Are Dogs Getting Crazier?!

That was the question posed by a new client when he phoned my office for help with his three year old German Shorthaired Pointer.  He'd had dogs his entire life, and this was his fourth GSP, so he couldn't understand why his veterinarian was talking about possible drug therapy and the need for a behaviorist! When he asked me (somewhat jokingly, but not really) if I thought dogs were getting crazier, my response was a serious one: Dogs have always had behavioral issues, we've just gotten better at recognizing the problems and seeking out solutions that benefit those individual dogs than we did in the past. Much as there has been an increase in the diagnosis of children and adults with ADD, ADHD, and autism since the early 1990's, so have we seen an increase in the diagnosis of anxiety-based behavior problems in dogs over the last thirty plus years. It isn't that ADD, ADHD, and autism didn't exist before the 90's, it's just that human doctors and therapists have gotten better at recognizing these conditions and are more aware of how earlier therapeutic intervention results in more productive outcomes for their patients.  It's the same with dogs; veterinarians are recognizing that their canine patients need behavioral intervention and they are pointing those pet owners to trained professionals like myself. Veterinary care just keeps getting better and better and because of that, pets will continue to receive more thorough workups, including questions regarding that pet's behavior.

Obviously, I know a lot of veterinarians. They all collect behavioral information on the pets they see in their practice as part of their intake history during exam appointments.  Why? Because a pet's behavior can tell you an awful lot about how they are feeling, how they are coping, and where they may be struggling. Why might our pets be struggling?  The world is a different place than it was in the 1950's and 60's when oftentimes there was a human home all day long, so dogs didn't face separation anxiety.  Dogs were also often free to roam the neighborhood beyond their backyard, exploring, sniffing, and socializing with other dogs. While dodging cars can certainly be anxiety-provoking in and of itself, for the most part, that free-roaming suited a lot of those dogs. When dog owners began working longer days and with households needing two incomes to stay afloat, dogs were alone more, confined to the house or the yard, with less time to wander, explore, sniff, and socialize. Consequently, dogs became anxious due to lack of experiences or socialization opportunities. Their worlds shrank, making them more dependent on their humans for social interaction and mental stimulation, and that neediness became attention seeking and that attention seeking became boredom and anxiety.  Living in cities and suburbs meant more time on leash and leashes create anxiety for many dogs. Add in over-breeding or poor breeding, and you get dogs with more serious issues like OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), aggression, panic attacks, and phobias, to name a few. 

My new client took all of this to mean that it was his fault his dog was anxious!  On the contrary, I was surprised that his three previous GSP's hadn't had any anxiety-based issues given that I've seen quite a few GSP's over my 35 years in business, and all of them had anxiety in one form or another.  I told the client that he was fortunate that this was his first anxious GSP! I firmly believe that his dog was predisposed to anxiety, in this case obsessive compulsive disorder, based on his dog's history and the family tree details he provided.  As a puppy, his dog chased his tail until he fell over or wore himself out. As an adolescent, he snapped at flies that weren't there, and now he routinely chases lights, shadows, and reflections.  Treating these issues means recognizing that this dog is anxious; scolding him, crating him, and keeping him on a pinch collar and tether aren't going to fix the problem.  On the contrary, those things are likely to make the problem worse.  What this dog needed was to have his energy channeled into more appropriate activities.  He needed serious mental stimulation and a breed appropriate outlet for his energy.  He also needed drug therapy as OCD cannot be effectively treated with behavior modification alone once it's gone on this long. Learned behaviors are hard to break.  Just ask anyone who ever had to give up cigarettes how hard it was to break that behavior!

While this wasn't really the news my client wanted to hear, he did have his dog's best interests at heart and agreed to the behavior modification plan I created.  I followed up with his veterinarian and we'll be starting the dog on clomipramine and we will see how it goes over the next few months. Not the easy fix my client was hoping for, but I think we are on the right track to bring relief to his dog.  

Thinking back to when I was a kid, we had a neighbor with a big Irish Setter.  That dog used to spend hours tethered to a tree in front of their house while neighborhood kids (including his own) played in the street.  I can remember that dog chasing his tail and fly snapping when there weren't flies, so clearly that dog had some issues with not enough mental stimulation and physical exercise, and maybe even some compulsive issues like my client's dog.  Was the neighbor's dog treated for any of this?  I don't think so, but then again it was the 1970's and there weren't a lot of behavior resources for dog owners back then beyond Barbara Woodhouse.  Do any of you remember Barbara Woodhouse?  Boy, I really am getting old!

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

She was enormously popular, very entertaining, and quite no nonsense!