January 24, 2025 • 36 mins
Get ready to uncover the secrets of fear-free veterinary care with none other than Dr. Marty Becker, affectionately known as "America's veterinarian." Dr. Becker's incredible journey from his roots in Southern Idaho to becoming a leading advocate for the human-animal bond is nothing short of inspiring. With 23 books under his belt and a role with Good Morning America, Dr. Becker has transformed how we view our furry companions. Join us as he shares his insights on how fear-free practices are revolutionizing veterinary care, ensuring pets are not just medically healthy but emotionally thriving too.
Our conversation dives into the real-world impact of these groundbreaking practices, with Dr. Becker highlighting how they have reshaped the veterinary landscape. Imagine a world where pets walk into a clinic without fear, where injuries are minimized, and where staff and animals are at ease. We explore compelling examples, like Family Pet Health in Tennessee, showing how embracing fear-free principles can improve experiences for pets and their owners alike. Plus, insights from Temple Grandin help us understand animal perceptions, making veterinary visits smoother for everyone involved.
Looking forward, we discuss the future of veterinary care, with Dr. Becker's infectious enthusiasm for upcoming collaborations and major conferences like VMX and WVC. He shares the importance of mental health within the veterinary community, emphasizing that the well-being of both animals and professionals is crucial. As we wrap up, we encourage you to join our mission of enhancing the human-animal bond by tuning in, sharing, and spreading the wisdom shared in this enlightening episode. Don't miss out on the chance to transform your understanding of veterinary care.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
we have a tremendous reverence for life.
We fight so hard asveterinarians to preserve a
pet's life and we know all lifeis valuable, so I just want
people to think about their ownlife.
When we think about physicaland emotional well-being for
pets, we need to keepremembering physical and
emotional well-being for ourteam members and for ourselves
as well.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint Podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint Podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Welcome to today's episode and outside the
veterinary industry.
Welcome to today's episode.
Welcome to this episode of theVeterinary Blueprints podcast,
where business and animal healthmeet for the veterinarian
practice practitioner.
My name is Bill Butler, I amyour host of the Veterinary
Blueprints podcast, founder ofButler Vet Insurance, and I'm
very excited to bring youanother episode of the podcast.
(01:04):
We have a very special guest on.
This podcast Needs nointroduction, but I'm going to
try and give him a really goodone anyway Dr Marty Becker,
founder of Fear Free.
He's been a veterinarian for along time We'll get how many
years from him but he isconsidered America's
veterinarian.
He's written over 23 books,been the house practitioner for
Good Morning America, traveledover 93 countries and now
(01:27):
passionate about bringingfear-free to the world.
And so we're just honored tohave Dr Marty Becker join us
today on the podcast.
Welcome, dr Becker.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Thank you, bill.
Bill, it was really nice tomeet you at VetPartners.
It's funny and it's a prettysmall fraternity, sorority in
veterinary medicine, and yet youstill come across people you
haven't met before and I thinkyou and I are kind of the type
of personalities that madefriends at the first hello.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah.
So we were at a conference thatwe were at Kansas City for vet
partners and then Fetch KansasCity bumped up in the back end
of that and you were receivingan achievement award and, holy
cow, I'm sitting next to DrMarty Becker and he's getting
this award and I'd written abook.
So I gave you a book and said,hey, I think we should connect.
And now here we are in mypodcast together.
(02:13):
So thanks again for taking thetime and I agree it is a small
community in the animal healthworld that people are passionate
about helping veterinarians.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
See, bill, you've got the dark hair full head of hair
.
I've got the legacy award,white hair comb over.
So that's what happens at past70.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I will be there someday receiving a lifetime
achievement award for somethingin insurance.
Maybe we'll find out.
So for any listeners out therefew and far between who don't
know who Dr Marty Becker is, whoare you?
You're out in Idaho, you're apracticing veterinarian, but
you've done a whole bunch ofother stuff.
Who's Dr Becker?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was a farm kid.
You think Idaho, you thinkIdaho potatoes.
I grew up in Southern Idahopotato country.
Small farm ranch broke the backof that to put four kids
through college and wanted to bea dairy practitioner.
From about age six went toveterinary school.
The dean gave a talk on thehuman-animal bond as an
(03:14):
introductory talk, welcomed usto school and I switched to
companion animal within 30minutes of arriving.
So one of those things age sixto 20, got into school early
dairy, dairy, dairy, dairy dairyand then 30 minutes later I'm a
companion animal.
But luckily that he gave thistalk.
Because that interest in thehuman-animal bond, I also that
(03:39):
same day volunteered for thePeople-Pet Partnership that
matched elderly people withhomeless pets.
So the bond led to writingchicken soup for the soul books.
That led to getting on goodmorning america, then the
syndicated column and then onething just kind of led to
another.
You know it wasn't any reallyintention to build a brand, but
I helped popularize the humananimal bond at a time when it
(04:01):
wasn't as well known as it istoday and then that led to all
these other opportunities.
So I guess, just like thehuman-animal bond is that
inexhaustible, irrefutablesource of energy for veterinary
medicine.
It also happened to be that wayfor my career.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And when you look at the books that you've written, I
think the theme across thebooks is that human-animal bond
right, and it's so deep andpenetrating and it's gone for so
long.
Right, it passes generations,it's thousands and thousands of
years old, and so I think that'sone of the through lines for
you when you talk about thehuman-animal bond, that you're
(04:39):
passionate about it.
A lot of your books are aboutthat, right.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, you start out with Chicken Soup for the Soul
books, those true short storiesthat evoke some emotion in you.
And then it became things likethe Healing Power of Pets, which
came out exactly the week of9-11.
An award-winning book I wrotewith a New York Times reporter.
When you open up on the weeklike 9-11, it didn't do that
(05:04):
well as far as sales, but it'sstill probably the definitive
book on the healing power ofpets.
There's about 32 pages ofbibliography in the back, based
in science.
But it's funny, bill.
I grew up on this farm and ranchin southern Idaho.
A dog was a dog.
A dog had a utilitarian role ona ranch or a farm.
(05:24):
They herded cattle, theyretrieved ducks.
I was a hunter.
Then they guarded our stuff.
You know the alarm barked andpeople came and then it changed.
You know they had thismigration of biblical proportion
in the 60s where they movedfrom the barnyard to the
backyard, to the back door, tothe bedroom.
(05:46):
They actually moved into thehome.
So we saw it change from a dogto a pet, to a family member, to
a child.
And now I've got two kids thatare millennials and in their
latest study they consider themlife partners.
My son has.
He's 34.
He has a girl.
He's dated for three or fouryears they live with.
(06:08):
That's his life partner.
He has two cats.
That's their life partners.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, well, my wife and I we don't have children.
She's had a cat her entire life.
I've grown up with dogs andbecause she likes cats and I
like dogs, we have a cat.
I'll let you draw the linethere, but we've always, you
know, she's always had a pet.
I've always had a pet.
We didn't grow up on farms, wedon't have children, but we have
, you know, that life partner,child and it's a pet.
(06:35):
And we have a lot of friends inthe same boat Middle-aged,
childless, don't have kids, buta lot of us have pets.
And so that that human amountof bond like I can't think of
not having my little buddy Louie, the black and white tuxedo cat
, at home waiting for me at thetop of the stairs because I know
he'll be there or at the door.
So that's just.
It's really interesting thatthat that's you know, kind of
(06:56):
where your career has taken youand how has that evolved then
into fear-free and developingfear-free as a practice of
medicine and lifestyle for petowners and then practicing for
veterinarians?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's funny how that started.
So it's 2010, in October, about15 years ago, and I'm at a
conference and I'd given thekeynote the day before, and a
board of veterinary behavioristsnamed Karen Overall was up
front, nodding, smiling eyebrowflash, like I'd look at Karen
every once in a while thinking,oh, this is going well, you know
(07:31):
.
