I spoke with a dog owner today who had recently reached out to a local dog walker/pet sitter. Normally the owner and her husband would walk their lab/hound mix, but with a vacation coming up, they wanted to familiarize the dog with a new person who would possibly be taking care of her while her family was away.
When the dog walker came to meet the owner and the dog, the dog was terrified of him and hid under a chair. When the dog walker moved the chair, the dog ran into another room and hid again. "I can't walk this dog until you get her on Prozac," the dog walker told the owner.
This didn't sit quite right with the owner. The dog walker had been recommended by a few of her friends, but she didn't expect to hear that the dog would need to be medicated when she scheduled a time to meet him. So she called me.
"Should I put the dog on Prozac? How do we get her to be less scared? We're going on vacation in a few weeks and we can't take the dog.... what do we do?"
My first thought was, are we solving the right problem?
Though a series of questions, I learned:
-the dog is timid around new people, especially men
-the dog is scared of people wearing hats, even her owners wearing hats
-the dog is also afraid of ladders and people on ladders
-the owners are both short and the dog walker was tall
-the dog walker was wearing a hat during his visit
Now... if the problem for the dog walker is, "I can't walk this dog because it is afraid of me," then maybe medication or training or behavioral work or both would be appropriate.... but if the problem for the owner is, "I need to find someone to care for the dog while we're away, and my dog is afraid of this tall man in a hat," then a solution to the right problem might be what I offered:
"Before you turn to medication or an in-depth behavioral program, would you consider having a short woman who is not wearing a hat come to meet your dog to see if the dog is less afraid?"
"You know," the owner said, "I bet that would work."
We may do some work around fear with the dog in the future, but not under the pressure of the impending deadline of their upcoming vacation. For right now, the right problem to solve was finding a dog walker that didn't scare the dog.
When the dog walker came to meet the owner and the dog, the dog was terrified of him and hid under a chair. When the dog walker moved the chair, the dog ran into another room and hid again. "I can't walk this dog until you get her on Prozac," the dog walker told the owner.
This didn't sit quite right with the owner. The dog walker had been recommended by a few of her friends, but she didn't expect to hear that the dog would need to be medicated when she scheduled a time to meet him. So she called me.
"Should I put the dog on Prozac? How do we get her to be less scared? We're going on vacation in a few weeks and we can't take the dog.... what do we do?"
My first thought was, are we solving the right problem?
Though a series of questions, I learned:
-the dog is timid around new people, especially men
-the dog is scared of people wearing hats, even her owners wearing hats
-the dog is also afraid of ladders and people on ladders
-the owners are both short and the dog walker was tall
-the dog walker was wearing a hat during his visit
Now... if the problem for the dog walker is, "I can't walk this dog because it is afraid of me," then maybe medication or training or behavioral work or both would be appropriate.... but if the problem for the owner is, "I need to find someone to care for the dog while we're away, and my dog is afraid of this tall man in a hat," then a solution to the right problem might be what I offered:
"Before you turn to medication or an in-depth behavioral program, would you consider having a short woman who is not wearing a hat come to meet your dog to see if the dog is less afraid?"
"You know," the owner said, "I bet that would work."
We may do some work around fear with the dog in the future, but not under the pressure of the impending deadline of their upcoming vacation. For right now, the right problem to solve was finding a dog walker that didn't scare the dog.
