Nicholas Dodman – BVMS, DACVA, DACVB

A veterinary behaviorist with a background in anesthesia, Dr. Nicholas Dodman heads the one of the nation's leading veterinary behavior services at the Cummings School's Foster Hospital for Small Animals. He teaches an animal behavior selective to first and second-year students, lectures to third-year veterinary students in a didactic course on veterinary behavior, and supervises senior students on clinical rotation in behavior. He is board-certified by both the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists (ACVA) and the American College of Veterinary Behavior (ACVB).

Growing up in London, Dr. Dodman watched as his mother—the local St. Francis of Assisi, as he puts it—would take in orphaned and injured animals and care for them. At times, the animals had been the victims of cruelty, leading him to develop a strong interest in animal welfare. After obtaining a BVMS degree from Scotland's University of Glasgow, he worked as a veterinary anesthesiologist for about 10 years before joining the Tufts Faculty in 1981. Soon thereafter, he began his transition from anesthesia to behaviorism and started the animal behavior program at the Cummings School.

Because the clinic relies on referrals from other veterinarians seeking more specialized care for their cases, Dr. Dodman sees some out-of-the-ordinary cases. Some of the more challenging cases that I have seen are dogs that were frightened of the smell of lamb cooking or frightened of certain days of the week, dogs with panic attacks or post-traumatic stress syndrome, and one dog that flailed around like a fish out of water as a means of getting attention from his wheelchair-bound owner, he says.

At the Cummings School, Dr. Dodman enjoys the freedom he has had to explore different areas of veterinary medicine, different avenues of research, different projects, including ones related to animal welfare and the autonomy to be able to communicate on a mass scale through popular press books and television. His work has been featured on outlets ranging from the BBC and ABC News to CBS Sunday Morning and the Today show. I also enjoy the fact that I see challenging cases and feel that our clinic is often the last resort for desperate pet owners who are so grateful when we manage to turn things around for them and their pets, he says.

Dr. Dodman lives with his wife, Linda, a Tufts alumna and fellow veterinarian. He has two older children: a son, Steve, who works in business, and a daughter, Victoria, a psychologist. His younger daughter, Keisha, is an undergraduate at Tufts University and his youngest, Daniel, will be going to college next year. In their free time, the Dodmans enjoy outdoor activities—especially riding their two horses. He has recently been named a Leadership Counsel member of the newly-formed Humane Society of Veterinary Medical Association.

Dr. Dodman's academic and research interests can be found on his faculty profile.