And so the next day she'sgiving the keynote.
I better go and, you know, showsome support for her.
I was sitting in the back ofthe room.
I've always sat in the back ofthe room since I was a little
kid.
Anytime I could get in the backof the room, that's where I
wanted to sit.
And I caught her on the way in.
I said, karen, I can't wait tohear your talk and in honesty I
couldn't wait to leave.
My wife was in town, it was inVictoria, on Vancouver Island,
(07:55):
and I was going to sneak out andmaybe get early dinner with her
and it changed my life.
She gave a talk about fear andhow fear is the worst thing a
social species can experience,how it causes permanent damage
to the brain.
Talked about, behavior producesa physiologic response, so
behavior is medicine.
And then, to kind of shortenthe story, she got down to where
(08:16):
she explained that all animalswere the equivalent of a
one-year-old child, takenagainst their will for health
care.
The one-year-old child or theanimal has no idea why a
procedure benefits them.
They don't have the concept oftime to know they might have the
relief of fear, anxiety andstress or pain, even if it's
moments away, and finally theycan't flee the threat.
So I thought, god, I've lovedanimals my whole life.
(08:39):
I felt compassionate.
I didn't realize the damage wewere causing.
I always thought the shivering,shaking, panting, yawning,
salivating, jumping, biting,leaning away, whale-eyed, rigid,
tail tucked, that's collateraldamage and there's nothing you
could do.
And in fact it causes permanentemotional damage, and you can't
(09:00):
have optimal physical healthwithout optimal emotional health
.
And I guess I just neverexpected we spent five years in
proof of concept, leaning onboarded veterinary behaviors to
be the bedrock upon which FearFree was built.
And you know, we launched April1st of 2016, hoping there'd be
a thousand people by the end ofthe year.
(09:20):
Nine months left in 2016.
And there were 10,000 certified, and now today there's over
300,000 certified in 120countries.
And then we also certifypractices besides individuals,
and there's over 500 fear-freecertified practices by the end
of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, so I had the opportunity.
One of the other podcast guestswe've had on here was Michael
Shirley from Family Pet Healthin Murfreesboro, tennessee, and
they I got to tell you, dr Marty, we recorded the podcast at
their practice and they are allin.
They built their practicearound fear-free, everyone's,
fear-free, certified.
They do all the medicine in theroom with the owner and they
(10:04):
really have bought into that andyou can feel the practice.
It feels different as apractice than it does walking,
you know, and I visit a lot ofpractices it just feels
different even as a humanwalking in, because that's their
mentality from the get go.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's definitely transformative.
As anybody in the veterinaryprofession, you love animals and
want them to love you back.
And when animals feel likethey're going to be harmed and
pet parents feel like they'reyou talk about your tuxedo cat
you feel like you're hurtingyour cat by trying to help it,
as in taking it to theveterinarian.
That doesn't work.
If the pet now it remains calmor is even wants to go to the
(10:43):
veterinarian because you put thetreat into treatment Now,
everybody wins the pet wins, thepet parent feels good about it
and the practice team feels goodbecause they're not.
You know we take this oath toprevent or relieve animal pain
and suffering.
You don't want to be causing itby what you're doing or not
doing.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So you know, the interesting thing for me when I
started hearing about Fear Freeas an insurance agent to
interject insurance into thiswas, you know, from a claims
perspective for insurance forveterinary practices, the number
one claim is you know thosefractious cat bites.
Or you know the dog, you knowyou're doing a procedure, the
(11:21):
dog wakes up from anesthesia,doesn't know where it is, and it
just bites the first thing itsees and it happens to be a vet
tech's hand.
And so, you know, theinteresting thing for me was
there's a high frequency, a lotof claims.
They're just really small andyou know, I thought well, fear
free could be a thing forveterinary practices to help
reduce claims for their, youknow, reduce injuries for their
(11:44):
team members.
So a side effect, obviouslyfear-free for the pet being a
primary thing.
But you're running a saferveterinary practice, your team
is less susceptible to injuries.
You know, how has that comeinto play with fear-free and
what are your thoughts on teamsafety as a component of
fear-free?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Well, I think it's something we have to be put
front and center is team safetyas a component of fear-free.
Well, I think it's something wehave to be put front and center
is team safety.
I think you know there'scareer-ending bites.
I can think of two or threeveterans whose careers were
ended because it was serious.
So it's not just always apuncture, wound and some
infection.
But here's the thing we used toalways have these red tags with
(12:26):
white lettering that saidcaution, fraxious cat, caution
fraxious dog.
And now what I know is that petliterally thinks it's fighting
for its life.
I mean, it thinks it's going tobe harmed or killed.
So it's fighting for its life.
So those tags now say caution,fearful cat or fearful dog.
And that means you're lookingto how do we remove or reduce
(12:48):
the triggers that cause it If wecan't like a lot of pets come
in, you don't know.
It's almost like when you get apet from a shelter.
It's like going into a moviethat's half done.
You don't know everythingthat's happened in their past.
So we use a lot more pre-visitpharmaceuticals.
But what was anecdotal?
Now, banfield, the pet hospital, did a really good study for us
(13:09):
.
They saw over a 50% reductionin injuries, comparing practices
that were fear-free certifiedin the same area, the same metro
as ones that weren't fear-freecertified.
And there's a study coming outI don't know when the release
date is but the veterinaryschools of Georgia, tennessee
and Illinois showing thedecrease in injuries, dramatic
(13:30):
decrease in injuries, withfear-free.
So what you're doing is you'rekeeping the.
You know, just like you have abody condition scoring, pain
scoring you score fear, anxietyand stress, you keep it down at
a certain level.
You have the pet parent helpbring a pet in that's calm and
then you keep it down at acertain level.
You have the pet parent helpbring a pet in that's calm and
then you keep it calm If it evergets to where it's level.
(13:50):
You're really good at lookingat behavior and so you know
veterinarians tend to not get asbitten nearly as often as vet
techs.
Because you know something'sgoing to happen.
You got, you know your spidersenses there.
Because you know something'sgoing to happen.
You got your spider sensesthere.
But if a pet is like fear-freelevel four or five, you don't
(14:13):
take it in the back and pile abunch of people on top of it to
get it done or stretch a catinto two zip codes.
You pause, you tell peoplelet's come back another day,
let's take if it's not forurgent care.
Or you give it something orallyand give it some time, or you
go straight to sedation, sosedate early and often think of
sedation as the first option.
But everybody wins.
When the pet doesn't feel likeit's going to be harmed, it's
(14:34):
not going to, it's not going toact out as much, and when we
know the signs, you just don'ttake them over that threshold.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, it's interesting and, and you know,
like you said, career ending andit may not be career ending for
the actual injury, but I've hada couple of practices where and
this was during COVID andthey're you know uh, the the
bringing pets in and out of thepractice.
You know.
The one that comes to mind is adog broke away after it had
been given back to the owner andwent and attacked the front
(15:04):
desk receptionist who wasbringing the animal.
She was just walking back intothe practice and got attacked by
the dog walking back to thepractice and she was scared to
go back to work.
She had the trauma andcondition of being around
animals.
Then Is this dog going toattack me when I'm bringing out
to the car?
And so it's not just thephysical injury of the bite or
(15:26):
injury, it's also the for thehuman practitioner, the vet tech
, the veterinarian.
It's also you know, how manytimes do you need to get bit as
a vet tech or a veterinarianbefore?
Now?
You're scared to do your job ina way that helps the animals,
and so it's.
It's that component for me inthe insurance side of things,
thinking about the practice andobviously claims drive costs on
(15:50):
insurance premiums and all thatsort of thing that falls into my
category, and insurancecompanies look at those things
and if you've got they all mightbe 500 bucks, but you've got
four claims a year.
You're pretty risky practice.
You've got something going onand it just might be a bad, bad
string of luck or maybe it'syour practices that that need to
(16:10):
get adjusted.
