So once we know your dog's healthy physically, but we do have a behavioral problem, oftentimes, we're going to end up working with a certified professional dog trainer. We have a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in Maine now, which is a fantastic resource. In some situations, we can come up with a plan just between you and me. But in other situations, we're going to call in the troops. Have you worked with one of the trainers that we've vetted and felt comfortable with their methods? Or we can even send you over to Dr. Calder, our veterinary behaviorist, to formulate a plan. That could be something as simple as some exercises or homework to do. But it can sometimes also mean adding on some medications or supplements to improve your dog's mental health and make the behavior modification more successful.

Anything that's not working for you in a lot of ways. So you and your dog have a relationship. You live in the same house. You guys need to be able to get along. And that means keeping you and your dog healthy and happy. When we're thinking about things, if you're finding something that your dog is doing is annoying, destructive, and potentially affecting your health, we need to consider that. And that can be something as simple as chewing on things they're not supposed to. It can be jumping behavior. It can be dog aggression when they're out and about. But really anything that you find that affects your relationship or affects your daily life. If it's a problem, then let's talk about it and find a solution.

That's where we come in. So you're going to be able to notice if your dog is limping and therefore not acting themselves. But there can also be subtle changes that we may be able to find on blood work or a physical exam that may indicate an underlying medical issue as a cause of a behavioral problem. Some things that we think about, any kind of pain - whether it's joint pain, stomach pain, or any sort of discomfort - can cause behavioral changes. And that can range from anything from lethargy to anxiety to aggression. So it can be a range of things that can happen. Certainly, neurologic conditions could cause behavior changes. And there is some thought that abnormal thyroid levels may play a role in behavioral issues. I think the jury's still out on that in a lot of ways. But it's always worth evaluating.

Absolutely not. We see cancers and cure them - or at least treat them and put them in remission - all the time. And we're here to help guide the clients, give them the best information, and work with them to get the best prognosis for their dog.

It depends on the location of the cancer, so let's say I find a lump on your dog or your cat. I'm going to either do a punch biopsy or a needle biopsy to hopefully get cells that tell me what type of cancer it is. Depending on what the diagnosis is from a pathologist, it will help me determine what the next plan is going to be.

We’re also going to take X-rays quite often to check the chest and look for Mets and look in the abdomen to make sure nothing is going on there.

So it depends on the cancer. They all have a little bit of different behavior. If we find enlarged lymph nodes, we're going to see if this is lymphoma. And then we're going to look for where that is and what type of lymphoma it is to determine what type of chemotherapies we're going to recommend. On top of the type of cancer, we want to know that cancer’s general behavior, whether it's one that metastasizes or it's just localized cancer, and then we just go from there.