Author: Kristof Voet
What does dog therapy cost? What should you all take into account when calculating the price?
The basics of pricing
Dog behaviour therapy is specialist work. Nothing more, nothing less. The price of dog behaviour therapy is primarily co-determined by the dog therapist's level of training and experience. Or at least, it should be, because anyone in Belgium is free to call themselves a ‘dog therapist’ and charge whatever price they want for it.
That is why it is always important not only to base the level of expertise of the dog therapist on the price, but also to check carefully which training they have received and whether they are in line with the most modern insights. At Huisdierentherapie.be, you are guaranteed the latter, because we constantly base ourselves on the worldwide academic consensus on dog behaviour, and evolve along with the results of the numerous studies carried out at hundreds of universities worldwide.
The hourly rate
The price of an hour of dog therapy includes much more than just an hour of work: you need a thorough preparation and planning for each lesson, possibly supplemented by research and consultation with colleagues, and after each lesson you have the file that needs to be completed so that the evolution of the programme can be closely monitored. Additional issues such as the possible travel time to the patient's home, but also operating costs such as website, bookkeeping, insurance, legal obligations and real estate to carry out the training sessions help determine the price.
At Pettherapy.be in 2024, the price per hour of dog therapy will be 66.12 euros excluding VAT, or 80 euros including VAT. But for this you get a guaranteed highly trained specialist every time, who is up to date and adapts with tailor-made solutions to your (family) situation.
The first time...
Our working method means that we always start with a comprehensive introduction, and delve into your needs and wishes. We do this with a start-up consultation of about two hours, preferably at your home, and this after you have completed a comprehensive questionnaire that we use to prepare our first meeting.
Because certain operating costs, preparation and file completion only happen once for these two hours, you do not pay 160 euros but 140 euros for this start-up consultation. Want to know exactly what's going on? At the end of this session, you will receive a clinical diagnosis from our specialist, with a proposal of approach and an estimate of the length of a treatment path in your specific case. Because, every problem is individual, and so we approach each situation in a unique way. So, we can only make a final cost estimate based on this first meeting.
"Every problem is individual, and so we approach each situation uniquely. So we can only make a final cost estimate based on this initial conversation."
Specific problem determines price
When your roof has a water leak between a few roof tiles, it might be solved with a simple repair or some new tiles. However, if a storm blows away half your roof, and it starts raining, then the water damage is just a little bigger and the problem more complex to repair. A thorough expertise beforehand indicates what the price of this repair will be.
With dog therapy, it is just the same. A relatively simple problem (for example: a dog pulls on the lead out of enthusiasm) is easier and quicker to solve than when there is a more complex underlying problem (for example: pulling on the lead out of fear or insecurity), or an outright serious complication (for example: pulling on the lead out of fear with attacking everything that moves on the street). The ‘expertise’ or start-up interview brings clarity to this.
What can I expect as the cost price?
For a simple problem that requires a few lessons after the initial consultation, you can expect a total price for dog behaviour therapy of 350 to 400 euros, possibly supplemented by a mileage or travel allowance. More complex and serious problems involving many lessons and a lot of work are more likely to have a target price of 750 to 1,000 euros. So everything depends on the right diagnosis because for our treatment, it is the underlying cause that counts, not just the symptoms. Symptom management, as is unfortunately often applied within dog therapy, is not a sustainable long-term solution. Solving the underlying causes is. A great example of this can be found in the story about the treatment of an abused and fear-aggressive Miniature Pinscher.
Kristof Voet has been administrative and logistics assistant at Pettherapy.be since 2021. He was working as a volunteer at the animal welfare organisation until 2022, and for this he followed the Asylum Officer training organised by the Flemish Government.