So it's not just fear-free thatfear-free practice.
There's also some otherinitiatives that that fear-free
has.
Do you want to talk about someof those, like a fear-free
research and shelter home?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, you know what I still remember when Karen
Overall gave that talk.
She says fear is caused bysomething painful or something
disturbing.
So again, this is October 2010.
And she said she gave anexample you cut nails too short.
That's painful.
Now the pet sees the nailtremors.
That's disturbing.
She talked about a syringe.
She was thinking of a syringewith a needle.
(16:51):
What's it used for?
An injection antibiotic syreniawhich stings.
Long-acting antibiotic, a blooddraw all painful.
Now the pet sees the syringe.
That's disturbing.
So, part of what Fear Free hasdone a good job on the
disturbing part, but we haven'tleaned into pain as much.
So we're working to create apain certification that's like
Fear Free, but we haven't leanedinto pain as much.
So we're working to create apain certification that's like
fear-free, but it's somethingthat you can.
Again, it'd be different levels.
(17:11):
So you take pain-free level one, pain-free level two, three,
because pain is underdiagnosedand undertreated.
And when you think of a pet thatcomes in when it is sick or
injured, it's always an itis,which means inflammation of pain
.
It's dermatitis, it's otitis,it's periodontitis, it's
cystitis, it's arthritis.
They're painful.
(17:31):
So, again, the pet has no idea.
When you're manipulatingsomething that is sore, you're
putting an otoscope in an earthat looks like a fire pit, or
looking at gums that look like aflamethrower went across it, or
looking at a wound.
So there's got to be a lot moreon pain management as well.
So you're removing or reducingthe triggers, fas, but you're
(17:54):
also very early on.
Ross Palmer, who's one of theworld's top veterinary
orthopedists, says tell me whereit hurts without me hurting you
.
So how he does an orthopedicexam.
So we have fear-free shelters.
There's 150,000 people havecompleted a five-hour online
(18:15):
course.
It's free to all.
Shelters and rescues.
Fear-free, happy homes iscomplimentary to all pet parents
.
So it's a great place forpractices, to send people for
resources.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I've dug into that.
So we got a problem with Louie.
He loves scratching stuff.
So I'm like, oh, I went down arabbit hole on a fear-free home
for the pet parent that I amthinking, well, how can I make
my home more fear-free for Louie?
Because we got him as a strayand we didn't know that the
first time that we startedsweeping the kitchen, that he
(18:46):
didn't like long sticks for someodd reason, and well, he
probably got beat with a broomwhen he was a kitten at some
point and he thought we weregoing to murder him obviously.
And so it's like okay.
So I found a lot of thatinformation there interesting
and informational for myself asa pet parent not in the animal
(19:06):
health world, but just assomebody who owns pets like, oh,
there's a ton of greatinformation here.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, something that's interesting now for
students.
So I've been out.
I graduated in 1980.
So what is it?
45 years next year?
Students now?
About three-fourths of all theveterinary schools in the United
States require fear-freecertification of students before
graduation and literally all300 of the AVMA-accredited
(19:32):
veterinary technician programsrequire fear-free certification.
So they're just learningdifferently.
We learned restraint, bill.
Restraint is harsh and designedto protect people.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It was like welding gloves and fishing nets right.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yep, yep, or aquariums and gas them to things
and it's just going to be somuch better.
The pets aren't going to havethat permanent kind of emotional
damage.
You mentioned something earlierand I can't remember quite what
triggered it, but surviving anear death experiences is the
worst trauma and so for petsthey literally, when you go into
(20:10):
a lot of them, come in and theythink they're going to be
killed and they survived it.
So it's so damaging to them andthat can spill over into more
generalized problems at home andlike when you're talking about
the cat with the broom,something in the past, really
probably that cat thought it wasgoing to die and so that what
seems like we're just sweepingthe floor.
(20:30):
You know it doesn't seem likeanything, but you know one of
the things you and I weretalking off air about Temple
Grandin.
Temple Grandin is Fear Free'sdirector of animal welfare.
There's 256 people on the FearFree advisory group.
There's 60 boarded veterinarybehaviorists, about 30 PhD
behaviorists, the head ofethology at MITrian hair, the
(20:52):
animal head of animal cognitionat duke alexander horowitz, the
head of animal cognition atcolumbia all these.
There's 12 boardedanesthesiologists.
But of all the 256 people,temple grandin is the one that's
just gifted, and we've beenlucky enough to get her into
companion animal practice too.
And to just see, I stillremember we spent two days in a
(21:16):
companion animal practice andtemple said all animals number
one fear from birth is a fear offalling.
So what have we done over thepast in veterinary medicine?
Hey, let's lift them up theirfeet and put them up on an
elevated, slippery table youknow, and she just sees things
so differently.
We see a shiny floor that'sclean.
They see it looks like ice,looks like it's going to slip
(21:38):
for them.
So you're seeing practicesdesigned differently.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So there's interesting because you did some
tours and you actually recordedthose and Temple talking about
witness in the practice.
I did watch a couple of thosein advance of our time together
and I did hear her as a keynotelast year at the Minnesota
Veterinary Medical Associationand she said you know, animals
think in pictures and so theysee a picture of something one
(22:05):
time in their life and it'sfreeze-framed like that.
So they see, you know ice orslippery floor, and they see the
thing again.
They don't rationalize well,this is a linoleum floor, not
ice.
They just see the ice and soyou know.
And when you hear TempleGrandin speak about things, she
is gifted and she does break itdown into a non-clinical manner.
(22:26):
You just think, well, thisobviously makes sense.
Why didn't I ever think of thisbefore as somebody not you know
.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Bill, I'll give you a good example when you're in
that clinic.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We were in a a thing where the dog was on a lift
table.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You've seen dozens of those.
This was an older one and,because I had the screw, it was
wobbling.
So the dog immediately wentinto the brace position, you
know, like you would like asawhorse, and, uh, temple goes
stop, you know, stop.
So we stopped the lift tablegoing up and she goes.
That dog just took a picture ofthis exam room and and of and.
So it saw these there was twopeople in white over here.
(23:02):
There was these coloredcabinets.
Over here was a wall with awindow in it.
She goes make a note in theemotional medical record you
notice I didn't say medicalrecord, the emotional medical
record to not put this dog backin this exam room again.
And the practice owner, thearchitect that was with me and I
looked at each other.
Every exam room was exactly thesame.
(23:22):
So now you're seeing againthere's another change.
You're seeing practices beingbuilt where every exam room is a
unique look to it.
So because, if, because thathas a really bad experience in
that one room, you can't just gohey, we're not going to do the
same thing in here next time.
Right, it's in the brainstem,it's in that amygdala, that
(23:44):
little almond-shaped thing thatholds all those negative
memories, and that's whypre-visit pharmaceuticals are so
important?
yeah, and it's a picture of theof the environment, not
necessarily the action that'shappening a hundred percent and
that that's why and this is someother stuff that we've done
with temple.
Now don't all if you have a petthat has a really bad
(24:06):
experience and they don't alwaystake them in the front door,
take them inside or take them inthe back door.
I was just in the side door,take them in the back door.
I was just in a practices inSpokane, washington, two new
practices that have indoor,outdoor exam rooms and you can
enter that outdoor.
You can enter that exam roomfrom the outside and either
never go in there, but it's justfunny when you change it.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
That was the practice in Tennessee that I visited.
They had outdoor patiopractices.
So you can actually, you know,a little bit different in
Tennessee than Minnesota where Iam, where you don't necessarily
want to do an outdoor visit inJanuary.
But you know you could get allof your treatment and care
outside on a patio, versus youknow need to bring them through
the front door and getting onthe scale and and you know the
(24:52):
scale at the practice is scaryor whatever that might be,
because they have that pictureof the reception desk.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
You know, bill, this I don't know why I'm 70.
