Behaviour Consultation
We do a deep-dive into the issues you are having with your dog to best understand them and the underlying reasons for the behaviours. This involves a four part process that includes video data, remote and in person sessions along with a gait assessment analysed in conjunction with the behavioural data.
Process
What is involved in the behaviour assessment?
Initial Assessment Form
To start with we ask you to fill in an online form describing your dog's day to day life, the issues you are having and how they impact all of you, and your dog's history. This includes a request for your dog's medical history and some short videos of day to day life.
Remote Consult
Based on the form content and other details you submit we will then have a one hour remote consult, typically via Zoom. In this session we will put safety and management strategies in place to prevent the behaviour getting any worse and start some simple work on communication and interaction. This is a 60 minute session.
In Person Consult
The in person consult is 60 minutes at our training field just outside of Prosperous. We run the session here for the majority of cases to remove any existing stressors from your dog so that they can work with our team without unnecessary baggage. In this session we tweak any management strategies that require it and get started on some simple training exercises. This allows us to get to know your dog as an individual and to see how they like to learn best.
Gait Assessment
Ideally at the same time as the in person consult, we spend an extra 15-20 minutes to gather a large amount of video and photographic data of your dog in motion and in static positions. Analysing this in conjunction with the behavioural data allows us to see if there is likely to be a physical component to these behaviours. If there is, we liaise with the veterinary team so that they can work on the physical end while we get going on the behavioural.
Outcome
What does this process get me?
Behavioural assessment
The main component of this work is to best understand the specific issues you are having, to recognise other unrecognised ones contributing to the problem, put short to medium term strategies in place to prevent further deteriorating. Understanding allows us to adjust our behaviour or the environment to best help.
Behaviour modification & training plan
This process results in a full plan for moving forward that takes into account both your and your dog's day to day needs. The plan may include one to one sessions, group work, stooge dog/people work, remote sessions or other approaches depending on the issue and their needs. While this plan will be as detailed as possible, it is subject to change as we go through, if we can skip over elements we will, but we may need to add small elements depending on how much time you can dedicate to the behaviour and training work.
Gait assessment report & vet correspondence
The gait assessment results in a full report with video and photographic evidence. This is written in a format that best suits veterinary professionals. This is to speed up your dog's access to care and minimise return journeys needed to the vet team. You will also be provided with a letter summarising the requirements. Once this has been sent to you we will arrange a short phone call or Zoom session to walk you through what all of the elements of the assessment means.
Cost
This process costs €250 in total. While completing the form you will be asked for a €50 deposit so that our team can review your data and fully prepare for your sessions. The balance is due before in-person session. The costs of implementing the plan are detailed in the plan. The rates for the individual components possible are visible on the one to one training page. Please note we have a price increase due from February 1st 2026 to €265.
Questions?
Frequently asked questions
Here are some common questions about the behaviour consultation.
Even though the specific thing you want to work on may seem obvious, such as don't bark at dogs, often we have other supporting behaviours that need to be worked on so that we can get to that point. For example, if your dog has had a bad experience with dogs before we may need to change their emotional response to the other dogs before we can start asking them to do logical work such as move away or ask for help. Remember emotion always wins out over logic. These supporting behaviours can be very unique to a particular dog's needs. We want to set you and your dog up for success and avoid any emotional turmoil for you or your dog. Unfortunately negative emotions cause large learning events which we may have to undo first.
There is a surprising amount of supporting information needed to build a behaviour modification plan suitable for an individual dog. This requires not only a description of the issues you are facing but also getting to meet your dog, see how they respond to different training approaches, observations of their various handler-dog relationships and their personality. How your daily life is set up has an impact on the current issues and the solutions we need to develop.
We aim to get your training plan out to you within 7 working days however at very busy times of year this can push to 14 working days.
Typically the plan requires doing classes with a trainer or behaviourist. These may include one to one sessions, group work or remote work. The main function of the trainer is not just to set the exercises but to tweak them as you go. They are highly educated in making changes to exercises to best suit you and your dog, to recognise when a dog is struggling or getting bored if progress is too slow, and set the progress pace so that we get through as quickly as possible without sacrificing the reliability of the resulting behaviours and training.
While your trainer will design a training plan just for you and your dog, how quickly that plan will be completed is not knowable. It is fully dependent on how much time you can dedicate to doing the homework between sessions, that you engage with the inter-session video submissions, how your dog learns, and how well the whole family implement the control and management strategies. We will always aim to get you through the work as quickly as the case allows.