Megan Maxwell received her Ph.D. in Psychology from West Virginia University. She has several years of experience working with children with developmental disabilities and also has many years of experience teaching Psychology classes to undergraduate students. She has conducted research in behavioral psychology in and outside of the laboratory. Her primary focus in both research and practice has always been pet behavior. She has been working with pets and their families since 2000. One of less than 50 Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists worldwide, Dr. Maxwell is one of very few individuals trained with a graduate degree in animal learning and behavior.
The most common behavior problem among dogs is aggression, either directed toward other dogs or toward people. Dr. Maxwell has been treating aggression successfully for over 8 years, and continues to treat aggression cases regularly. Other common behavior problems among dogs include destruction (e.g., chewing or digging), separation distress (e.g., barking, destruction, or elimination problems when dogs are left home alone), fearfulness (e.g., fear of cars, children, bikes, thunderstorms, horses), jumping and other attention-seeking behavior. Other, less common behavior problems, such as rock-eating or fly-snapping, also have been treated successfully by Dr. Maxwell.
The most common behavior problem among cats is urinating or defecating outside of the litter box. Other common cat behavior problems that Dr. Maxwell regularly treats include aggression (toward other cats, dogs, or people), inappropriate scratching (e.g., on furniture or carpets), excessive howling or meowing, overgrooming resulting in hair loss, or fearfulness.
Common behavior problems in parrots include excessive squawking, self-mutilation (feather-plucking), repetitive behavior (stereotypies), fearfulness, and aggression.
Dr. Maxwell often works with families whose puppies or adult dogs are well-behaved, but require basic obedience training around the house and in public places. Dr. Maxwell teaches owners the best ways to train Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Leave It, and other important basic obedience commands. These can be accomplished with young puppies and also with older adult dogs, and owners will see multiple benefits to such training, beyond simple acquisition of the skills taught.
If you are interested in group basic obedience classes for your puppy or adult dog, you may sign up for classes with Dr. Maxwell at the Animal Medical Center by visiting www.morgantownamc.com. Dr. Maxwell offers a Behavioral Foundations class for pups 3-8 months of age, and also a Next Step class for dogs between 6 months and 2 years of age. For more information, see the Group Classes link on this page or visit the AMC website!
If you live within 200 miles of Morgantown, Dr. Maxwell can provide home visits to work with you and your pet. This service area includes the cities of Pittsburgh and Washington, PA, St. Clairsville, OH, Wheeling, Fairmont, and Clarksburg, WV, and Deep Creek Lake area, MD. You will be charged the same hourly fee as Morgantown residents ($180.00 for 3 hours and $60.00 per hour thereafter). In addition, you will be charged 50 cents a mile for travel from WVU's main campus in Morgantown, WV, to your home.
If you live more than 200 miles from Morgantown, WV, and are experiencing a behavior problem with your cat, Dr. Maxwell can provide telephone consultations to you. Three hours of telephone consultation cost $180.00, and a behavior plan will be provided to you via email. Dr. Maxwell is currently not providing telephone consultations to dog owners.
Trained as a behavioral psychologist, Dr. Maxwell employs empirically-driven methods that have been tested and refined in and outside of the research laboratory. As a responsible practitioner, Dr. Maxwell often re-evaluates and modifies a behavior plan if the pet's response is not satisfactory. As a scientist, she relies whenever possible on objective measures of a pet's behavior to make decisions regarding treatment. She may ask you to record your pet's behavior in a chart or log so that any changes in the behavior plan can be based on these measures.
Dr. Maxwell employs all four kinds of behavioral consequences as needed: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment. She operates under the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavior Analysis, and the Animal Behavior Society in deciding which strategies are most appropriate and effective while being least intrusive and minimally aversive.
The treatments selected will be based on the behavioral history assessment, the details of the behavior problem or problems, and owners' ability and willingness to implement various behavior change techniques. Each plan is individualized to meet individual pets' behavioral needs. Finally, treatments are selected based on a functional assessment of the problem behavior or training deficit. That is, Dr. Maxwell takes care to assess the functions of the behavior: what purposes that behavior serves for the pet. Often, an identification of the reinforcing consequence maintaining problem behavior is necessary before a treatment plan can be developed.
Although the majority of cases are deemed successful by pet owners who work with her, Dr. Maxwell provides no guarantee for behavioral services. In fact, making such a guarantee is a questionable practice for professionals dealing with behavior. A pet's behavior (like our own) is a function of many different variables, some of which families may be unable to control. Factors that are correlated with a successful response to treatment include the family's ability, inclination, and availability to conduct treatment, how long the behavior problem has been going on, the history of reinforcement for the problem behavior, and many others. These are variables impacting behavior that are outside of any professional's control, and thus "guarantees" are not offered in psychology, whether in work with humans or pets. Dr. Maxwell will provide you and your pet with high-quality, data-driven approaches to treating your pet's behavior problem. You will learn a lot about why your pet behaves as he or she does, and about how to interact with pet so as to engender positive behavior and reduce problem behavior. Nonetheless, there is no "magic pill" for treating behavior problems, and no guarantee that your pet will respond to behavioral treatments.
Dr. Maxwell initially provides three hours of in-home services. These three hours may be broken into 2, 3, or 4 appointments, depending on how long each one lasts. In the first appointment, the behavioral history assessment is conducted, and the beginnings of a behavior plan are developed. Subsequent refinements or modifications of the behavior plan are made in subsequent appointments, scheduled anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks apart, depending on how much "homework" you and your pet have. After the 3 hours have been utilized, additional hours are scheduled individually. The hourly fee remains the same ($60.00 per hour plus travel fees for those outside Morgantown, WV). Once you purchase the initial 3 hours of services, you are also provided with unlimited contact with Dr. Maxwell via telephone or email to discuss treatment, update steps in the behavior plan, and address questions that arise as you implement treatment.
Pet Behavior Change, LLC | 2008 | E-mail MeganMaxwell@petbehaviorchange.com | Phone (304) 280-8543