So sometimes I think my brainis like the kitchen junk drawer
that got thrown on a trampoline.
But I am and I say this not tomake it be funny I'm probably.
If you look at what peoplethink of a veterinarian, as far
as diagnostic skills and comingup with effective treatment plan
(25:18):
, and a surgeon and a pharmacistand a radiologist and all those
things, I'm probably belowaverage.
I'm really good with people, Ilove leading people, I'm good in
the exam room, but you know,surgery, finding little,
ferreting out stuff on geriatricpets with multimodal conditions
yeah, you probably don't.
(25:38):
You probably don't want me, butwhen I went to Ukraine so the
war had started in February, youknow what, two and a half years
ago I was so upset seeing allthe pets that were having
problems and the people withthose pets that I went over to
help in May, so shortly afterthe war started.
And was I going to do surgeryon some dog that fractured its
(26:01):
leg or help some cat that wassick and nobody else could
figure out?
No, but what I knew was animalhandling.
So I went to three veterinaryschools and I also went to the
head of the Romanian VeterinaryMedical Association Association,
the head of the MoldavianVeterinary Medical Association,
head of the Polish.
So I was training the trainers,training the people are going
to be there long after I left,but this fits right in with what
(26:23):
you, what you do for a livingBill.
People walk up to a pet and theywere coming across the border,
stressed pets, stressed,stressed people and people oh my
gosh, look at your dog, what'sits name?
And they leaned forward andthey put their hand out in space
and had prolonged direct eyecontact and there was bites.
You don't walk up to them, youdon't have prolonged direct eye
(26:45):
contact, you don't sticksomething in their face and you
don't lean over them.
So all you do is you turnsideways, you keep your distance
, you can.
So all you do is you turnsideways, you keep your distance
, you can glance at them if youwant to, but call them over to
you and, even better yet,incentivize them to come over by
tossing some treats, someHansel and Gretel in them.
So if every veterinary clinic inthe United States just greeted
(27:06):
pets, interacted with pets, theright way.
But if we were to go into 100practices today, that's the
right way.
But if we were to go into ahundred practices today.
Almost everybody still walks upto them, looks at them, puts
their hand out.
It's not the way you do it.
So we got a ways to go, bill.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
We fall into that trap because that's what we wind
up doing.
So you know, as we come up tothe conclude our time here, dr
Becker, why you know I thinkwe've chatted about some reasons
why and you know, from a peerinsurance perspective, if you
have a lot of bite claims onyour employees, it's probably
something you need to look at ofwhat practices we're doing.
(27:41):
We talk about it from a safetyperspective, but you know,
because it's being taught inschools.
Why do you think and why areyou passionate about bringing
this message to veterinariansand making sure that it's?
If there's a veterinarian onthe fence, why would you
recommend that they invest inthis for their practice?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
So, bill, I'm good at sales Again below average
veterinarian but you know Ialways think about whether I'm
selling.
You know my wife's a lot betterlooking than I am, so I had to
sell myself to her 45 years ago.
You're always selling somethingright.
You're leading a group ofpeople in things, you're talking
to a potential sponsor,whatever, but normally in sales
(28:21):
you have benefits over.
Price equals value.
And then you look at well, whatare the?
Let's go ahead and address thenegative things or the things
that are not positive.
So here's a fear-free.
Number one it's the right thingto do.
We take an oath.
That's a sacred promise toprevent and relieve animal pain
and suffering.
Go back to your oath.
It helps that.
(28:42):
Number two a dramatic decreasein injuries.
Number three it's bettermedicine.
The vital signs are more normal.
The diagnostic tests are morenormal.
The exam is more normal becausethey're not heightened pain and
sensitivity in the fight orflight response.
It's easier to track, developand retain people when all these
veterinary schools and techschools are requiring fear-free
(29:03):
certification and they go outand have 10 to 12 job offers.
They want to practice in aplace that's fear-free,
certified.
Next, it's very profitable.
We've got several years ofwhite papers showing key
practice indicators, kpis andprofitability.
And number six it makespractice fun again.
When this sounds unbelievable,it's almost like I'm going to
(29:25):
tell you smoking's good for yourhealth.
In a good, fear-free practice,most of the dogs will drag their
moms or dads in to have theirnails trimmed.
Now, how is that possible?
Well, number one use a lot ofpre-visit pharmaceuticals.
And number two you've changedthe way you do it.
Not only can you get fear-freecertified, but there's 150 hours
(29:50):
of race-proof CE, there's anail trim course that tells you
how to do it and you have tastytreats.
We call it putting the treatinto treatment, taking the pet
out of petrified and put thetreat into treatment.
But when you're in a placewhere- how many?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
times have you said that.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
A lot of times when you have a dog that drags its
mom or dad to have their nailtrims in and they go and tell
their friends, their neighbors,their coworkers, my dog drags it
in there.
And for cats?
You're not going to have catsdrag people in there.
But I tell you most of them areneutral or above.
And I can tell you this becausein the practice I work at in
(30:30):
North Idaho is a good example85% of the cats that aren't sick
or injured will take a treat.
How is that possible?
You've got to have low FASlevels and you've got to have
really tasty treats.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Well, and that's you know.
When I look at the insurancecomponent, it's the majority of
claims are coming from.
You know, nail trims, or theroutine it's the routine stuff.
It's not the emergency practicestuff because you're using
those pharmaceuticals as yousaid.
Or you know sedation it's theroutine that all of a sudden,
you know I've trimmed this cat'snails 10 times and on the 11th
(31:06):
time it, you know, destroyed myhand because it felt something.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
See what they do, Bill.
They don't pick up the signs offear, anxiety and stress.
That's a good thing.
When we hand these modules,when you go through fear-free
certification over and over andover, you're seeing images and
videos to where you become aninja at detecting the slightest
change in that FAS level andyou know when you've got to stop
(31:33):
.
And also, there's a lot morepre-visit pharmaceuticals like
gabapentin for these cats.
But you don't.
The more you restrain that catlike if you're stretching that
cat into two zip codes you'vegot a good chance of getting bit
.
If you do what we call gentlecontrol and the touch gradient
(31:54):
with a distraction technique,the cat's going to be eating
something a piece of uh, of ahot deli Turkey or something,
and so that's how you trim thenails.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah Well, I I really appreciate our time as we wrap
up.
Uh, dr Becker, what's one finalthought that you would like to
leave our listeners with todayabout, you know, fear-free or
the future of veterinarymedicine as it relates to your
passion and fear-free, and what?
They do to help run a safepractice.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
If you don't mind.
So fearfreecom will take youanywhere, to the complimentary
things All students, vetstudents and vet tech students.
It's free to them.
The shelter course is free.
But I'd like to talk a littlebit about mental health.
So I have depression in myfamily.
I speak very openly about it.
We know there's a big issuewith mental health in veterinary
(32:46):
medicine and I've been part ofa documentary that's coming out
called the Cost of Caring, andthey were asking me about
something the other day.
That what I think about and Ialways think about this.
We have a tremendous reverencefor life.
We fight so hard asveterinarians to preserve a
pet's life and we know all lifeis valuable.
It hurts us when you seeshelters having to euthanize
(33:10):
pets or anything.
So I just want people to thinkabout their own life.
When we think about physicaland emotional well-being for
pets, we need to keepremembering physical and
emotional well-being for ourteam members and for ourselves
as well.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
That is an awesome message to end on, dr Becker,
and I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
And so, if anyone wants toreach out, you mentioned the
website Fear Free.
How can somebody reach out toyou or a member of your team if
they're interested in?
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, drmjb at fearfreecom.
They can contact me If they goto fearfreecom.
There's several portals there.
If anybody's got questions orneeds anything but happy to have
somebody contact me as well,whether it's about fear-free or
just talking about mental health.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Well, you're an awesome person to hang out with
and meet.
You're very entertaining downin Kansas City and I've enjoyed
our time together on the podcast.
