Learning Clinic
We run monthly regional and virtual animal behaviour clinics. It is perfect for those both in the surrounding areas and abroad who want a straightforward, affordable solution, or where a virtual consultation would be more appropriate for your pet. You would first need to check with your vet that there is no physiological cause for the behaviour problem and request a referral. Then you complete a questionnaire about you and your pet to be returned prior to your appointment.
We offer 2-hour appointments, depending on the problems involved and what you desire. This is sufficient for us to make an initial assessment of your pet’s behaviour and provide you with some management strategies.
Moreover, you receive detailed resources specific to your pet’s problems for you to work through and 3 months’ remote follow-up support via email. After this, you can always fit into some of our other behaviour support services.
It may be harder to get to the bottom of the problem without a home visit, but our clients have found these clinics to be very useful to help them cope better and understand what’s going on. If you have a cat or a parrot, we ask that you leave your pet at home for the regional clinics, as they find unfamiliar environments stressful. Any diagrams, photos and/or videos of your home and your pet’s behaviour would be very helpful without putting them under any stress.
The clinic provides an idea online learning environment for budding pet behaviourists. So our senior behaviourist would be supervising your pet’s behaviour assessment and providing you with advice, but an advanced student would be leading the consultation. Moreover, up to five other students may be silently ‘sitting in’ with us on Zoom. Nothing is recorded (except by handwritten notes) and all the students have signed a strict confidentiality agreement.
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It’s important that you understand what your responsibilities and what our responsibilities are if you choose this service – read through the key facts about this service for further information.
Ella the vet
I have been very impressed with Zoe and her team at Second Nature and now they see all my behaviour referrals. Their client communication, follow up support and their passion for what they do is wonderful. As a referring vet, i want my clients to feel happy with whom I have referred them to and I can honestly say every one has been very pleased!
Nicki the vet
Zoe has worked absolute miracles on cats, dogs and parrots and given pet owners chance to build a more understanding and deeper relationship with their pets. I have loved seeing clients back with smiles on their faces after implementing Zoe’s instructions in order to manage the issues they have had for a long time.
Behavioural issues are very complex and with a communication barrier from man to animal creating an even more difficult task, a highly qualified behaviourist with lots of experience is absolutely invaluable and for me, Zoe is just that. An invaluable asset to my work as a vet to ensure you can get the best out of your relationship with your family pets.
I will always recommend 100%. Thank you for everything, I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Luke, Harry & Trixie
I cannot recommend Second Nature enough. Zoe gives both my dogs so much care and attention.
I have two German Shepherds who are extremely anxious around other dogs. Zoe accompanied me on dog walks to give practical help and advice for challenging situations! She is great at giving tips and tricks, training suggestions and food recommendations for my boys. Not only is Zoe amazing with the dogs but she is a lovely person to work with and made me feel at ease. The best service you can get for a reasonable price.
Thank you Second Nature,
Trixy
Benji, Dawn & Paul
We have really enjoyed the behaviour consultation process. Zoe has shown us how to deal with our dog’s problems. We now have the tools to carry on with his training.
The walks with Zoe, in particular, have provided what we need to stop Benji’s chasing. We know it is going to be a long process for Benji’s problems, but we now know how to go about trying to change the behaviour with consistency. We know that it is fear that is making Benji chase. We would definitely recommend Second Nature and would use you again if required in the future.
Many thanks for your help,
Dawn and Paul
Ted, Rob and Michelle
Really pleased with the outcome and what an enjoyable experience meeting with you – Ted has calmed down a lot now!
It’s great that I can cuddle Rob now without worrying! Ted is much calmer when people visit, but we’re still working on him tolerating strangers approaching me. Nonetheless, on the whole fantastic!
Thank you for all your help!
Michelle & Rob
Gracie
Whilst Gracie is still an anxious dog, she has made incredible progress and if we are completely honest, more progress than we thought she could make.
Gracie came to live with us from the Retired Greyhound Trust. Gracie was finding life very difficult as she was incredibly anxious and her inability to sleep through the night, cope with anyone other than us coming to the house and her extreme nervousness on encountering other people on walks was making us doubt if we could keep her. This was extremely upsetting for us as she is a very loving dog. As a result of Gracie’s issues and the stress, it was causing her and us, we were referred to Second NatureBehaviour by our vet.
Zoe visited us at home and spent over three hours observing Gracie and talking with us about our experiences with her. This consultation was very successful and almost over-night enabled us to improve the ways we approached and helped Gracie, through:
Diagnosing Gracie’s condition as generalised anxiety disorder and gaining a full understanding of the implications of this condition;
- Working in partnership with our vet to create a clinical as well as a behavioural plan;
- Teaching us how to “address” Gracie in order to reduce her stress levels – this technique we were able to share with visitors and had a great calming effect;
- Using treats to reward small steps forward that quickly grew into lasting improvements;
- Recognising some of Gracie’s stress triggers and developing a regime that reduced them / where possible avoided them; and
- A behavioural programme that helped Gracie during stressful times.
Gracie has now been part of our family for 15 months. There is still a lot to be done to continue to help Gracie, but thanks to Zoe’s input, when she is at home with us she is now a happy, playful, confident and very affectionate dog. During walks she is nowhere near as scared of traffic, people, noises as she used to be, and no longer ‘freezes’ as she used to at times.
The coaching we have had from Zoe through the initial visit and follow up has given us confidence that we can, over time, continue the progress Gracie has made so far to help her live an even fuller and happier life.
We would absolutely recommend Zoe to anyone who has an animal struggling with behavioural problems, as the progress we have seen Gracie make is wonderful, and has made our lives much better, too.
Thank you,
Anette and David
Echo
I do think that if we had not had help Echo wouldn’t be with us today, so this service has been fabulous! With the behaviour plan in place and lots of hard work from us as a family, we now have a more relaxed dog.
Echo shows nervous aggression whenever people come near him. The overall consultation process has helped us as a family to understand Echo a lot better and why he acts as he does at times. The behaviour plan is always on hand to help us in certain areas with Echo and it works so long as we all stick to it, which we do.
Without Zoe coming to see us and organising a behaviour plan for our border collie, I feel I would have had to rehome him. We still have a long way to go, but we now know Echo and how he reacts in situations and why so we can quickly defuse it.
A wonderful service from Second Nature knowing we can call Zoe at any time is so reassuring. Thank you Second Nature and Zoe – so friendly and understanding!
Thanks for all your help!
Claire
Chip, James & Sarah
We found Zoe to be extremely knowledgeable and attentive when it came to talking us through the processes we needed to follow to get our little Yorkie under control.
Very helpful after the home visit with follow-up emails and other offers of help to ensure we had all the support we needed. Would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a professional behaviourist.
Regards,
James and Sarah