Animal Progress - Dr Sally Nixon

12/11/2024

Why we ONLY recommend Reward Based Training (Positive Reinforcement)🐶🐱🐴🐰🐮

There are many benefits that support the use of this evidence-based, humane training.

Reward based training can help to improve the animal’s welfare, improve the animal’s learning of new and useful behaviours, help to reduce the risk of future behaviour problems, and can also provide an animal with mental, social and physical stimulation. This method does not cause harm, fear or pain, but instead promotes the human animal bond and it is fun!

There is so much conflicting information out there. No wonder it can be confusing! One problem is that the animal training industry is not overseen by a government regulatory body, so you do not need a qualification to be called a dog trainer. This means that individuals can work as dog trainers and advise people about dog behaviour without any knowledge of the science of how an animal learns, and how an animal’s learning is related to their physical health and emotional state.

There are two organisations who work to provide industry-level regulation, making sure their members stay up-to-date with current evidence-based recommendations:

Pet Professional Guild Australia - https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/
Delta Institute - https://www.deltainstitute.edu.au/

26/10/2024

Bec Hogan has now successfully completed her two year course and has earned her certificate IV in Animal Behaviour and Training. Well Done Bec!

Bec has a natural gift with animals, showing an exceptional level of empathy and compassion for both animals and their caregivers.

Now, as well as her numerous natural gifts, Bec has also learned skills in behaviour and training that help her teach animals important life skills. Bec and I share a vision of helping animals feel comfortable receiving their veterinary care so that animals can receive treatments without delay and with minimal stress.

Bec also shows a keen willingness to learn new skills and knowledge, which is so important for a better understanding of our patients to continuously improve their level of care.

I would like to thank local veterinary staff who have recommended Bec’s skills to animal caregivers. Some veterinary clinics now have animals coming into their clinic practising the fun and empowering, collaborative care exercises, building confidence in the veterinary clinic and a trusting relationship with the veterinary staff. Bec and I thoroughly enjoy hearing successful stories and seeing the results.

Animal Progress patients and caregivers, local veterinary clinics, and in particular myself, are all lucky to have Bec helping us.

21/10/2024

✈️Off she goes again to educate✈️

Yesterday, Dr. Sally Nixon spoke at the 2024 Greencross National Clinical Symposium on the Gold Coast☀️🌊

💊Dr. Nixon educated veterinary professionals on the use of behavioural medications in general veterinary practice.

👉It is important for veterinarians to understand when the use of medication is appropriate and why, which medication to select for the case and the risks involved with medicating and not medicating.

👩‍🎓Dr. Nixon is well educated and knowledgeable on this topic, hence the reason why she was asked to speak at the conference. In the future, Dr. Nixon hopes to provide presentations to help educate local veterinary staff.

🩺For those veterinarians who refer patients to Dr. Nixon, you are always welome to email her about her prescribing rationale for the patients that you have referred.

17/10/2024

🎉Welcome home, Dr. Nixon🎉

Dr. Sally Nixon is home from her incredible trip to Paris, where she was invited to speak at the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare (EVCBMAW). Her remarkable achievements in the field of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine are truly inspiring, and we are immensly proud of the work she has done and the well-deserved recognition she has earned on an international platform.

We look forward to seeing her continue to make a positive impact on the lives of her patients and their caregivers.

Congratulations, Dr. Nixon!

01/10/2024

🚫Punishment, why is it not recommended?

Scientific research indicates that punishment-based dog training increases fear and anxiety, as well as the risk that a dog will exhibit aggressive behaviour.

One of the dangers of using punishment on an animal is that the animal being punished learns to associate the punishment with people, other animals or objects in the immediate vicinity. Punishment can reduce the animal’s relationship and trust in their human caregiver.

➡️What is a punisher?
Anything unpleasant enough that the animal stops or reduces a behaviour in future. The animal changes its behaviour to avoid being exposed to the unpleasant stimulus.

➡️Why do people use punishment?
In many cases, people do not realise they are using punishment-based training techniques. From the definition above, you can see that even using stern words and firm body language can be forms of punishment if they reduce behaviour. These interactions may seem inconsequential to the dog-caregiver. However, when viewed from the dog’s perspective, they can increase fear and anxiety. For some dogs, any form of punishment can then lead to further problems.

Stay tuned for our next post which will explain a better way!