If you're interested in moreinformation about fear-free,
we'll have more information inthe show notes.
I know that there's a lot of DrBecker and Dr Temple Grandin
have a lot of great stuff comingout in the future, so keep your
eye out for that, and thanksfor joining us today on the
(34:17):
podcast, dr Becker.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Thank you, Bill.
Look forward to seeing you,Hopefully thinking about this
time of year, maybe VMXC, WVC,the big ones.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Oh yeah, I'm actually moderating some panels at VMX,
so looking forward to that.
We'll see you in Orlando.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Okay, bye, bill.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
As always, remember to like, join and share the
podcast with everyone else outthere.
And thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Veterinary
Blueprints Podcast, where webring business acumen and animal
health together.
we have a tremendous reverence for life.
We fight so hard asveterinarians to preserve a
pet's life and we know all lifeis valuable, so I just want
people to think about their ownlife.
When we think about physicaland emotional well-being for
pets, we need to keepremembering physical and
emotional well-being for ourteam members and for ourselves
as well.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint Podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint Podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Welcome to today's episode and outside the
veterinary industry.
Welcome to today's episode.
Welcome to this episode of theVeterinary Blueprints podcast,
where business and animal healthmeet for the veterinarian
practice practitioner.
My name is Bill Butler, I amyour host of the Veterinary
Blueprints podcast, founder ofButler Vet Insurance, and I'm
very excited to bring youanother episode of the podcast.
(01:04):
We have a very special guest on.
This podcast Needs nointroduction, but I'm going to
try and give him a really goodone anyway Dr Marty Becker,
founder of Fear Free.
He's been a veterinarian for along time We'll get how many
years from him but he isconsidered America's
veterinarian.
He's written over 23 books,been the house practitioner for
Good Morning America, traveledover 93 countries and now
(01:27):
passionate about bringingfear-free to the world.
And so we're just honored tohave Dr Marty Becker join us
today on the podcast.
Welcome, dr Becker.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Thank you, bill.
Bill, it was really nice tomeet you at VetPartners.
It's funny and it's a prettysmall fraternity, sorority in
veterinary medicine, and yet youstill come across people you
haven't met before and I thinkyou and I are kind of the type
of personalities that madefriends at the first hello.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah.
So we were at a conference thatwe were at Kansas City for vet
partners and then Fetch KansasCity bumped up in the back end
of that and you were receivingan achievement award and, holy
cow, I'm sitting next to DrMarty Becker and he's getting
this award and I'd written abook.
So I gave you a book and said,hey, I think we should connect.
And now here we are in mypodcast together.
(02:13):
So thanks again for taking thetime and I agree it is a small
community in the animal healthworld that people are passionate
about helping veterinarians.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
See, bill, you've got the dark hair full head of hair
.
I've got the legacy award,white hair comb over.
So that's what happens at past70.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
I will be there someday receiving a lifetime
achievement award for somethingin insurance.
Maybe we'll find out.
So for any listeners out therefew and far between who don't
know who Dr Marty Becker is, whoare you?
You're out in Idaho, you're apracticing veterinarian, but
you've done a whole bunch ofother stuff.
Who's Dr Becker?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was a farm kid.
You think Idaho, you thinkIdaho potatoes.
I grew up in Southern Idahopotato country.
Small farm ranch broke the backof that to put four kids
through college and wanted to bea dairy practitioner.
From about age six went toveterinary school.
The dean gave a talk on thehuman-animal bond as an
(03:14):
introductory talk, welcomed usto school and I switched to
companion animal within 30minutes of arriving.
So one of those things age sixto 20, got into school early
dairy, dairy, dairy, dairy dairyand then 30 minutes later I'm a
companion animal.
But luckily that he gave thistalk.
Because that interest in thehuman-animal bond, I also that
(03:39):
same day volunteered for thePeople-Pet Partnership that
matched elderly people withhomeless pets.
So the bond led to writingchicken soup for the soul books.
That led to getting on goodmorning america, then the
syndicated column and then onething just kind of led to
another.
You know it wasn't any reallyintention to build a brand, but
I helped popularize the humananimal bond at a time when it
(04:01):
wasn't as well known as it istoday and then that led to all
these other opportunities.
So I guess, just like thehuman-animal bond is that
inexhaustible, irrefutablesource of energy for veterinary
medicine.
It also happened to be that wayfor my career.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And when you look at the books that you've written, I
think the theme across thebooks is that human-animal bond
right, and it's so deep andpenetrating and it's gone for so
long.
Right, it passes generations,it's thousands and thousands of
years old, and so I think that'sone of the through lines for
you when you talk about thehuman-animal bond, that you're
(04:39):
passionate about it.
A lot of your books are aboutthat, right.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, you start out with Chicken Soup for the Soul
books, those true short storiesthat evoke some emotion in you.
And then it became things likethe Healing Power of Pets, which
came out exactly the week of9-11.
An award-winning book I wrotewith a New York Times reporter.
When you open up on the weeklike 9-11, it didn't do that
(05:04):
well as far as sales, but it'sstill probably the definitive
book on the healing power ofpets.
There's about 32 pages ofbibliography in the back, based
in science.
But it's funny, bill.
I grew up on this farm and ranchin southern Idaho.
A dog was a dog.
A dog had a utilitarian role ona ranch or a farm.
(05:24):
They herded cattle, theyretrieved ducks.
I was a hunter.
Then they guarded our stuff.
You know the alarm barked andpeople came and then it changed.
You know they had thismigration of biblical proportion
in the 60s where they movedfrom the barnyard to the
backyard, to the back door, tothe bedroom.
(05:46):
They actually moved into thehome.
So we saw it change from a dogto a pet, to a family member, to
a child.
And now I've got two kids thatare millennials and in their
latest study they consider themlife partners.
My son has.
He's 34.
He has a girl.
He's dated for three or fouryears they live with.
(06:08):
That's his life partner.
He has two cats.
That's their life partners.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, well, my wife and I we don't have children.
She's had a cat her entire life.
I've grown up with dogs andbecause she likes cats and I
like dogs, we have a cat.
I'll let you draw the linethere, but we've always, you
know, she's always had a pet.
I've always had a pet.
We didn't grow up on farms, wedon't have children, but we have
, you know, that life partner,child and it's a pet.
(06:35):
And we have a lot of friends inthe same boat Middle-aged,
childless, don't have kids, buta lot of us have pets.
And so that that human amountof bond like I can't think of
not having my little buddy Louie, the black and white tuxedo cat
, at home waiting for me at thetop of the stairs because I know
he'll be there or at the door.
So that's just.
It's really interesting thatthat that's you know, kind of
(06:56):
where your career has taken youand how has that evolved then
into fear-free and developingfear-free as a practice of
medicine and lifestyle for petowners and then practicing for
veterinarians?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's funny how that started.
So it's 2010, in October, about15 years ago, and I'm at a
conference and I'd given thekeynote the day before, and a
board of veterinary behavioristsnamed Karen Overall was up
front, nodding, smiling eyebrowflash, like I'd look at Karen
every once in a while thinking,oh, this is going well, you know
(07:31):
.
And so the next day she'sgiving the keynote.
I better go and, you know, showsome support for her.
I was sitting in the back ofthe room.
I've always sat in the back ofthe room since I was a little
kid.
Anytime I could get in the backof the room, that's where I
wanted to sit.
And I caught her on the way in.
I said, karen, I can't wait tohear your talk and in honesty I
couldn't wait to leave.
My wife was in town, it was inVictoria, on Vancouver Island,
(07:55):
and I was going to sneak out andmaybe get early dinner with her
and it changed my life.
She gave a talk about fear andhow fear is the worst thing a
social species can experience,how it causes permanent damage
to the brain.
Talked about, behavior producesa physiologic response, so
behavior is medicine.
