Episode 233 – Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

The point to keep in mind about the phenomenon discussed in this podcast is that most of these animals not faking their physical and behavioral issues. In their minds, they really can’t use that limb or not be afraid of this or that. Because of that, in order to help these animals we need to get the whole picture. We can’t just focus on eliminating the behavior that troubles us instead of dealing with the underlying cause.

Or rather we could limit our focus like that and eliminate the effects and ignore the underlying cause as long as we were willing to accept the risks associated with this approach. Specifically, the risks of making the behavior worse, or eliminating it only to have it replaced by another display that’s more problematic.  In my experience most who take what they at first considered this “easier” approach come to regret it later.