Puppy love
Animals, dogs in particular, are what Leigh Beckman devotes her life to. She describes her own dogs as having rule of the house and she likes it that way.
Leigh’s day job as a pet groomer, which she has been doing for over 20 years, prompted her to become a pet psychologist and she did the courses for it 15 years ago.
She did the pet behaviourist courses mainly for her own benefit and says she does it as more of a hobby than a job.
“Working with the animals made me want to know more about them and what they were feeling and thinking.
“Having a background of the animal helps with my grooming as well. If one of my grooming customers wants to know why their animal is behaving in a certain way, I have that animal behavioural background so I can help them,” says Leigh.
An animal or pet psychologist reads the animal’s body language in order to see why it is behaving in a certain way and then advises the owner on how to correct or improve the animal’s behaviour.
Leigh says that often, if an animal is acting out, it is for attention and that people are often to blame as they unknowingly encourage this behaviour.
“People tend to humanise animals, especially dogs. But what the owner needs to understand is that, even if they view their dog as a ‘child’, it is still an animal,” she says.
She gives an example of feeding human food to animals. She says that if you give your animal chicken for example, it will become picky and not eat the dog food.
“The owner will then feed the dog only chicken because that’s all it will eat, it will get bored of the chicken eventually and the owner will switch to say livers. This encourages the bad behaviour. Give your dog the dog food, it may not eat for a day or two but when it’s hungry, it will eat.”
Just like a child, a puppy needs educational and social foundations put in place for it.
Leigh, who breeds Great Danes, always makes sure the puppies get a good foundation before they go to their new owners such as having interaction with other dogs and children and walking around on different surfaces.
“If your animal is destroying things such as chewing up shoes or digging holes, it is probably because they are bored and agitated.”
She suggests regular walks and interaction with other animals as well as having toys for the animal to play with, especially if the animal is at home alone all day while the owners are at work.
Leigh says that with pets becoming more acceptable as a part of the family, that it is very common for families to take their pets on holiday with them, and with more and more pet-friendly holiday accommodations popping up, there is a lot more pressure on people to have well-trained and disciplined animals.
“You want a dog that will behave if you take it away with you and not relieve themselves on the carpets at the hotel or chewing up the pillows on the couches,” says Leigh.
Leigh raised her son Wesley to love dogs as much as she and her husband do.
The love took root and led Wesley to become a junior handler at dog shows.
In 2009 he went to Crufts, which is a big dog show overseas, and he is now in Durban working as a breeder at Royal Canin.
Leigh’s advice to pet owners is just to let animals be animals and love them as that.
“I get a huge thrill out of just helping people to understand their pets better, that, for me, is important.”