And then, to kind of shortenthe story, she got down to where
(08:16):
she explained that all animalswere the equivalent of a
one-year-old child, takenagainst their will for health
care.
The one-year-old child or theanimal has no idea why a
procedure benefits them.
They don't have the concept oftime to know they might have the
relief of fear, anxiety andstress or pain, even if it's
moments away, and finally theycan't flee the threat.
So I thought, god, I've lovedanimals my whole life.
(08:39):
I felt compassionate.
I didn't realize the damage wewere causing.
I always thought the shivering,shaking, panting, yawning,
salivating, jumping, biting,leaning away, whale-eyed, rigid,
tail tucked, that's collateraldamage and there's nothing you
could do.
And in fact it causes permanentemotional damage, and you can't
(09:00):
have optimal physical healthwithout optimal emotional health
.
And I guess I just neverexpected we spent five years in
proof of concept, leaning onboarded veterinary behaviors to
be the bedrock upon which FearFree was built.
And you know, we launched April1st of 2016, hoping there'd be
a thousand people by the end ofthe year.
(09:20):
Nine months left in 2016.
And there were 10,000 certified, and now today there's over
300,000 certified in 120countries.
And then we also certifypractices besides individuals,
and there's over 500 fear-freecertified practices by the end
of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah, so I had the opportunity.
One of the other podcast guestswe've had on here was Michael
Shirley from Family Pet Healthin Murfreesboro, tennessee, and
they I got to tell you, dr Marty, we recorded the podcast at
their practice and they are allin.
They built their practicearound fear-free, everyone's,
fear-free, certified.
They do all the medicine in theroom with the owner and they
(10:04):
really have bought into that andyou can feel the practice.
It feels different as apractice than it does walking,
you know, and I visit a lot ofpractices it just feels
different even as a humanwalking in, because that's their
mentality from the get go.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's definitely transformative.
As anybody in the veterinaryprofession, you love animals and
want them to love you back.
And when animals feel likethey're going to be harmed and
pet parents feel like they'reyou talk about your tuxedo cat
you feel like you're hurtingyour cat by trying to help it,
as in taking it to theveterinarian.
That doesn't work.
If the pet now it remains calmor is even wants to go to the
(10:43):
veterinarian because you put thetreat into treatment Now,
everybody wins the pet wins, thepet parent feels good about it
and the practice team feels goodbecause they're not.
You know we take this oath toprevent or relieve animal pain
and suffering.
You don't want to be causing itby what you're doing or not
doing.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
So you know, the interesting thing for me when I
started hearing about Fear Freeas an insurance agent to
interject insurance into thiswas, you know, from a claims
perspective for insurance forveterinary practices, the number
one claim is you know thosefractious cat bites.
Or you know the dog, you knowyou're doing a procedure, the
(11:21):
dog wakes up from anesthesia,doesn't know where it is, and it
just bites the first thing itsees and it happens to be a vet
tech's hand.
And so, you know, theinteresting thing for me was
there's a high frequency, a lotof claims.
They're just really small andyou know, I thought well, fear
free could be a thing forveterinary practices to help
reduce claims for their, youknow, reduce injuries for their
(11:44):
team members.
So a side effect, obviouslyfear-free for the pet being a
primary thing.
But you're running a saferveterinary practice, your team
is less susceptible to injuries.
You know, how has that comeinto play with fear-free and
what are your thoughts on teamsafety as a component of
fear-free?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Well, I think it's something we have to be put
front and center is team safetyas a component of fear-free.
Well, I think it's something wehave to be put front and center
is team safety.
I think you know there'scareer-ending bites.
I can think of two or threeveterans whose careers were
ended because it was serious.
So it's not just always apuncture, wound and some
infection.
But here's the thing we used toalways have these red tags with
(12:26):
white lettering that saidcaution, fraxious cat, caution
fraxious dog.
And now what I know is that petliterally thinks it's fighting
for its life.
I mean, it thinks it's going tobe harmed or killed.
So it's fighting for its life.
So those tags now say caution,fearful cat or fearful dog.
And that means you're lookingto how do we remove or reduce
(12:48):
the triggers that cause it If wecan't like a lot of pets come
in, you don't know.
It's almost like when you get apet from a shelter.
It's like going into a moviethat's half done.
You don't know everythingthat's happened in their past.
So we use a lot more pre-visitpharmaceuticals.
But what was anecdotal?
Now, banfield, the pet hospital, did a really good study for us
(13:09):
.
They saw over a 50% reductionin injuries, comparing practices
that were fear-free certifiedin the same area, the same metro
as ones that weren't fear-freecertified.
And there's a study coming outI don't know when the release
date is but the veterinaryschools of Georgia, tennessee
and Illinois showing thedecrease in injuries, dramatic
(13:30):
decrease in injuries, withfear-free.
So what you're doing is you'rekeeping the.
You know, just like you have abody condition scoring, pain
scoring you score fear, anxietyand stress, you keep it down at
a certain level.
You have the pet parent helpbring a pet in that's calm and
then you keep it down at acertain level.
You have the pet parent helpbring a pet in that's calm and
then you keep it calm If it evergets to where it's level.
(13:50):
You're really good at lookingat behavior and so you know
veterinarians tend to not get asbitten nearly as often as vet
techs.
Because you know something'sgoing to happen.
You got, you know your spidersenses there.
Because you know something'sgoing to happen.
You got your spider sensesthere.
But if a pet is like fear-freelevel four or five, you don't
(14:13):
take it in the back and pile abunch of people on top of it to
get it done or stretch a catinto two zip codes.
You pause, you tell peoplelet's come back another day,
let's take if it's not forurgent care.
Or you give it something orallyand give it some time, or you
go straight to sedation, sosedate early and often think of
sedation as the first option.
But everybody wins.
When the pet doesn't feel likeit's going to be harmed, it's
(14:34):
not going to, it's not going toact out as much, and when we
know the signs, you just don'ttake them over that threshold.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, it's interesting and, and you know,
like you said, career ending andit may not be career ending for
the actual injury, but I've hada couple of practices where and
this was during COVID andthey're you know uh, the the
bringing pets in and out of thepractice.
You know.
The one that comes to mind is adog broke away after it had
been given back to the owner andwent and attacked the front
(15:04):
desk receptionist who wasbringing the animal.
She was just walking back intothe practice and got attacked by
the dog walking back to thepractice and she was scared to
go back to work.
She had the trauma andcondition of being around
animals.
Then Is this dog going toattack me when I'm bringing out
to the car?
And so it's not just thephysical injury of the bite or
(15:26):
injury, it's also the for thehuman practitioner, the vet tech
, the veterinarian.
It's also you know, how manytimes do you need to get bit as
a vet tech or a veterinarianbefore?
Now?
You're scared to do your job ina way that helps the animals,
and so it's.
It's that component for me inthe insurance side of things,
thinking about the practice andobviously claims drive costs on
(15:50):
insurance premiums and all thatsort of thing that falls into my
category, and insurancecompanies look at those things
and if you've got they all mightbe 500 bucks, but you've got
four claims a year.
You're pretty risky practice.
You've got something going onand it just might be a bad, bad
string of luck or maybe it'syour practices that that need to
(16:10):
get adjusted.
So it's not just fear-free thatfear-free practice.
There's also some otherinitiatives that that fear-free
has.
Do you want to talk about someof those, like a fear-free
research and shelter home?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, you know what I still remember when Karen
Overall gave that talk.
She says fear is caused bysomething painful or something
disturbing.
So again, this is October 2010.
And she said she gave anexample you cut nails too short.
That's painful.
Now the pet sees the nailtremors.
That's disturbing.
She talked about a syringe.
She was thinking of a syringewith a needle.
(16:51):
What's it used for?
An injection antibiotic syreniawhich stings.
Long-acting antibiotic, a blooddraw all painful.
Now the pet sees the syringe.
That's disturbing.
So, part of what Fear Free hasdone a good job on the
disturbing part, but we haven'tleaned into pain as much.
