Comparison of 42 cases of canine fear-related aggression with structured clinician initiated follow-up and 25 cases with unstructured client initiated follow-up

A survey was conducted of 67 cases of human-directed, canine fear-related aggression presented to the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania between 3 September 2003 and 21 September 2004 to examine the effect of two different types of follow-up. Clients either received structured follow-up in which they were instructed verbally and in writing at the time of the initial appointment to contact the Behavior Clinic at 10, 30 and 60 days regardless of whether or not they needed help or they received unstructured follow-up in which they were not given a follow-up schedule, but instead were encouraged verbally and in writing to contact the Behavior Clinic whenever they needed help. The survey was conducted 6–16 months after the initial appointment. Clients were contacted by telephone or e-mail by a blinded interviewer. Participants were asked about bite incidence, aggressive behavior, anxious and fearful behavior, their perception of accessibility of the Behavior Clinic staff, whether accessibility affected outcome, and preference of contact schedule, mode of communication, contact person, satisfaction and willingness to return.Clients in the structured follow-up group were significantly more likely than clients in the unstructured group to say that their dog's aggressive, anxious and fearful behavior had improved, that the staff of the Behavior Clinic were accessible after the initial appointment, that such accessibility affected their dog's outcome in a positive way, that they were satisfied and that they were willing to return if needed. There was no difference between the two groups in incidence of biting after the initial appointment.Results of this study show that a structured program of clinic-initiated follow-up can significantly affect client perceptions in a positive way and improve the perceived outcome of cases of human-directed, canine fear-related aggression.