Welcome to Pet Talk - Love your Rottie.

I recently went through dog on dog aggression with my two dogs and wanted to call in an animal behaviorist. Before I called anyone I did a great deal of research on the subject and found some interesting facts.

There are actually very few vets that are qualified to deal with animal behavioral problems. They may have taken a class or two in school, but it is not their area of study. It is kind of like the difference between a Psychiatrist and a Surgeon. The surgeon may have taken a few psychology classes, but they would never try to actually treat a mentally ill individual. Vets are also not up on the latest studies or practical aspects of animal behavior. Since they have to keep up with the latest medical advances of animal care, they don't really have the time to keep up with animal behavior. Most animal behaviourist have degrees in zoology or biology.

Most vets are not always good resources for animal training either. Since they don't teach training classes on a regular basis -they don't have the practical experience that makes a good trainer.

Larger vet practices might hire an animal behaviorist, but they are generally not a vet. Most vets will prescribe medication based on the recommendations of the behaviorist. (Which is what happened in my house - the behaviorist called my vet and he wrote the script for Penny Lane's Prozac).

I'm sorry you had a bad experience - I hope you still try to seek out a qualified behaviorist to help with Gaia. It was a great help to me.

You may already know this, but I have become a big fan of Patricia McConnell. (She has a Doctors degree in Zoology). This is her website http://www.dogsbestfriendtraining.com/ where you can order her books, booklets and videos. She also does seminars throughout the country - there is a listing of these as well.

She also has a weekly radio talk show on public radio. I always manage to miss it, but you can download the show by going to this website: http://www.wpr.org/pets/index.html. She has a very practical approach to dog training and behavior. I like the fact that she realizes that different dogs need different approaches. She is a firm believer in positive reinforcement and operant conditioning.

I also like Jean Donaldson's "Culture Clash" and "Dogs are From Neptune". You get a great deal of insight into why dogs do what they do.

Sorry - don't mean to sound like I know it all. I definitely don't. I have just been doing so much research lately and find it absolutely fascinating.


Good Luck - and if it is only leash aggression you are dealing with, it is definitely a fixable problem.