So we're working to create apain certification that's like
Fear Free, but we haven't leanedinto pain as much.
So we're working to create apain certification that's like
fear-free, but it's somethingthat you can.
Again, it'd be different levels.
(17:11):
So you take pain-free level one, pain-free level two, three,
because pain is underdiagnosedand undertreated.
And when you think of a pet thatcomes in when it is sick or
injured, it's always an itis,which means inflammation of pain
.
It's dermatitis, it's otitis,it's periodontitis, it's
cystitis, it's arthritis.
They're painful.
(17:31):
So, again, the pet has no idea.
When you're manipulatingsomething that is sore, you're
putting an otoscope in an earthat looks like a fire pit, or
looking at gums that look like aflamethrower went across it, or
looking at a wound.
So there's got to be a lot moreon pain management as well.
So you're removing or reducingthe triggers, fas, but you're
(17:54):
also very early on.
Ross Palmer, who's one of theworld's top veterinary
orthopedists, says tell me whereit hurts without me hurting you
.
So how he does an orthopedicexam.
So we have fear-free shelters.
There's 150,000 people havecompleted a five-hour online
(18:15):
course.
It's free to all.
Shelters and rescues.
Fear-free, happy homes iscomplimentary to all pet parents
.
So it's a great place forpractices, to send people for
resources.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I've dug into that.
So we got a problem with Louie.
He loves scratching stuff.
So I'm like, oh, I went down arabbit hole on a fear-free home
for the pet parent that I amthinking, well, how can I make
my home more fear-free for Louie?
Because we got him as a strayand we didn't know that the
first time that we startedsweeping the kitchen, that he
(18:46):
didn't like long sticks for someodd reason, and well, he
probably got beat with a broomwhen he was a kitten at some
point and he thought we weregoing to murder him obviously.
And so it's like okay.
So I found a lot of thatinformation there interesting
and informational for myself asa pet parent not in the animal
(19:06):
health world, but just assomebody who owns pets like, oh,
there's a ton of greatinformation here.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, something that's interesting now for
students.
So I've been out.
I graduated in 1980.
So what is it?
45 years next year?
Students now?
About three-fourths of all theveterinary schools in the United
States require fear-freecertification of students before
graduation and literally all300 of the AVMA-accredited
(19:32):
veterinary technician programsrequire fear-free certification.
So they're just learningdifferently.
We learned restraint, bill.
Restraint is harsh and designedto protect people.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It was like welding gloves and fishing nets right.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yep, yep, or aquariums and gas them to things
and it's just going to be somuch better.
The pets aren't going to havethat permanent kind of emotional
damage.
You mentioned something earlierand I can't remember quite what
triggered it, but surviving anear death experiences is the
worst trauma and so for petsthey literally, when you go into
(20:10):
a lot of them, come in and theythink they're going to be
killed and they survived it.
So it's so damaging to them andthat can spill over into more
generalized problems at home andlike when you're talking about
the cat with the broom,something in the past, really
probably that cat thought it wasgoing to die and so that what
seems like we're just sweepingthe floor.
(20:30):
You know it doesn't seem likeanything, but you know one of
the things you and I weretalking off air about Temple
Grandin.
Temple Grandin is Fear Free'sdirector of animal welfare.
There's 256 people on the FearFree advisory group.
There's 60 boarded veterinarybehaviorists, about 30 PhD
behaviorists, the head ofethology at MITrian hair, the
(20:52):
animal head of animal cognitionat duke alexander horowitz, the
head of animal cognition atcolumbia all these.
There's 12 boardedanesthesiologists.
But of all the 256 people,temple grandin is the one that's
just gifted, and we've beenlucky enough to get her into
companion animal practice too.
And to just see, I stillremember we spent two days in a
(21:16):
companion animal practice andtemple said all animals number
one fear from birth is a fear offalling.
So what have we done over thepast in veterinary medicine?
Hey, let's lift them up theirfeet and put them up on an
elevated, slippery table youknow, and she just sees things
so differently.
We see a shiny floor that'sclean.
They see it looks like ice,looks like it's going to slip
(21:38):
for them.
So you're seeing practicesdesigned differently.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So there's interesting because you did some
tours and you actually recordedthose and Temple talking about
witness in the practice.
I did watch a couple of thosein advance of our time together
and I did hear her as a keynotelast year at the Minnesota
Veterinary Medical Associationand she said you know, animals
think in pictures and so theysee a picture of something one
(22:05):
time in their life and it'sfreeze-framed like that.
So they see, you know ice orslippery floor, and they see the
thing again.
They don't rationalize well,this is a linoleum floor, not
ice.
They just see the ice and soyou know.
And when you hear TempleGrandin speak about things, she
is gifted and she does break itdown into a non-clinical manner.
(22:26):
You just think, well, thisobviously makes sense.
Why didn't I ever think of thisbefore as somebody not you know
.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Bill, I'll give you a good example when you're in
that clinic.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We were in a a thing where the dog was on a lift
table.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
You've seen dozens of those.
This was an older one and,because I had the screw, it was
wobbling.
So the dog immediately wentinto the brace position, you
know, like you would like asawhorse, and, uh, temple goes
stop, you know, stop.
So we stopped the lift tablegoing up and she goes.
That dog just took a picture ofthis exam room and and of and.
So it saw these there was twopeople in white over here.
(23:02):
There was these coloredcabinets.
Over here was a wall with awindow in it.
She goes make a note in theemotional medical record you
notice I didn't say medicalrecord, the emotional medical
record to not put this dog backin this exam room again.
And the practice owner, thearchitect that was with me and I
looked at each other.
Every exam room was exactly thesame.
(23:22):
So now you're seeing againthere's another change.
You're seeing practices beingbuilt where every exam room is a
unique look to it.
So because, if, because thathas a really bad experience in
that one room, you can't just gohey, we're not going to do the
same thing in here next time.
Right, it's in the brainstem,it's in that amygdala, that
(23:44):
little almond-shaped thing thatholds all those negative
memories, and that's whypre-visit pharmaceuticals are so
important?
yeah, and it's a picture of theof the environment, not
necessarily the action that'shappening a hundred percent and
that that's why and this is someother stuff that we've done
with temple.
Now don't all if you have a petthat has a really bad
(24:06):
experience and they don't alwaystake them in the front door,
take them inside or take them inthe back door.
I was just in the side door,take them in the back door.
I was just in a practices inSpokane, washington, two new
practices that have indoor,outdoor exam rooms and you can
enter that outdoor.
You can enter that exam roomfrom the outside and either
never go in there, but it's justfunny when you change it.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
That was the practice in Tennessee that I visited.
They had outdoor patiopractices.
So you can actually, you know,a little bit different in
Tennessee than Minnesota where Iam, where you don't necessarily
want to do an outdoor visit inJanuary.
But you know you could get allof your treatment and care
outside on a patio, versus youknow need to bring them through
the front door and getting onthe scale and and you know the
(24:52):
scale at the practice is scaryor whatever that might be,
because they have that pictureof the reception desk.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
You know, bill, this I don't know why I'm 70.
So sometimes I think my brainis like the kitchen junk drawer
that got thrown on a trampoline.
But I am and I say this not tomake it be funny I'm probably.
If you look at what peoplethink of a veterinarian, as far
as diagnostic skills and comingup with effective treatment plan
(25:18):
, and a surgeon and a pharmacistand a radiologist and all those
things, I'm probably belowaverage.
I'm really good with people, Ilove leading people, I'm good in
the exam room, but you know,surgery, finding little,
ferreting out stuff on geriatricpets with multimodal conditions
yeah, you probably don't.
(25:38):
You probably don't want me, butwhen I went to Ukraine so the
war had started in February, youknow what, two and a half years
ago I was so upset seeing allthe pets that were having
problems and the people withthose pets that I went over to
help in May, so shortly afterthe war started.
