Many dogs and cats, despite their owner’s best care, may struggle with certain aspect of living in a human society and as a result can develop behaviour problems. Living with animals with behaviour problems can be very stressful, but fortunately many of these can be treated or managed so that they don’t damage your relationship or restrict your life with your pet. These are best treated as soon as possible and in order to support our owners, we have a full time Animal Behaviourist in practice who will be able to guide your through how to help your dog or cat. Most insurance companies will cover the cost of behavioural referrals.

Common Dog Behaviour Problems

• General Anxiety and Fears and Phobias, including noise aversion
• Separation Anxiety
• Excessive Behaviour
• Repetitive Behaviour
• Aggression – reactivity on walks, resource guarding,
  territorial aggression

Common Cat Behaviour Problems

• House soiling and marking
• Aggression - towards owner or
  other cats
• Repetitive behaviour – excessive grooming, pica
• Fear and Anxiety, including attachment problems
• Destruction

All dogs require training to be able to live a full and enriched life within the family. Basic training will not only make your dog more cooperative but should also be fun and enhance your relationship. Many nuisance behaviours respond well to training.

Our qualified dog trainer Hazel, offers one to one training in the home environment or out on walks. They types of training covered are:

• Basic training e.g. sit, stay recall, loose lead walking, leave it, send
  to bed
• Pulling on lead
• Recalls on walks
• Attention seeking behaviour e.g. jumping up, pestering

For dogs that are nervous only at the vets, with offer habituation and desensitisation visits with a vet nurse where we can take our time to gradually get them comfortable in the veterinary environment and with routine procedures. The dog will require regular sessions for a few weeks to build their confidence and make this a less threatening and more rewarding experience.

Bringing a rescue dog into your family can be an exciting but challenging time. In order to help him / her settle in as quickly as possible and to help prevent behaviour problems, our Dog Behaviourist offers a special home visit tailored to rescue dogs’ needs.

If you are thinking about buying a puppy or kitten, we offer a pre-purchase advise session where you can ask any questions you have about which breed, sex or age to go for, where to source your puppy or kitten, how to introduce to your household and how to ensure you provide the best care in these early days.

Here at Holly House Vets we understand that your puppy and kitten’s psychological welfare is just as important as their physical health and therefore we are pleased to be able to offer you and your new furry friend a range of services to ensure your they have the best start in life and enjoys their future visits to us.

For owners who would like a little more personalised support with their new puppy or kitten, we offer a 1½ hour home visit with our behaviourist. These sessions allow plenty of time to answer all your care and management questions and to review your home set up.

Puppy session

• General Care
• Socialisation
• Puppy biting and jumping up
• Toilet Training
• Starting Training

Kitten Session

• General Care
• Socialisation
• Provision of Resources
• Environmental Management
• Appropriate Play

The cost for this session is £60

Getting a new puppy or kitten is an exciting time, but it can also be quite overwhelming and even experienced owners forget just how much hard work youngsters can be. All owners want to give their new addition the best start in life, but with the amount of information available and with best practice constantly changing, it can be hard to be confident you are making the right decisions.

We offer two lecture / discussion sessions where you will obtain up to date information and the opportunity to discuss your questions and experiences with a vet, nurse or behaviourist, as well as other owners. It can be reassuring to see that most owners have similar issues!

Puppy Session

• Health Care and Nutrition
• Management, training and behaviour

Kitten Session

• Health Care, Nutrition and Management

The cost for the 2 hour lecture session is £10

Early training and socialisation is very important for all dogs to help them grow into well adapted and well behaved members of society. These first training classes, for pups from 12 weeks to 6 months, give you and your puppy the opportunity to meet other pups and owners.

Classes are fun, using only positive methods and focussing on play between owner and dog. You will have the opportunity to take the Kennel Club Good Citizens Puppy Foundation Certificate.

The cost of the 6 week course is £60 (10% discount for Pet Health Club members) .

Course Content

• Understanding basic principles of positive dog training
• Training through play and games to make it fun and keep your dog motivated
• Socialisation and confidence activities
• Handling, health checks and familiarisation to practice equipment
• Attention and response to his/her name
• Positions and stays
• Loose lead walking
• Recall
• Settling and being relaxed

What to Bring

• Maximum of 2 people per puppy
• Toys and treats for your puppy
• A mat / blanket for your puppy to
  lie on
• Collar, harness or head-collar and lead - preferably a 6ft training lead (no extendable leads, slip leads or choke chains)
• Sensible footwear