Surely if you have a dog that acts strangely or that has always been very normal and suddenly has become a little scary or aggressive, your friends or your vet have recommended you visit a canine ethologist. But…. Do you know what ethology is?
Ethologists are people who have completed a career in animal biology or veterinary medicine with a specialization or branch in ethology. Ethology studies the behavior of animals in their natural environment, their behaviors and the reason for them.
In order to correct the behavior of a dog that has strangely begun to be aggressive or scary, for example, it is necessary to know what has caused its behavior to change. Without knowing the origin, it will be impossible to correct the behavior to solve the problem and it is here where canine ethologists come into play.
When should I go to a canine ethologist?
The answer to the question is very simple: When things go wrong. If we have a dog that barks continuously, that has become aggressive or dangerous, that does not respect any member of the family, that has become scary or that has simply changed its behavior incorrectly…. It is when we must go to an ethologist.
We can try to correct the dog’s behavior with positive reinforcement or with classes of dog training, but if his behavior continues without being adequate, it is possible that the dog has a trauma or a wrong concept of things and we must go to the ethologist.
The ethologist is like a veterinaryn, that is, an ordinary person who has completed adequate studies to understand what is happening to our puppy. Knowing the cause of the problem, you can help us correct unwanted behavior and make our dog the same as ever.
What will the ethologist do with our dog?
Each person is a world, so each ethologist has his own working techniques, although at general levels the first thing he will do is ask us a series of questions about the dog, to find out what happens to the dog and how we act accordingly.
Many times and without knowing it, we are ourselves the cause of the dog’s behavior problem … The ethologist will help us to know if this is the case. On the other hand, the ethologist will observe the dog, its habitual behavior and its strange behavior if appropriate, to try to collect as much information as possible.
Ethologists are not gods, they need to collect a lot of information and analyze the behavior of the dog, in addition to ours. In this way and thanks to their professional training they will know where the root of the problem is and you can help us.
Should I take my dog to a handler or ethologist?
Well, it depends on the behavior of the dog and if its behavior has suddenly changed or if it has always been so. A poorly socialized dog can be rude to other people and dogs, a handler can help us with this problem.
A dog that has always been calm and suddenly has become aggressive, in addition to a handler to reinforce its education will need an ethologist so that the problem does not recur.
It could be said roughly that an ethologist is like a psychologist or psychiatrist for dogs, but with much more merit because dogs do not speak. You can find ethologists in large veterinary clinics, where full teams of veterinaryns work. You can also find them on your own, consult your vet and they will surely recommend one.