"Dogs have a different logic": We work as a dog psychologist
The fact that in the world there are dog psychologists, many of us have learned from the TV program "Translator from a Dog" with Caesar Millan (at least, among the Wonderzine employees, this is exactly the situation). There are also dog handlers in Russia who specialize in solving problems in dog behavior - and they call to treat pets as partners and full members of the family with whom you have to reckon. Among them are the creators of PiBo Nadia Pigareva and Nastya Bobkova, experts in the correction of behavior and mental health of dogs. We asked Nadia and Nastya to tell how they started working with animals, what difficulties they faced, when they founded their business and on what principles they rely during private consultations and training courses.
How it all began
Nastya: I used to tinker with dogs since childhood, I told everyone that I would be a canine. Then I realized that the dog handler is a very broad concept: from breeding dogs to working in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. It’s like a medical doctor, and you can call a nurse and the head physician of a hospital. I went to study at the Timiryazev Academy as a zoo-engineer, in the last year it became clear that it was I who was interested in correcting canine behavior. At that time there were no universities in Russia where they give such a diploma - now various courses have already appeared, you can even get a graduation paper. Thank God, I didn’t go to the kennel college then: now we have a friend who studies there, judging by her stories, this story is not about bringing up sane city dogs. There is a very rigid training system, it is assumed that after college you will go to work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and look for drugs with a dog, this has practically nothing to do with behavior correction.
I was engaged in self-education - I read books and everything I could find on the Internet. At first there was hellish porridge in my head. Then I realized that the psychology of a dog is similar to the psychology of a person, more precisely, a child - they have similar periods of development, mental features. Therefore, I went to study at a human psychologist. It is necessary to work not only with the dog, but with the owner or even the whole family: the family is a system, in each family there are rattles, a special attitude to the dog and to each other. Psychological education gave me an understanding of people, and knowledge of mental processes in dogs.
Naturally, while I was studying, it was necessary to live on something: in order to rent an apartment, study at an institute and feed myself and animals, I worked as a sales manager for dog food, eventually spent ten years there. It was an ordinary office job, not very interesting for me. Now we work only in PiBo.
Consultation is a very emotionally difficult process, you as a psychotherapist: you need to talk with the whole family, listen, explain that everyone understands everything
NADIA: I did not think that I would be engaged in dogs. I imagined that I would be an astronaut, a pilot — in general, something great. Therefore, I worked as a waiter for ten years. At that time, unfortunately, I had a young man with whom we had a taxi. Five thousand on Avito, a complete set of problems: the dog was aggressive, I didn’t know how to walk with him, I walked on a leash-roulette - in short, a nightmare. At this time, a young man began to say to me that I, at twenty, had not achieved anything. I decided that he, of course, was a pig, but I also had to think about myself — first I would try to teach the dog something, and then maybe I would become a canine expert. Then I imagined that the cynologist was a peasant in camouflage, with smelly pockets and a smoky voice. I went with a dachshund to learn from the dog playground, I started to get it, I decided that I want to dive deeper into this topic. And I offered the trainer with whom I was engaged to be her assistant. Then I lived in St. Petersburg, but we were increasingly called to Moscow - in the end, it all came to that I worked for twelve hours as a waiter five days a week, and then sat behind the wheel at the weekend and went to Moscow, plowed there for two days , then all over again, such a groundhog day.
At this time we met Nastya - she also came to my mentor to study. It was a turning point: I immediately felt that this was my man. We immediately began to communicate, corresponded, and then I left the young man, Nastya and I began an affair. Together with the trainer, I moved to Moscow, and Nastya and I helped her to raise her business.
At some point we realized that we were doing all the hard work, and the trainer only commanded. We were for her free labor, which allegedly gets experience, by such personal slaves. This went on for about a year. During this time, we cooperated with Nastya and began to travel together for consultations - this is when you come to people home and help to deal with the problem on the spot.
Nastya: It turned out that when we work in pairs, it turns out much more efficiently, because we are very different, we see different things and work with different things. I can explain something with clever words, and Nadia has more practice - to show what to do with her hands. She can also quickly find her way around the situation: while I’m drowning, she’s already saved everyone and no one has eaten anyone.
NADIA: Usually dog handlers work alone, but we are better off in a tandem - and more fun, and more efficient, and we are kayfovo.
