Now canine therapists put a smile on the puppy dog face

Max is an 11-month old Great Dane. He sits quietly at the feet of his owner, barely aware that there he is the subject of a long discussion. Max and his owner are in for a ‘consult’, which in layman’s terms is a session that attempts to diagnose if a dog has behaviour problems. Max passes with flying colours; his only problem is over-enthusiasm which leads to chewing of his owner’s car handles and pawing at lifts.

Giving him and his owner passing grades is canine behaviourist Shirin Merchant, who, with her 16 years of experience, is recognised as one of the country’s premier behaviour specialists. Her home in Dadar’s Parsi Colony is her makeshift clinic where she meets potential clients and pursues her endeavour of ‘bridging the communication gap between a dog and its owner’. “My job is repairing relationships,” she says.

Canine behaviourists are people who are trained to identify and deal with any behavioural problems in dogs. “We do problem-solving from a dog’s perspective by getting into the mind of the animal,” explains Janhavi Daftary, 25, a canine trainer and behaviourist based in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. Behaviour work involves reading a dog’s body language and understanding the reasons behind their behaviour. “It’s all a mind game,” adds Daftary.    

Getting into a dog’s mind isn’t as easy as it seems. Most behaviourists start off their consults by getting as much information out of the owners as they can.

This includes details about the current family situation, its age, breed and the environment it grew up in. A large part of a dog’s behaviour can be ascertained from its genetics. One of Merchant’s cases was of an Indian mixed-breed dog named Tequila. “She grew up as an extremely nervous dog who did not like people, a trait she picked up from her mother,” she says. Once the behaviourist ascertains the reasons behind a particular behaviour, the next step involves putting them on a behaviour program, which could last from a week to years.

An important part of the consulting involves rewards for the dogs, every time they accomplish a task, learn a new command and behave well. Some behaviourists use food as treats, others a heavy dose of praise and pats. Sessions are held in neutral venues, either a playground or the behaviourist’s house. “Dogs are extremely sensitive and it reflects in their body language; this surfaces much faster in a neutral venue,” says Merchant. 

Behaviour work is an extension of training but not necessarily the same thing. It is re-training a dog out of one problem into a new behaviour. And this re-training has to involve the owner/s. It’s one of the first criteria for any canine behaviourist: they will refuse to work with the animal unless the owners/s is involved.

A family matter
In Tequila’s case, her owner Rajvi Mariwala, 32, was easy to work with. She followed all the instructions - taking her to as many meetings with her friends as she could, cautioning her friends on how to deal with her and getting a new dog in the house to help Tequila bond with him. Two years later, Tequila is able to control her urges to bite and isn’t nervous around other people.

On her part Mariwala has made canine behaviour her new career, using her experience of being on the other side to help her connect with difficult and uncooperative clients. There are many of those; from the ones who believe that they know what’s best for their animal to those who will leave the training to their servants once they get bored. Canine behaviourists have as much work dealing with difficult dogs as they do with uncooperative clients and their families.  

“In some cases, a dog’s behaviour could also be a direct consequence of the human behaviour around them. Pamper them and they will assume control, ignore them and they start getting aggressive as part of attention-seeking behaviour,” says Mariwala.

Not all owners are like that though. Max’s owner received praise for his controlled behaviour towards the dog and for bringing him in when he thought there was a problem. Then there is the case of a family from Khar that are learning how to juggle an aggressive dog in the family with a newborn child. They were told to get a trainer to help them get control over the dog; they’ve managed to find a small corner in the house where the dog can go to whenever it wants its space and finally, when the baby is around, the dog is put away. “The success of a programme depends on how well the owner can work it out,” says Merchant.

As all behaviourists will tell you, dogs follow patterns of behaviour and learning therefore it is best to get them trained when young to avoid behaviour problems at later stages. It’s a formula that Alistair Fernandes swears by. Fernandes has a Great Dane and a Labrador, both a couple of months old, and having just returned from obedience training at Mira Road-based vet Delano Henriques’s pet boarding and training centre. “It is important that they grow up learning the right things so that there are no problems later. A good start is important,” he says.  

A good start is really important even for the canine behaviourists, cautions Daftary. Just a love for dogs isn’t sufficient, practical hands-on experience and training is important. Merchant, who conducts training and behaviour courses, and Daftary have both trained under renowned behaviourist John Rogerson. Mariwala is Merchant’s student who supplements her knowledge with refresher courses, books and attending to around five clients every week.

Practice, they say, is the key. On the owner’s part, all that’s required is patience.