotional states, both during and after the process. If emotional, genetic or medical information is omitted from the functional assessment process however, the ensuing behavior modification plan will be incomplete, which not only runs the risk of recommended interventions being inappropriate and misdirected, but may also have disastrous consequences. Unfortunately, behavior myopia such as this is an all too common occurrence in our industry. From a dog’s point of view, the most damaging aspect here is the complete disregard for his emotional state. It can be particularly catastrophic when covert or subtle behaviors are ignored as, arguably, they are the most important information a behavior consultant has. But we are all prone to focusing on what is most obvious. Read article