About relationships and business
NADIA: We offered the trainer with whom we worked, divided and made our site, first a child. The fact is that all her classes were on the street, and in the winter little dogs are cold - it interferes with learning, and it is simply dangerous, with the same cystitis. We decided to open a group for small dogs in the room and offered a colleague to send small dogs to us, and we sent large ones from our consultations. There were five people in the first group, which is very small, for comparison, we now have four groups of ten dogs. By the end of the classes, out of these five people there was only one left - the rest were too lazy to ride. And when you are at the very beginning of the way, you perceive such things painfully - you start thinking that you are a handless loser, since once one person is left, you are not created at all for this job. It was very difficult not to stop, not to go back to the office. As a result, it turned out that the coach simply did not send anyone to us.
Nastya: And we sent to her, such are honest.
NADIA: It became clear that this is the end, we will not work with her anymore. We have made a new site, already completely yours, we have the name PiBo. After some time, we quit office and restaurant work and started doing dogs only.
Nastya: There was a very difficult period, about two years, when after the main work we went to consultations, and on weekends we trained, it was hell, and we didn’t have time for anything. Too much work, too little rest, and too much doubt about whether to continue. In women, it is generally driven into the head - to doubt oneself and one's abilities, an impostor syndrome.
We did not do anything to get going; we just wrote about ourselves on Facebook. There was no advertising, they relied on word of mouth. But at some point it turned out that at the consultation the record went forward for two months, and this is too much. We thought that soon we would die from the load. Consultation is a very emotionally difficult process, you as a psychotherapist: you need to talk with the whole family, listen, explain, so that everyone understands everything. For several sessions, the psychotherapist is very exhausting, although it would seem that he does nothing - he sits and talks. We had the same emotional burnout, and we realized that it was necessary to reduce the intensity of passions and reduce the number of consultations.
Dogs stupidly do not understand why pee on the tile is not as scary as the master's pillow. They have a different logic.
NADIA: Then, with trembling hands, we raised prices, and then increased them again, and again, but the flow did not greatly decrease. Now our services cost 9 thousand rubles, which is noticeably more expensive than many other dog handlers - I think now, on average, they ask for from 1 to 3 thousand rubles for a consultation.
Nastya: At the same time, we do not persuade anyone to go to us, quite the contrary. On Facebook, we always try to help remotely, if everything is solved simply - consultation is not needed.
On the street, we try to bypass dog lovers' side, and then, as we see a tight leash or as a hostess, grumbles at the dog for offense, which he forgot to think about, I just want to say “oh, everything” and go into the sunset.
The most important achievement of ours is that we managed to save the business. In addition to the common cause, we also had a romantic relationship. When the business was already in a rut, we broke up as a couple, having been together for four years. That was the complexity of the difficulties. Since we are working in tandem, we could not share the responsibilities and do not overlap. The gap was painful for both sides, a lot has changed, but we understood that it was impossible to leave our child, although sometimes it was very desirable. They continued to work together and met each day, while an apocalypse was taking place in the soul. But after a couple of months after breaking up, it became clear that we could still discuss something and work normally further.
NADIA: Regardless of whether we are a couple or not a couple in a romantic sense, we still feel very comfortable working together. We trust each other as anyone - car keys, apartments, PIN codes, accounts, whatever.
About stereotypes and mistakes of the hosts
Nastya: The classic problems that come to us are aggression: to other dogs, to anyone in the family, to people on the street. Another fear: now many take dogs from a shelter, they often have such problems. Uncleanedness - dogs have the ability to piss and shit, sometimes they do it in the wrong place, and the owners often make it worse by trying to solve these problems. People do not understand that a dog is different from a person in psyche - they attribute a conscience to a dog, for example, or morality, saying that "it" unfortunately "does." “So I come after work, tell him about my problems, and he understands everything,” well, no, he does not understand anything. Maybe I would like to, but it will not work. Dogs stupidly do not understand why pee on the tile is not as scary as the master's pillow. They generally have a different logic.
NADIA: Small dogs are often taken lightly: "Oh, you are so small, why should you walk with you, oh, you bite, how pretty!" The dog gives normal dog signals - “I'm scared,” “I'm going to eat you now,” and they are lisping with it or not paying attention. As a result, all the little ones are considered evil or hysterical. If a dog gave the same signals, the reaction would be completely different, it would be considered. There are stereotypes about big dogs too: if they take a large puppy into the house, they immediately begin to train him hard so that God forbid he never snapped at him, otherwise everything, then he will devour everyone. Actually, no, that doesn't work. This is a dog, big or small. They have the same brain structure, but people have different attitudes, because of this problem.
