Have you ever been speaking to a client and observed their dog doing something odd and thought "huh is that relevant?". As trainers who often see clients for very similar concerns, we can become complacent in how we address these concerns and assume the motivation behind them is similar. Clients can also sometimes be tricky to get information from, not because they are dishonest but because they may have taken behaviours for granted or not thought them relevant to what they have come to you for. I often find this is the case when I speak to owners, particularly in regards to health issues. If I am seeing a dog for reactivity, they client may not think to mention that the dog goes off it's food every few weeks or does not like wearing a harness. Behaviour is complex and they are many pieces to the puzzle. Rather than looking solely at the behaviour that the client has come to us for, we need to try our best to get as many pieces of the puzzle as possible. The image of the mind map (attached) is one I had a client draw up for their dog who presented for resource guarding towards their other dog. If we had not pulled apart the behaviour more, I could have been way off the mark in how we worked with this dog, who in actual fact had serious health issues. At the same time we have to be careful to not assume every little thing the dog does is concerning. Sometimes dogs just do odd things! Looking at the whole puzzle allows us to take a holistic approach to behaviour modification and become better at communicating with other relevant professionals so as vets.

Jess McNamara-Rice runs The Zen Den Dog Training in Canberra. This year will be her 10th year in business! She previously worked for the RSPCA in Canberra for close to a decade mainly as a behavioural trainer. She holds several qualifications including a Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services, a Diploma in Canine Aggression and is Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed. She was also the APDT Australia Trainer Of The Year in 2023.