Suzanne Hetts 
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist 
Co-owner Animal Behavior Associates, Inc.
Littleton, Colorado

How long have you been working in your current career? What did you do before?
I’ve been working as an animal behaviorist since graduate school, which was about 1985.  Before that I worked as a medical technologist both at a human hospital in Denver, and at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at CSU.  I also obtained a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology in between those two jobs.

Why did you decide to pursue this career?
I’ve always loved animals, and as an undergraduate, I wanted to go to vet school, but that was highly discouraged for women in those days.  So I went into another medical field, which I got bored with.  It was while I was working at the VTH at CSU that I took a course on applied animal behavior that was an elective for the vet students taught by Dr. Phil Lehner.  I was fascinated, and was “hooked”, and knew that was the direction I wanted to head.  Dr. Lehner became my major professor and my advisor for my Ph.D.

What traits would you say make your job “humane”? 
People think they want to get in this field because they want to work with animals, and that’s an unrealistic expectation.  Behaviorists and trainers work much more with people than they do pets.  If a person doesn’t like working with people, and doesn’t have good interpersonal communication skills, I don’t think a person would be happy in this field.  

Being an applied animal behaviorist is “humane” because we help save pets’ lives, improve their quality of life, and prevent the human-animal bond from being broken.  Sometimes, not all the time.  We all know that behavior problems are the main reason that many pets end up at shelters, and if we can help people understand their pets better, be more tolerant of their behavior, have more realistic expectations, and also change some of the problem behavior, then we can save the pet’s life, educate owners so they aren’t doing unhelpful things (like trying to punish the pet after the fact), and help them enjoy their pets more.

What kind of education and training did you get before you started your first professional job?
I was in graduate school when Dr. Lehner and I formed Animal Behavior Associates.  So I was working on my Ph.D. in Zoology, specializing in animal behavior.  I did dog training prior to that – had a small company of my own.  But doing training classes and showing my own dogs in competition was quite different from working with behavior problems.

How did you find your first job in your profession?
Made my own!!  Started my own business.  But I did work for awhile seeing behavior cases at the VTH at CSU as well.   I also worked at the Denver Dumb Friends League, and founded their behavior program and behavior help-line that was the foundation for the Pets for Life program that The HSUS is now involved in with them.

What are your duties in your current position?
Interestingly, I now consider myself to be a small business owner in addition to being an animal behaviorist.  So my “duties” include things that involve running a small business – such as dealing with our employees, worrying about marketing and customer service, and spending a lot of time working on our website, which is our new focus for our business.  I still do consultations, but I do many other things as well, including writing and lecturing. 

What do you like most about your job?
The variety of things I get to do.  I’m never bored.  I also like being able to work from home, so my dogs and cat aren’t alone so much, and I get to enjoy their company, although it can be distracting as well. I like being my own boss.

What do you like least about your job?
Worrying about making sure the business is in good shape financially and we can pay our bills!  As I get older, I worry more about retirement, and sometimes wish my field allowed me to make more money.  I think that’s possible, but I wish I would have had more business skills when I started out.  I also get somewhat frustrated by hearing the same things over and over – people living with problems for a long time, and then the pet’s behavior needs to be fixed overnight.  I’m also frustrated that people are sometimes unwilling to pay for behavioral help and just want us to give them free advice.  I’m also frustrated that sometimes veterinarians don’t give people clear expectations about what to expect when they call us for an appointment.  I’m also frustrated by the fact that harsh techniques and ideas that focus on “dominance”, being the boss, alpha rolls, etc., are still much, much too common.

What’s a typical workday like for you?
There is no typical day.  For example, I am trying to ‘hide-out’ at the library or a friend’s house in the mountains so I can finish the 2nd edition of my Pet Behavior Protocols book.  That’s not typical, but it’s what I’ll be doing for the next several months.  I do spend quite a bit of time writing normally, also on the computer, doing tasks related to our website.  Returning phone calls, and of course doing consultations with pet owners, whether that’s on the phone, in-home or in one of our offices. I may be out of town for several days at a time lecturing, or preparing to lecture at a conference sometimes for weeks!  We also have been publishing our own books and CD’s so I spend time writing content, and also learning a lot of computer-techy stuff about audio recording.  And when we are working on a book, there’s many tasks related to that – working with our book designer, graphic artists, printers, etc.

From time to time I may also be working on a court case – we do expert testimony several times a year in severe dog bite cases. 

What types of training or experiences do you need to keep up-to-date in your field?
I know this is controversial, but I really believe an animal behaviorist is someone who has formal, academic training in animal behavior as a scientist.  That doesn’t mean that people without graduate degrees in behavior can’t be helpful to people, but they just aren’t animal behavior scientists.  So the first thing is a graduate degree.  Beyond that, I think it’s crucial that people get into the literature – not just the applied articles or ones in popular magazines, but keep current in the scientific publications in the field.  Also networking with colleagues at conferences.  We have a meeting every year with colleagues, and I learn so much from them – people like Dr. John Wright, Dr. Pam Reid, Dr. Peter Borchelt, Mr. Glenn Martyn, Dr. Alice Moon-Fanelli, Dr. Mary Lee Nitschke, and many others. 

What keeps you motivated to keep doing your work? 
While I started in the field because I love working with dogs, now I think my motivation is to educate people – pet owners, trainers, other animal professionals.  There’s always something new to learn.  Although as I get older, I would love to change directions a bit and be able to join my interest in travel and fitness as well as animals in some way.  Perhaps organizing group educational travel to the Caribbean!

What personal traits do you think someone needs to be successful in your field?
Enjoy working with people, not just pets.  Great interpersonal communication skills, as well as written and verbal ones.  Perseverance, patience, self-confidence, tolerance, open-mindedness,  enjoy the sciences and reading,

What advice would you give to a college student or other young person considering entering your field?  What advice would you give to someone who’s changing fields and is interested in a career in your profession?
I think I’ve already answered most of this.  Go back to or stay in school.  Get a degree in a behavioral science, and go to graduate school.  We have a section on career counseling on our website (www.AnimalBehaviorAssociates.com) that people might find helpful.  Don’t expect to find courses in dog or cat behavior.  Take the introductory animal behavior courses, which may be housed in a variety of departments from zoology to biology to psychology.  If you are a college student, visit the Animal Behavior Society’s website so you can see with the requirements for certification are.  This will help you decide what courses to take.  Along with your academic training, find someone to be a mentor – and that’s not always easy.  You’ll may have to pay someone for their time.

Anything else you’d like to add about your work or about careers helping animals?
We need more certified applied animal behaviorists!

June 2005