Nastya: This is where Petya comes up to all the time, because he is so cute, small, like a toy.(Petya is a thirteen-year-old half-breed griffon and Yorkshire terrier, he also attended the interview. - Ed.). But he is not a toy at all, but he is still a shit - he can snarl, and in general he is not thrilled with strangers. For any big, black and hairy dog, no one pulls hands like that.
NADIA: For the pit bulls especially, but these are sweet dogs! Ideal nannies, companions.
Nastya: Anyone choose and kiss!
NADIA: Everybody thinks that shepherd dogs are smart from birth.
Nastya: And dachshunds are harmful and untrained, and chihuahuas are hysterical.
NADIA: In fact, they are one of the most appropriate small dogs, it’s like a little bulldog. Another stereotype is that small dogs do not need to be raised.
Nastya: And Labradors are not necessary, they will grow up and immediately become smart.
About the principles of work and the human approach
NADIA: I think they come to us for the atmosphere. People stay for a long time - not in the sense that they go to classes for years, but in that they do not lose touch, become friends, even our present girls are former students. There is a community where everyone communicates with each other, walks, comes up with something. I really like this movement.
Nastya: In the first place we always have a man. We will never say: "So, quit your job and sit with your dog for a month." It is important to solve the problems of the dog, but it is desirable that the person does not die.
It often happens that the owner calls the cynologist, tells him what problems there are, and they say to him: "Well, what did you want, you allowed the dog everything, and she was to blame on your neck and sat down!" We never do that, because we understand that people didn’t want to ruin a dog’s life, they just lack knowledge.
NADIA: We ourselves were not born with this knowledge, we are not brilliant dog handlers who were somehow magically or genetically transferred to everything. Sheepdogs also do not know the team from birth, no matter what they think about them.
Nastya: No one is obliged to do it right the first time. We correct a hundred times, if necessary. In life, every shit happens - you have to work in the conditions that exist.
NADE: It happens that a person is so bad that he needs to give a dog to someone. Or simply understands that the dog is not his, he does not like with her, not interested.
Nastya: It’s like getting married, living for five years and realizing that the husband sucks. If you don't want to see it, hear it, or communicate, it may be the same with a dog. We will not scream "as you can," "took the dog - carry the cross." If you want to give - please, let him find a pet good owners who will love him, and everyone will be fine.
In the first place we always have a man. We will never say: "So, quit your job and sit with the dog for a month"
NADIA: Life is so hard, so why kill a person with a sense of guilt is not clear. We believe that we should not be killed for the sake of the dog. It is necessary to organize a joint life so that all was well. There are people who put their whole lives to rescue animals, they do it not in a rush, but because they have a rescuer syndrome. From this we keep as far as possible, because these are already unhealthy code-dependent relationships that are not needed by a dog or a person.
Nastya: The only thing for which I will condemn a person is if he beats a dog, he knows that it can be different, but he continues to do it. It's just a bad person. We ourselves never beat the dogs with our feet and boots, but we can sometimes pull up severely, say: "Hey, dog, come to yourself, why are you leading yourself like cattle?"
NADIA: We are not always nice. For example, if one dog eats another - there will be no “oh, let's not do that, let's break up,” let's act tough.
It happens that we refuse to consult at the stage of reading the questionnaire. When recording, the host answers several questions - sometimes it’s already clear from these answers that we don’t work together, so it’s useless to waste time with both our and the client. We do not hide our orientation, and this is also a filter: we do not work with people who show homophobia. If at least some hint of this, if, for example, someone in the comments writes something homophobic or nationalistic, the person immediately goes to FIG. We do not need it.
Nastya: There is no such thing that a dog is broken and it is better to buy a new one. If a person is willing to work, you can do something with any dog: it is clear that a beloved mongrel from the gateway will never be as open and fun as a child's labrador from childhood, but it can be a completely socially adapted and happy dog.
If a person and a dog are happy - let them do what they want. Sleeping on the couch and everyone is happy - great. We have no standards in the training - we just explain why teams are needed and in what situation they can help. For example, it is useful to “stand” to stop a dog in front of a busy road, but what exactly your dog does on this command is freezing, it just stands, but at least borsch cooks it’s all the same, just to be fixed in place and everyone was happy.
Photo: Personal archive
