Emotional Ergonomics | Key to Success in Animal Behavioral Cases

Family-unit awareness and engagement.

Reaching a successful outcome in animal behavior cases isn’t always guaranteed. Animal behavioral conditions and emotional disease in animals can present to the clinician in unique and convoluted ways. Rarely is a behavioral condition in an animal addressed by relating to the animal alone - the health of the family is always a present and important consideration.

Awareness of the family-unit’s emotional capacity as well as effectively cultivating the family’s engagement contributes vitally to achieving successful outcomes in animal behavior cases.

Are your treatment plans and timelines tailored to meet the needs of both the animal patient and their family-unit?

Zooeyia (zoo-AH-uh)

Zooeyia is a term that describes the positive effects that interaction with animals have on human health and wellbeing. This term is essentially the opposite of the term zoonosis, which describes diseases which are transferred from animals to humans.

Healthy human-animal bonds and harmonious cross-species relationships support the wellbeing of all species within a family-unit. The positive effects on humans from interacting with animals is well documented.

What is the cost of strained human-animal bonds?

How do practitioners care for, protect, and strengthen this bond in support of both human and animal health?

Could planetary health be positively impacted by positive experiences between humans and non-human animals? Could zooeyia, when carefully curated and cultivated, change the world? Listen in on a more full discussion during the Decoding Your Canine June Summit.

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The impact of animal behavioral disease

Emotional diseases in animals and the resulting behavioral issues resulting from emotional dysregulation can dramatically and negatively affect the health and wellbeing of both humans and animals within a family-unit.

Human emotional and behavioral health occupies center stage in many areas of human holistic health and integrative medical care. The human medical sector recognizes the importance of assessing and caring for both the physical and emotional aspects of patient care - just as is also necessary in animal behavioral healthcare.

It’s not always easy to discern the impact of subtle animal behavioral health disorders. Disease symptoms and presentations can vary widely. Examining behavioral health symptoms in both human and animals where clinical signs overlap is useful in identifying species differences, but also similarities.

Could novel solutions emerging for certain human behavioral conditions also offer hope to animal patients? Emerging modalities such as psychedelic medicines begin to offer cross-species solutions. Treatment protocols that are designed to support the needs of both human and non-human patient are groundbreaking.

Are you curious about translational / cross-species / OneHealth solutions?

Whether you are a clinician directly managing a behavioral condition, an animal-care professional guiding the animal and it’s family, or an animal-lover of any kind - incorporating awareness of emotional ergonomics is key to the success of any treatment or training plan.

My upcoming lecture in the Decoding Your Canine Summit (see details below) discusses the lessons learned from the care of the canine veteran and their impact on general animal health.

Learn more about what the care of veterans - both human and animal teaches us about solutions for both human and animal mental health diseases. Register for the June Summit through this link!

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Addressing behavioral health from a multi-modal perspective

If you’re interested in learning more about incorporating the idea of emotional ergonomics into a treatment plan, listen to a more full conversation on this topic during the Decoding your Canine Summit, June 2024.

I’ll be joining Ness Jones and 25+ dog professionals, trainers & behavior consultants during this year’s Summit. Join us as this community of animal caregivers discuss treatment plans, management tips, review emerging modalities, and spread encouragement.

Topics from other speakers include:

• Reactivity

• Loose lead walking & recall

• Holistic Health

• Understanding trauma and trauma-informed animal care

• Resolving problematic behaviors in nervous dogs and helpful enrichment

I’ll be speaking with Ness Jones about the importance of an emotionally ergonomic treatment plan, the importance of assessing and planning for the entire family-unit when addressing behavioral issues in animals.

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