Veterinary Behavior of Indiana

03/17/2025

☘️ Happy St. Patrick’s Day ☘️ from all of our staff to you!
As a reminder, we will have limited office hours this week due to Spring Break. We appreciate your patience as we return your correspondence!

03/05/2025

🌟 Behavior Star Student Alert! 🌟

Lucca came in for his recheck appointment and has made some very nice progress with his overall confidence level! He loves playing fun sniffing games and leaping in the air!!

02/17/2025

Morning! Our internet is currently down and are waiting for our internet provider to come out. As a result it may take our team some time to return any inquiries made. We appreciate your patience!!

01/28/2025

We have TWO ⭐️ Students today!

Jasper (our cattledog on the left) has been working on settling by himself as he gets used to his new human baby brother. He and his parents are doing a great job!

Remi (our golden retriever on the right) has been working on growing her confidence at home and also on walks with her human mom!

Way to go Jasper and Remi!!

01/14/2025

It is always SO fun to see Judy back for her behavior recheck visit! Here she is after she found a squeaky ball in her mom’s belongings! 😊

01/10/2025

CJ is our ⭐️ Student today! CJ and his pet parents have been working very hard on structured interactions at home and even demonstrated for our team in office! Keep up the great work CJ!

01/08/2025

With profound sadness and immense gratitude, we honor the life and legacy of Karen Pryor, a true pioneer in the fields of animal behavior and positive reinforcement training. Karen’s groundbreaking work revolutionized how we communicate with animals—and each other—leaving an indelible mark on science, education, and the lives of countless species around the world.

Continue reading: https://bit.ly/4214rRG

01/07/2025

Norma Jean is our ⭐️ Student today! Norma Jean and her mom have been working very hard these past few months with helping Norma with her separation anxiety. Norma has been working on being independent around the household from her humans and working on her pre-departure routine (she’s a big fan of the Woof Pupsicle!). Way to go Norma Jean and keep up the great work!

12/20/2024

🌟Behavior Star Student Winston🌟
Winston came in this morning for a recheck appointment and he was READY to learn! He loved learning the Ping Pong patten game!

12/18/2024

Please see our schedule below for our Holiday Hours through the New Year. Happy Howlidays from the VBI Team!

12/17/2024

We had a fun afternoon getting into the holiday spirit! It was nice to unwind and share a few laughs together!
Happy Howlidays!!! 🎄❤️

12/12/2024

11/28/2024

Wishing everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving!

11/05/2024

🌟 Behavior Star Student Alert 🌟
Queenie came back today for her recheck visit today! She is doing better with being able to settle herself when excited, respond to cues in a new environment, and she is a rockstar with fun enrichment games!
Way to go, Queenie! 👸🏻
Keep up the good work!!

11/04/2024

Dr. Rigterink discusses why your dog may be acting “off” or restless in this article:

Is your dog acting weird and restless? Discover the common causes behind this behavior, and learn how to help your pet feel calmer.

10/22/2024

⭐️Gold Star Behavior Student⭐️
Loki and his pet parent have done an AMAZING job over the years with growing his confidence in a fun way! Here he is demonstrating his “chute” behavior! Keep up the great work!!!!

10/16/2024

Make your Halloween a little less frightening for your pet! Fear Free Happy Homes has a great handout on how to prevent those Halloween Howls and help your pet during this spooky season! 🐶🧡🍬🐱
https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com/how-to-prevent-halloween-howls-from-your-pet-2/

10/03/2024

This is a throwback image from 2001. I remember asking my son over 20 years ago to give our(then) dog Carin a hug so I could get a picture of the two of them together. I wanted to share how well our newly adopted dog did with our children. This and other images went out to our extended family as we welcomed Carin into our home.

What I and everyone else neglected to pay attention to was Carin’s face. She CLEARLY did not want to be in this situation.

I did not know what I was missing in her body language. I just wanted to send a picture out showing my kiddo and new dog and tell everyone “look how well they get along.” Well my son looked happy but Carin looks anything but.

I am sure many of you have done the same thing. Set your dog and child up for a photograph and not quite recognize the discomfort the situation created for your dog. Many of us have. We want to change this to be more comfortable when taking images. Dogs and children (especially babies and toddlers) do not need to be on or right next to one another for a cute image.

Here are some things to consider when wanting to catch your dog and child in an image:

☑Never suggest your kiddo goes over to your dog and hugs them (like I did here)
Always try to have an adult in between or actively supporting both dog and child in the picture.
☑Be very mindful of your dog and child’s expressions. Are they enjoying this closeness and pressured experience? Carin is CLEARLY not. I see it now 20 some years later but at the time I would not have known to look for whale eye, tight mouth, ears back, body shift away etc. I did not have the Dog Aware skills (body language). I was just taking photos to send to everyone saying how great she and my kids were getting along.

☑Give your dog something to do and your child something to do before you want to take an image.

‼ Ex. Dog has a licky mat and the child has crayons or chalk. They can sit close with an adult between them.

💯We just suggest not having the pressure of a close image put on your dog and child in close proximity. Every encounter your dog has with your child is an important one. Keep this in mind when taking images.