26/09/2024

What is Dr. Sally Nixon up to at the moment 🤔

Dr. Nixon has been incredibly busy over the past week, and for the next two weeks, as she continues her work in the UK and Europe. Her time abroad is centered around her residency training programme, as well as attending the 6th Annual European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare (EVCBMAW), in Paris (France) .

We’re also thrilled to extend a huge congratulations to Dr. Nixon for being invited to speak at the Congress! She will be presenting her case study on a Sumatran orangutan suffering from major depressive disorder. This opportunity is a testament to her expertise and commitment. Her knowledge goes far beyond caring for our dogs and cats—her work extends across many species, including this incredible orangutan.
🦧🐶🐱🐴🦁🐰

We're all proud of the amazing work she’s doing!

03/09/2024

✂️🐩Let’s talk about grooming!

⭐️Grooming is an essential part of pet care, but it can be a daunting task for both the pet and their owners, especially if the pet is anxious or fearful. Many pets find the sounds, sensations, and environment of grooming to be stressful, which can lead to a negative experience. However, with the right approach and techniques, you and your groomer can help your pet become more comfortable with grooming so that your pet (and you!) continue to have a positive experience.

👩‍🎓When choosing a groomer for your pet, find someone who is trained in grooming, understands pet body language and adjusts their technique so that the pet’s comfort and well-being are prioritised. Each grooming session should be as positive as possible for the pet so the pet can learn to enjoy grooming, making the task easier with every session.

🛁Fear Free™ now has an online grooming certification. Groomers who are certified learn to help your pet feel comfortable with the grooming tools and environment, including the grooming table, clippers, bathtub, and blow dryer before they start grooming.

👩‍⚕️In some cases, a pet’s fear can’t be managed using environmental adjustments and offering experiences the animal usually enjoys. In those situations, the animal may be suffering pain or another health issue. A groomer who is Fear Free certified understands that they should not force your pet to tolerate the grooming and instead contact you to let you know of the problem so that you can seek veterinary help for your pet.

❤️Choosing a groomer committed to fear-free practices is an investment in your pet’s long-term comfort and happiness during grooming sessions.

🤗If you’ve already found a groomer who practises a compassionate and gentle approach, consider telling them about the Fear Free™ grooming certification course that is available. This course is designed to further educate groomers on the best techniques to reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in pets during grooming sessions. By taking this course, your groomer can deepen their understanding of how to create a truly positive and stress-free grooming experience for your pet. It’s an excellent way to support your groomer’s ongoing education and ensure that your pet continues to receive the highest level of care.

🐾Here at Animal Progress, we also offer collaborative care training sessions to help your pet with their grooming experience. Please visit our website to learn more about Collaborative Care.

https://fearfreepets.com/fear-free-groomer-certification-course-overview/
https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com/
http://animalprogress.com/behaviour-modification-consultations/

The Fear Free Groomer Certification Program teaches you how to use Fear Free concepts to ensure that the grooming experience is as enjoyable as possible.

06/08/2024

❓Question: What is the first thing you notice when your pet isn’t feeling right?

🤔 Answer: A change in their behaviour.

Our pets can’t speak to us and tell us that they aren’t feeling well or that they are worried about something, but they do show us through their body language and behaviour that something isn’t right.

When a pet has a sudden change in behaviour or a sudden escalation in a problem behaviour, then there is a reason for this. They are not just trying to be naughty or annoying.

So, before we start trying to train them out of the problem behaviour, it’s important to rule out any medical issues first. Your veterinarian can conduct a physical examination which may help to identify underlying health problems that could be causing the change or escalation in behaviour.

Remember that understanding the root cause of your pet’s behaviour is crucial to helping them feel better and ensuring their overall well-being.

Recently, Dr. Sally Nixon spoke at the Science Week Conference, on the Gold Coast. Dr. Nixon educated veterinarians about how problems with a pet’s mental health can be caused or exacerbated by physical health and/or pain related issues.

If you are struggling with your pet’s behaviour or if you feel that something isn’t right, please contact your veterinarian or contact us here at Animal Progress.

https://animalprogress.com/arrange-an-appointment/
https://fearfreepets.com/the-link-between-pain-and-problem-behavior/

27/05/2024

Hello Everyone👋

Today, Dr. Sally Nixon will be speaking at the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Conference in Melbourne. The topic that Sally will be discussing is on behaviour with chronic pain and disease. This is a subject that Sally is very passionate about, and she is eager to share her knowledge with the veterinarians at the conference.

