Just like humans, pets can experience mental health challenges too. This can lead to a variety of undesirable behaviours like aggression, excessive vocalization, destructive behaviour, excessive vocalization, house-soiling, repetitive behaviours and others. Just as a person may need to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, your pet may benefit from seeing a veterinary behaviorist.

A veterinary behaviorist is a veterinarian who is trained to address the relationships between an animal’s health, environment, experiences and its behaviour. Veterinary Behaviorists are not animal trainers but rather use a multi-modal approach which may include behaviour modification and medications or supplements to treat the underlying cause of the behaviour. Veterinary Behaviorists can also help discern if the might be an underlying health problem contributing the behaviour.

Like all veterinarians, a Veterinary Behaviorist completes a 4-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree. Following vet school, Veterinary Behaviorists follow a path similar to the path taken by human medical specialists. Extensive additional training includes a minimum of 1 year general practice experience and a 3-year residency program dedicated solely to studying and treating behaviour problems. Following residency, they must pass a rigorous multi-day certification exam. Only veterinarians who have completed an accredited residency program and who have passed the specialty exam may use the title Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (DACVB).