Dr. Karen L. Overall received her BA, MA, and VMD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She completed her residency in behavioral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behavior (ACVB) and is board certified by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) as an Applied Animal Behaviorist. A faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, she has given hundreds of national and international presentations on behavioral medicine. Dr. Overall is an outspoken, high-profile advocate for force-free training and handling methods.
From Dr. Overall’s book, The Manual of Clinical Behavior Medicine:
“If we want patients to be partners in their care, we want their experiences to be as positive as possible. We should err on the side of minimizing any potential distress because it is cheap and easy to do and may have a huge benefit for us (and our patients).”
“All puppies should be conditioned to be handled in ways that foster preventive veterinary care and facilitate veterinary examination.”
From a video interview on veterinarynews.dvm360.com:
“If we see a puppy who, you go to examine and three people are now having to hold him down – Stop! You’re done! It’s over! He’s already past the limit . . . Everything you do is going to make this worse.”
“We subject these animals to these manipulations that they find scary, and people don’t realize that we may be doing irreversible harm. We certainly are doing needless harm.”
Dr. Sophia Yin was a veterinarian, animal behaviorist, author, and international expert on low-stress handling. Her “pet-friendly” techniques for animal handling and behavior modification helped to shape the new standard of care for veterinarians and pet care professionals. She served on the executive board for the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) Handling Guidelines Committee, and the American Humane Association (AHA) Animal Behavior and Training Advisory Committee. She also created multiple educational DVDs that addressed animal care, handling, and training. Dr. Yin died in 2014, but her legacy lives on as the veterinary community increasingly moves toward low-stress handling practices.
From Dr. Yin’s book, Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats:
“Besides creating a situation where animal caregivers could get injured, handling animals poorly or roughly can have even more serious implications. By handling animals in such a manner, veterinarians could be breaking the promise to ‘do no harm’ on a daily basis. Restraining pets in a forceful or crude manner can make pets behaviorally worse to the point where they can no longer receive veterinary care. It can even precipitate events that lead to heightened aggression at home and, ultimately, to euthanasia.”
“Why not use force if the animal just appears to be unruly? Because there are smarter ways.”
