The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Summer 2020 | Page 36

FEATURE | THE NEW NORMAL
THE NEW
NORMAL
By Melissa McMath Hatfield, M.S., CBCC-KA, CDBC
Well, my heavens, who would have thought that our lives would
have taken such a drastic turn in such a short period of time?
Not only has the COVID-19 virus affected our entire country,
with closed borders and communities, but the rest of the world is
on lockdown as well. During the past few weeks in self-isolation, I have spent
my time taking Michael Shikashio’s “Aggression in Dogs” Master Course. It
was time well spent and a perfect opportunity while hunkering down at home.
As I was taking this course, watching the videos and case studies, I was
reminded of our Fall APDT 2019 conference in Portland, Oregon. Temple
Grandin, Ph.D., was the guest speaker, and for those of you who were in
attendance, she made a comment about the “new normal.” I am not sure if it
was in reference to aggression cases specifically, but my take was what level of
behavior do we find acceptable, what is not acceptable, and when and where do
we stop lowering the bar for acceptable behavior(s)?
This pandemic has shown how subtly a new normal can seep into our
lives. Before we know it, rationalization or a singular focus can change our
perspective, subtly changing our boundaries and expectations. We hope. We
want to fix. We want to justify. We rationalize. But we must rely on the more
intellectual side of our brain, the thinking, concrete, and scientific. We must be
careful not to accept the unacceptable. This can be a slippery slope, whether in
living in a pandemic or in working with dogs. Without much awareness, we can
slip to a lower level of functioning or acceptance of
questionable or even overtly negative behavior.
During the 2019 conference, a trainer was
discussing a dog-human aggression case. After
several successful training sessions, the dog
was responding appropriately to the behavior
modification protocol and everyone was thrilled
with this positive progress. However, after a few
more “successful” sessions, he bit a child. The
trainer tempered the dog’s transgression, explaining
it was not a serious bite, only a minor one. I still
had Dr. Grandin’s phrase of “new normal” in
my head, and this statement particularly struck a
negative chord. Did I hear what the speaker just
said? Did they hear themselves? Really? Is this the
new normal? Where was the plan for an immediate
reevaluation regarding safety and management and
an overall risk assessment of the dog as a whole and
specifically the behavior modification protocol? Are
we so use to working with aggression cases and/or
hearing these kinds of statements from owners that
we are not realizing their significance?
34 Building Better Trainers Through Education
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