Texas Veterinary Behavior Services

08/07/2025

Want to learn more about how to evaluate and treat Acral Lick Dermatitis, or lick granulomas, in dogs? Join Dr. Gibson for his upcoming webinar.

certifying board for veterinarians who are specialty trained to advance the behavioral health of animals through clinical practice, research, and science-based behavior education

07/30/2025

Alvin decided to take his own notes today! He even types quicker than Dr. Gibson :)

07/21/2025

Courtesy post: One of our patients, Beans, is looking for a home

I am a 12 year old female Dalmatian. I am house trained and easy going. I spend most of the day snoozing in my bed and will do anything for treats, kisses, and affection. I am looking for a home free of young children and small dogs to spend my golden years in. My current family loves me very much but they have children and are moving out of state the first week of August. They are worried the transition to a multi-story home will me too difficult for my aging body. To help me transition to a new home, my current family will pay for my senior wellness care that is coming due. I am hoping to find a home soon!

If you are interested in adopting me, please contact my dad, Chris at email: [email protected] or phone: 713-220-2288

07/13/2025

Sealy School:
Scratchboards are an easy and effective way to help keep your dog's front nails short. Training for the scratchboard is relatively easy for front nails. (Training dogs to scratch their hind nails is a lot more challenging.)

We prefer the "M" shaped boards as they better file the outside toenails. We also recommend that you stabilize the board at an angle to allow gravity to aid the downward stroke of the paw especially during initial training.

Sealy is quite vigrous with her scratchboard. You will note that she starts out with aggressive scratching and then her response starts to slow in this video. This is becuase she scratches so aggressively, she eventually files her nails down to the edge of the painful "quick" (vascular and nerve tissue inside the nail). It is important to stop the process before this or end the session at that time so you do not pressure your dog to engage in a painful behavior. Some dogs may also feel some discomfort in their pads if they are not angling their toenails to the board. Changing the angle of the board and selectively marking the dog for extening their claws will help mitigate this problem.

You can also put individul paws on cue and selectively mark a certain paw for reinforcement if your dog tends to prefer to scratch more with one paw than another.

05/30/2025

Thank you to Vet Tech Institute of Houston for having us yesterday! Dr. Gibson gave a presentation about the veterinary behavior specialty and went over some behavior basics. We are always happy to pass on our knowledge to the next generation of veterinary professionals! 🐾🩺

05/29/2025

This is pretty fascinating.

When a crow feels sick… it visits an anthill.
Sounds strange? It’s actually one of nature’s most fascinating healing rituals.
When a crow senses it’s unwell, it will intentionally find an anthill, spread its wings wide, and remain completely still—waiting for the ants to crawl into its feathers.
Why?
Because ants release formic acid—a natural antiseptic that kills bacteria, fungi, and parasites hiding in the bird’s feathers.
This behavior is called “anting”, and it’s been observed not just in crows, but in many bird species.
No medicine.
No vet.
Just pure instinct and nature’s built-in pharmacy.
A brilliant reminder that the natural world is full of intelligent, self-healing systems…
We just need to stop and notice.

05/06/2025

Stanley is definitely THE MAN showing off his excellent skill for cooperative care hind leg blood draw training. Here he is practicing at his vet clinic in an exam room and doing a fantastic job with outside distractions.

05/06/2025

Kaya's mom is an extremely dedicated and very skilled dog trainer. But she has still been struggling with excessive reacting and arousal with her lovely Doberman. So we are all proud to hear her recent update with how Kaya has been responding to changes in the training and behavior modification.

"I just had to share this video as I was literally so happy I was crying!!

We were walking and a dog came up on a path that went on a hill that I couldn’t see down and it seemed REALLY close maybe 15 feet (video looks farther). Kaya looked and moved with me then turned and looked back- not fixating more like she was curious. One little bark then went with me- a little more aroused but not bad and then followed cues.

I can’t imagine this low key of a reaction a few months ago!

Gives me so much hope that what you are helping us with is working!!!"

I just had to share this video as I was literally so happy I was crying!!We were walking and a dog came up on a path that went on a hill that I couldn’t see ...

04/30/2025

It’s a celebratory day when you can finally leave your laundry basket out. Dryer balls are still not safe, however

04/25/2025

Don't miss it!

🧪 A Hairy Situation... in the Best Way! 🧪

We’re excited to spotlight Elena Contreras, DVM, MS, PhD at the 2025 Scientific Paper Session, part of the Veterinary Behavior Symposium happening June 17–18, 2025 in Louisville, KY!

Her talk, “A Hairy Situation: Variability of Feline Hair Cortisol Concentration as a Measure of Stress Physiology vs. Hair Physiology,” explores how what’s growing on the outside might reflect what’s going on inside.

🐱✨ With implications for how we understand feline stress, Dr. Contreras’s research digs into the science of cortisol and the complexities of interpreting stress signals in cats—one strand at a time.

🗓 You won’t want to miss this presentation (or the whole day of groundbreaking research).

📚 The Veterinary Behavior Symposium brings together cutting-edge research and practical applications for professionals passionate about animal behavior science.

🔗 Check out the full SPS and PBF schedule and register here: https://www.dacvb.org/page/2025VBSandForum

04/25/2025

Never leave uncooked rice unattended...

04/07/2025

Monday Medical Corner:

Ovariohysterectomy, popularly known as ‘spaying’, is commonly performed on female dogs as a means of sterilization and to reduce risk of certain diseases including mammary tumors and pyometra (uterine infection). Recent evidence suggests that delaying this procedure until the dog is more mature (at ~18-24 months of age) offers behavioral, orthopedic, and other health benefits.

Dogs’ reproductive cycle is different than that of humans’. A dog’s estrous cycle includes multiple stages. The best known phase is proestrus/estrus or when the dog is in “heat.” This is the phase where the dog ovulates and can become pregnant if she is bred. This phase lasts about 3 weeks on average. The dog then enters diestrus – the phase of pregnancy. What is interesting about dogs is that the hormonal profile in diestrus is the same whether the dog is actually pregnant or not. During this phase, estrogen declines and progesterone rises (secreted from a structure called the corpus luteum [CL]). Progesterone is the hormone that maintains pregnancy. Diestrus in dogs lasts about 2 months – the average duration of gestation when the dog is pregnant. At the end of diestrus, the CL essentially dissolves or becomes inactive and progesterone levels drop. If the dog is pregnant, this change is part of the process that triggers the birth of the puppies and onset of lactation and maternal behavior.

After diestrus, the dog enters anestrus which is a period of hormonal quiescence. In the dog this lasts on average about 6 months as the typical complete estrous cycle in dogs is about 7-9 months long.

If a dog is spayed during diestrus, the precipitous drop in progesterone can mimic whelping and trigger the onset of maternal behavior – including maternal aggression. Since the dog does not have puppies, dogs may begin to guard other objects and show aggression toward humans or other animals. In rare cases, this aggression has persisted long term.

Since there is no benefit to spaying a dog during diestrus, we recommend that dogs be spayed during anestrus to prevent this possible complication.