Pet caregivers often recognise a problem in their pet due to a change in its behaviour. This behaviour change may occur because the pet is suffering from a physical health problem that is indirectly caused by a primary anxiety disorder, or what may look like a mental health disorder could be anxiety caused by a physical problem.

If your pet has had a sudden change in behaviour or if you notice your pet is struggling due to their behaviour, please book your pet in for a health check with their veterinarian. 🩺👩‍⚕️

26/04/2024

Hello everyone,

Not One More Vet is a charity working to reduce the su***de rate in the veterinary profession. This is an important initiative that we support so Bec and I are joining Race Around the World.

Thank you to all those vets working so hard in general practice, facing not only the situations of immediate trauma and dealing with them as best they can, but at the same time helping to counsel the animal caregivers who are worried about their pet. That and much more with very little time available.

Being a vet is wonderful, and it is an amazing profession full or incredible people. However, it can take its toll on too many.

For those vets out there who read this and are struggling, please reach out and speak to someone.
Lifeline: 131114
Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
Australian Veterinary Association counselling service: 1300 687 327
R;pple: https://www.ripplesu***deprevention.com/

I'm excited to join this years RATW! Not One More Vet's mission is very important to me and I'm proud to help them make a difference. The veterinary profession is so important for our animals. It is important that all vets feel supported while they give so much of themselves. Please support me by gi...

23/04/2024

🐱Foraging 101🐱

Foraging toys or food puzzles are excellent tools to engage a cat's natural hunting instincts and provide them with mental and physical stimulation. Here's a guide on how to start foraging with your cat:

⭐️Choose the Right Foraging Toy
⭐️Introduce the Toy Slowly
⭐️Fill the Toy with Treats or Kibble
⭐️Encourage Play and Exploration
⭐️Gradually Increase Difficulty
⭐️Rotate and Vary Toys
⭐️Monitor Progress and Adjust

By incorporating foraging toys into your cat's routine, you not only stimulate their natural instincts but also provide them with a fun and enriching activity that promotes physical activity and mental sharpness.

19/03/2024

✨ Welcome to the new Animal Progress clinic 🐶🐱🐴🐰🦜🐮🐑

🎥 Here is just a sneak peek of how our new space is taking shape.

05/03/2024

🐶Puppy Preschool🐶

Congratulations, you have adopted a puppy!

What now? Go to Puppy Preschool® of course, but why start here?

Not all puppy classes are puppy preschool. Puppy Preschool® is a specially designed programme that has been shown to increase a puppy's social skills and confidence in their environment. Puppy Preschool is designed for puppies from 8-12 weeks of age. It is NOT an obedience class for young puppies. The class size should be small and the instructor/s should be dedicated to providing a positive atmosphere where a pup can learn without fear and without overstimulation.

Puppy classes should not only be about training: they are also about providing new puppy owners with up-to-date knowledge of preventative health care and teaching owners how to understand their dog's communication. The training tips given are to help owners learn appropriate communication with their pup that gives the new family member clear and consistent cues and positive consequences for responding appropriately. In this way, the bond between the pup and the owner grows rapidly and the pup is less likely to become confused and anxious.

Click on the link below and let me know about your puppy class experience.

Puppy Class - https://forms.gle/GYguyZBMHcXxbU7Y7

20/02/2024

👉Importance of early intervention for behaviour problems

Veterinary behaviour is a complex field. Behaviour is influenced by many factors but the three major factors influencing behaviour are:

Genetic predisposition of an animal
The animal’s learning
The environment that is affecting the animal

So let’s delve into these factors a little more deeply...

🧬Firstly, genetic predisposition:
Genetic predisposition is not just what the animal was given at conception such as innate behaviours of the species and personality traits from the parents, but can also be changed through epigenetic influences. Nutrition and stress as well as other factors that are affecting a pregnant mother will turn genes on or off in the offspring, leading to long-term future effects.

The environment and experiences of an animal not only have direct effects on behaviour but also play a role in epigenetics, especially when the animal is young and developing.

👩‍🎓Next, let’s get to learning:
Learning happens through experience. An animal doesn’t just learn through training or what is actively taught, but also learns through environment and general life experiences. Motivation towards or away from behaviour will occur. Conflict can develop. Fear can be a conditioned response to some situations and pervasive anxiety can develop in some individuals. There are different types of learning and many people only talk about cognitive learning in animals and fail to recognise that emotional learning is often also occurring.