And was I going to do surgeryon some dog that fractured its
(26:01):
leg or help some cat that wassick and nobody else could
figure out?
No, but what I knew was animalhandling.
So I went to three veterinaryschools and I also went to the
head of the Romanian VeterinaryMedical Association Association,
the head of the MoldavianVeterinary Medical Association,
head of the Polish.
So I was training the trainers,training the people are going
to be there long after I left,but this fits right in with what
(26:23):
you, what you do for a livingBill.
People walk up to a pet and theywere coming across the border,
stressed pets, stressed,stressed people and people oh my
gosh, look at your dog, what'sits name?
And they leaned forward andthey put their hand out in space
and had prolonged direct eyecontact and there was bites.
You don't walk up to them, youdon't have prolonged direct eye
(26:45):
contact, you don't sticksomething in their face and you
don't lean over them.
So all you do is you turnsideways, you keep your distance
, you can.
So all you do is you turnsideways, you keep your distance
, you can glance at them if youwant to, but call them over to
you and, even better yet,incentivize them to come over by
tossing some treats, someHansel and Gretel in them.
So if every veterinary clinic inthe United States just greeted
(27:06):
pets, interacted with pets, theright way.
But if we were to go into 100practices today, that's the
right way.
But if we were to go into ahundred practices today.
Almost everybody still walks upto them, looks at them, puts
their hand out.
It's not the way you do it.
So we got a ways to go, bill.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
We fall into that trap because that's what we wind
up doing.
So you know, as we come up tothe conclude our time here, dr
Becker, why you know I thinkwe've chatted about some reasons
why and you know, from a peerinsurance perspective, if you
have a lot of bite claims onyour employees, it's probably
something you need to look at ofwhat practices we're doing.
(27:41):
We talk about it from a safetyperspective, but you know,
because it's being taught inschools.
Why do you think and why areyou passionate about bringing
this message to veterinariansand making sure that it's?
If there's a veterinarian onthe fence, why would you
recommend that they invest inthis for their practice?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
So, bill, I'm good at sales Again below average
veterinarian but you know Ialways think about whether I'm
selling.
You know my wife's a lot betterlooking than I am, so I had to
sell myself to her 45 years ago.
You're always selling somethingright.
You're leading a group ofpeople in things, you're talking
to a potential sponsor,whatever, but normally in sales
(28:21):
you have benefits over.
Price equals value.
And then you look at well, whatare the?
Let's go ahead and address thenegative things or the things
that are not positive.
So here's a fear-free.
Number one it's the right thingto do.
We take an oath.
That's a sacred promise toprevent and relieve animal pain
and suffering.
Go back to your oath.
It helps that.
(28:42):
Number two a dramatic decreasein injuries.
Number three it's bettermedicine.
The vital signs are more normal.
The diagnostic tests are morenormal.
The exam is more normal becausethey're not heightened pain and
sensitivity in the fight orflight response.
It's easier to track, developand retain people when all these
veterinary schools and techschools are requiring fear-free
(29:03):
certification and they go outand have 10 to 12 job offers.
They want to practice in aplace that's fear-free,
certified.
Next, it's very profitable.
We've got several years ofwhite papers showing key
practice indicators, kpis andprofitability.
And number six it makespractice fun again.
When this sounds unbelievable,it's almost like I'm going to
(29:25):
tell you smoking's good for yourhealth.
In a good, fear-free practice,most of the dogs will drag their
moms or dads in to have theirnails trimmed.
Now, how is that possible?
Well, number one use a lot ofpre-visit pharmaceuticals.
And number two you've changedthe way you do it.
Not only can you get fear-freecertified, but there's 150 hours
(29:50):
of race-proof CE, there's anail trim course that tells you
how to do it and you have tastytreats.
We call it putting the treatinto treatment, taking the pet
out of petrified and put thetreat into treatment.
But when you're in a placewhere- how many?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
times have you said that.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
A lot of times when you have a dog that drags its
mom or dad to have their nailtrims in and they go and tell
their friends, their neighbors,their coworkers, my dog drags it
in there.
And for cats?
You're not going to have catsdrag people in there.
But I tell you most of them areneutral or above.
And I can tell you this becausein the practice I work at in
(30:30):
North Idaho is a good example85% of the cats that aren't sick
or injured will take a treat.
How is that possible?
You've got to have low FASlevels and you've got to have
really tasty treats.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Well, and that's you know.
When I look at the insurancecomponent, it's the majority of
claims are coming from.
You know, nail trims, or theroutine it's the routine stuff.
It's not the emergency practicestuff because you're using
those pharmaceuticals as yousaid.
Or you know sedation it's theroutine that all of a sudden,
you know I've trimmed this cat'snails 10 times and on the 11th
(31:06):
time it, you know, destroyed myhand because it felt something.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
See what they do, Bill.
They don't pick up the signs offear, anxiety and stress.
That's a good thing.
When we hand these modules,when you go through fear-free
certification over and over andover, you're seeing images and
videos to where you become aninja at detecting the slightest
change in that FAS level andyou know when you've got to stop
(31:33):
.
And also, there's a lot morepre-visit pharmaceuticals like
gabapentin for these cats.
But you don't.
The more you restrain that catlike if you're stretching that
cat into two zip codes you'vegot a good chance of getting bit
.
If you do what we call gentlecontrol and the touch gradient
(31:54):
with a distraction technique,the cat's going to be eating
something a piece of uh, of ahot deli Turkey or something,
and so that's how you trim thenails.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah Well, I I really appreciate our time as we wrap
up.
Uh, dr Becker, what's one finalthought that you would like to
leave our listeners with todayabout, you know, fear-free or
the future of veterinarymedicine as it relates to your
passion and fear-free, and what?
They do to help run a safepractice.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
If you don't mind.
So fearfreecom will take youanywhere, to the complimentary
things All students, vetstudents and vet tech students.
It's free to them.
The shelter course is free.
But I'd like to talk a littlebit about mental health.
So I have depression in myfamily.
I speak very openly about it.
We know there's a big issuewith mental health in veterinary
(32:46):
medicine and I've been part ofa documentary that's coming out
called the Cost of Caring, andthey were asking me about
something the other day.
That what I think about and Ialways think about this.
We have a tremendous reverencefor life.
We fight so hard asveterinarians to preserve a
pet's life and we know all lifeis valuable.
It hurts us when you seeshelters having to euthanize
(33:10):
pets or anything.
So I just want people to thinkabout their own life.
When we think about physicaland emotional well-being for
pets, we need to keepremembering physical and
emotional well-being for ourteam members and for ourselves
as well.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
That is an awesome message to end on, dr Becker,
and I'm glad that you broughtthat up.
And so, if anyone wants toreach out, you mentioned the
website Fear Free.
How can somebody reach out toyou or a member of your team if
they're interested in?
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, drmjb at fearfreecom.
They can contact me If they goto fearfreecom.
There's several portals there.
If anybody's got questions orneeds anything but happy to have
somebody contact me as well,whether it's about fear-free or
just talking about mental health.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Well, you're an awesome person to hang out with
and meet.
You're very entertaining downin Kansas City and I've enjoyed
our time together on the podcast.
If you're interested in moreinformation about fear-free,
we'll have more information inthe show notes.
I know that there's a lot of DrBecker and Dr Temple Grandin
have a lot of great stuff comingout in the future, so keep your
eye out for that, and thanksfor joining us today on the
(34:17):
podcast, dr Becker.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Thank you, Bill.
Look forward to seeing you,Hopefully thinking about this
time of year, maybe VMXC, WVC,the big ones.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Oh yeah, I'm actually moderating some panels at VMX,
so looking forward to that.
We'll see you in Orlando.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Okay, bye, bill.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
As always, remember to like, join and share the
podcast with everyone else outthere.
And thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Veterinary
Blueprints Podcast, where webring business acumen and animal
health together.
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