KEY FACTS
Overview:
A home visit consultation allows us to see you and your pet in your normal environment, so we can see how you all interact and make a thorough assessment of the behaviour problem. An advanced pet behaviour student or associate behaviourist will be leading the consultation under the supervision of our senior behaviourist, Zoe Demery, PhD CCAB. Moreover, other students may be virtually sitting in via online video link. If the associate behaviourist is leading, Zoe Demery may not be present during the actual appointment, but she will oversee the associate and consult with them during the course of the case. This service is suitable for dogs, cats and parrots.
When: a date agreed in advance with you
Where: at your home
What you need to do to prepare:
□ Get your vet to complete the referral form through our web site, or ask them to post, email or fax it to us (for parrots please ask your avian vet);
□ Complete and return the questionnaire at least a week before your appointment;
□ Without putting your pet under any further stress and while ensuring your own and others’ safety, take a video recording, or any other form of recording (e.g. diary) of the behaviour;
□ Read the safety precautions below.
What we will do:
• We visit you in your home. The initial visit generally lasts 2 hours and ideally everyone in the household should be present. To work out what’s going on, we take a full and detailed case history and, if appropriate, we may go for a walk.
• Other than the student leading the consultation and the supervising behaviourist, one other pet behaviour student may quietly sit in the on the consultation and make notes during the process. Sometimes up to five other students may silently ‘sit in’ on our consultation via online video link, such as through Zoom. All the students have signed a strict confidentiality agreement. They will receive a copy of your pet’s veterinary referral and behaviour questionnaire.
• Together we work out a treatment plan that is realistic and tailored to you and your pet’s needs.
• Soon after the consultation, a report is sent to you, which is later copied to your vet. This outlines the reasons behind the problem and highlights the key steps of the behaviour modification plan (BMP). Note that as this is a learning experience for the students, the formation of the report may take up to a month to complete after the initial consultation. However, you are welcome to contact us at any point if you require further information and support.
• Your vet is kept informed of how your pet progresses through the BMP.
• The student or associate leading the consultation will be available for remote support through email for 3 months after your consultation. Please note this is subject to our fair use policy. This means that the behaviourist is only contactable Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. If we feel that you are contacting us too frequently (e.g. more than three times a week) or correspondence lasts longer than 30 minutes, then we may suggest another face-to-face follow-up session, or we may have to charge for our time.
Please note: Be aware that the supervised consultations are dependent upon student availability. They are also not a suitable service for all individuals or problems.
Safety for you and your pet:
• Shut your pets in another room prior to our arrival for our own personal safety. You can then bring your pet in (and if a dog on the lead and possibly muzzled) once we are settled.
• Any information regarding the pet’s health and/or existing medical conditions/treatment must be disclosed prior to any consultation, or training, or supply of equipment. Where relevant any health issues regarding you, the handler, should also be disclosed to avoid injury and other issues pertaining to the services/equipment supplied.
• Any information regarding behaviour issues in relation to your pet MUST be freely disclosed for example, fear, aggression, pet’s previous behaviour history etc. Failure to do so could cause serious harm to your pet, you the owner, your behaviourist, or other members of the public.
• If your pet is showing signs of ill health (such as vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing), or if you have a bitch in season, please advise your behaviourist as soon as possible in order to rearrange your appointment. This also applies to post-operative recovery periods. Your cancellation clause arrangement will of course apply in this case.
• All pets must be free from disease and up-to-date with worming, flea and tick treatment prior to consultation.
• Children, friends and family members are welcome to join in with consultations – this is at your own discretion. All involved must also comply with the Health and Safety recommendations advised herein and to take proper reasonable care during and after the consultation. We accept no liability for the health and safety of those you choose to involve.
• Children must always be supervised when around animals and you should take proper care to ensure that they do NOT attempt to replicate any training, or behavioural modification recommendations on your pet without proper, adult supervision. This applies in all cases, even if the children have been actively involved with behavioural consultations or training sessions with Second Nature Behaviour.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that your pet does not harm in the future. You may wish to consider taking out third party insurance for your pet.
• Second Nature Behaviour does not endorse the use of physical punitive correction. Our welfare and protection policy is that any health or welfare issues found to be of concern will be reported to the local government authority and RSPCA inspector, or local Police where appropriate. We also reserve the right to notify the appropriate authorities if our advice is repeatedly ignored and we believe there is a risk of harm to members of the public or of your household.
• In emergency situations for your animal, please call your vet straightaway.
How to get the best results:
It is important for you to follow the behaviour modification plan (BMP) if any improvement is to be seen. However, the BMP is not always successful and success cannot be measured by results. The BMP may be modified as the animal’s behaviour develops. Each animal is different and it may take a long time, dependent upon individual needs of the animal and your own circumstances. Therefore, whilst we will do our very best to assess the animal’s behaviour and make recommendations, success is not guaranteed and we cannot be held responsible if the animal’s behaviour does not improve or change.
Cost and payment terms:
The supervised home visit consultation fee is £250. This type of booking is secured by a full payment in advance, which can be paid over the phone or online.
Travel costs are calculated using the shortest route suggested by Google Maps (maps.google.com) between your post code and our office's post code. If you are outside our normal travel zone for the initial consultation (up to 30 miles), then £1 is charged per mile return journey on top of our normal consultation fee.
Any follow-up appointments will be charged from £70/hour. If one of our behaviourists is not within 10 miles of you, then travel is charged at £1/mi return journey on top of the session’s fee.
Refunds:
Regrettably, we only provide refunds in exceptional circumstances, which unfortunately excludes an animal no longer being in your possession. The full fee of a consultation package is due even if not all aspects of the service are attended. If you cancel more than 5 working days before the appointment, the half of the fee is retained to cover administration costs, or you can reschedule your appointment. Any cancellations received with less than 5 working days to the appointment will result in retention of all of the consultation fee.