Lastly, the environment:
When discussing the environment, we cannot just consider the external environment, but also the internal environment.

🩺An animal’s health status will affect behaviour and can have a hugely negative impact. Fear or anxiety can increase with illness or pain.

🌏The external environment can also affect behaviour by exposure to stimuli an animal fears or situations that increase anxiety. The external environment can also bring about joy when an animal has exposure to situations that are fun, exciting and meet their needs.

🧠As is clear from this post, all these factors are intertwined. For animals who show evidence of a clinical behaviour problem, genes can be turned on or off and brain circuitry can change and cause deterioration of the behaviour as well as the quality of life of pet and sometimes also owner.

It is important these individuals get appropriate treatment as soon as possible. These problems are not training issues and need someone with an understanding of emotional as well as cognitive learning to prescribe a management plan.

12/02/2024

❓What is Collaborative Care? And why should you train it?

👩‍⚕️🩺💉Do you know that many animals find veterinary visits and in-home health care treatment stressful. For some animals, visiting the veterinary clinic is a traumatic experience, then when they get sick, their caregivers become anxious about taking them to the veterinary clinic, worried about the distress the visit will cause. In the hope of avoiding an animal being traumatised, pet owners may choose to delay their veterinary care. After all, sometimes, a problem resolves on its own. However…sometimes it won’t. It is better for the animal if its pain or illness is quickly resolved. Also, delayed veterinary care can make some problems worse due to chronic changes.

These situations can be avoided!

🙀Animals learn from scary experiences and change their future behaviours to avoid those experiences. Your pet may start to show behavioural signs of fear, such as hiding, struggling, fleeing, trembling and/or aggression. As a result, sometimes veterinary staff use increased restraint, which can then increase the animal’s fear, and so the problem gets worse. From the animal’s perspective, veterinary treatments can be scary and/or painful and often don’t seem beneficial at all, so the whole experience can be horrible.

🤔So, how can you help avoid this from happening?

You can teach your pet one or more “consent behaviours”, so that the animal is provided with the opportunity to collaborate allowing you and the veterinary staff to provide it with the care it needs.

Collaborative Care consultations aim to provide you with the skills to teach your pet how to offer a consent behaviour so that a veterinarian can examine your pet and so that you may also provide any in-home care that is needed.

Animal Progress now offers Collaborative Care consultations at the Myrtleford Animal Progress clinic. Click on the link below to learn more:

Many animals find veterinary visits and in-home health care treatments stressful. Also, for some pets, visiting the veterinary clinic is a traumatic experience, and their caregivers often delay tak…

19/01/2024

Due to residency requirements, Dr Sally Nixon will be unavailable for behaviour consultations from early February 2024 until April 2024, but before then she still has three behaviour consultations available in January.

The remaining consultations that are available before February are:

💻Telemedicine Consultation: Tuesday, 23rd January 2024 @ 3pm.
https://animalprogress.com/arrange-a-telemedicine-appointment/

👩 Face-to-face Consultation in Myrtleford: Wednesday, 24th January 2024 @ 3:30pm
https://animalprogress.com/dog-and-cat-behaviour-consultations/

👩 Face-to-face Consultation in Mansfield: Wednesday, 31st January 2024 @ 2pm
https://animalprogress.com/appointments-at-mansfield-veterinary-clinic/

To make an appointment, just click on one of the links above. Otherwise, please email me (Bec) at [email protected] or call me on 0432 670 582

🐶 Collaborative Care Consultations will continue to remain available throughout February and March.
https://animalprogress.com/behaviour-modification-consultations/

10/01/2024

📆 Mansfield Behaviour Consultation

There is still one remaining behaviour consultation available with Dr. Sally Nixon on Wednesday, 31st January, at the Mansfield Veterinary Clinic.

🚙 Dr. Nixon consults out of Mansfield a few times a year, so if you live in this area and are needing help with your pet's behaviour, please follow the link below to make an appointment. Otherwise, please email me (Bec ) at [email protected] or call me on 0432 670 582.

Dr Sally Nixon travels to Mansfield every three months to see cases and to follow up with existing Mansfield patients. Behaviour consultations are seen at Mansfield Veterinary Clinic. An initial be…