CSI: Canine

I don’t really watch too much TV, but just looking at the daily television listings of shows I see that there are quite a few versions of the CSI series. Every so often my wife lures me into to watching one and I’ve quickly learned that the CSI team can uncover any mystery by doing three things. The formula is always the same and I think it’s applicable for just about any unsolved problem, including issues with our beloved pooches. Those three key ingredients that the CSI team relies on in every episode are investigation, observation and questioning.

As a dog behavior consultant I use these skills in every single session I do and they are skills that you should employ when trying to understand why your dog does some of those unexplained things. I have cracked many of my cases wide open by interviewing my clients and going over details of their home environment and their dog’s daily activities. The more questions I ask, the more information I gather and the more I’m able to watch the dog, the clearer the puzzle becomes.

This is especially important when your dog does something that is out of his usual character or behavior patterns. Once you see a behavior problem begin where before there was none, something must have changed to cause the shift in behavior. You need to do some investigating to begin to uncover the reason for the new behavior problem.

Nothing happens “out of the blue” or for no reason. There is always an underlying cause that has triggered the dogs new behaviors, we may just not be aware of them yet. That’s why you really need to sit down and think about the issue from all angles and take a number of external factors into consideration. You need to think about what is going on in your environment and look for possible triggers that may have put the behavior in motion, and/or are continually reinforcing the troubling behavior.

As you make your observations and do you’re investigating you have to remember that dogs think differently and have very different motivations than we do. So you need to try to put aside your human way of thinking and get inside the mind of your dog. Try to understand his perspective and remember that even though he’s your furry little guy, he still behaves according to canine patterns.

You should also question all family members even if you think that they are in no way involved with the behavior issue. They are possible witnesses and even suspects (that may be unknowingly contributing to the behavior) that need to be questioned. The more digging you do, the closer you will get to understanding what’s really going on.

This three step process of investigating, questioning and observing is the systematic approach I use each and every time I work with a behavior problem. And although I may not have the high tech equipment of the TV CSI team or the witty one-liners of the stars, I’ve been pretty successful in solving quite a few unsolved mysteries using their same formula.

Make your own CSI team and start to investigate the perplexing cases with your own dog and see if you can uncover the real reason for any new issues and then you can accurately work toward making them right.

As for me, I’ll continue my relentless cold calling of the television networks pitching my CSI: Canine.

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Guest Blogger Dr. Mark Nunez Talks Medications

There are MANY dogs out there that can greatly benefit from a little pharmaceutical intervention. There are also just as many people out there that are apposed to "drugging" their dogs. This is no doubt an extrapolation of a negative stigma the "drugs" have in our society. Antibiotics are drugs. Would you ever consider withholding an antibiotic from a sick child when there is no doubt that it would cure the illness? Medicating your dog may not be an appealing idea to you, but often times medications can be a tremendous help. Stress and anxiety inhibit learning, in dogs as well as in people. Think about it, how well are you going to learn if you think your life in truly in danger? Your main concern is to escape that danger, be it real or perceived. Same goes for dogs. If anxiety can be decreased, learning can be increased. There are several types of medications that can be used.

- Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and Tricyclic Anti-depressants – Medications such as Prozac (Reconcile), Zoloft, and Clomicalm will cause an increase in the serotonin levels of the brain, producing a calming effect. They also have an effect on other neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine and dopamine. This class of medication is meant to be taken for a period of months to years. The positive effects of these medications are seen after taking them daily for 4-6 weeks.

- Benzodiazepines – Medications such as Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin are anti-anxiety medications that start to work in about 30-45 minutes. These can be used on an as needed basis, but can also be used daily until the SSRI’s kick in.

- Phenothiazines – Acepromazine, or Ace for short, is a VERY commonly used drug in veterinary medicine. It only sedates. It does not have any anti-anxiety properties and is not a good choice for dogs with anxiety. It makes the owners feel better because their dog cannot display the anxious behavior. The dog’s brain is still experiencing all of the stress and anxiety that the situations brings about, but his body cannot show it. Plus, it actually heightens sensitivity to noises! This medication should also be avoided in dogs that have seizures and in Boxers, sight hounds, and giant breeds.

- Anxitane – Anxitane is not a “medication,” it is a nutraceutical for the brain (like glucosamine is for joints). It decrease the frequency of alpha waves in the visual cortex of the brain. This make visual stimuli (rain and lightening) less stimulating. It has no side effects and does not cause sedation.

These are the most common medications that I use in my behavior practice. They can be used as a single agent, or in combination. Generally speaking, the longer and more severe a behavior issue is, the more likely I am to recommend medication as a part of the over all treatment program. That said, medications are not a cure all. In fact, when used alone and without behavior modification, they have a very poor success rate of about 25%. However, when used in combo with behavior modification, you increase your success rate to about 85%! Most of these medications can be discontinued after a certain period of time, but occasionally they are needed for life.

Dr. Nunez is a practicing veterinarian, while also assisting patients through The Balanced Canine blog and his own online veterinary pharmacy.

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Good Morning Anyone?

This morning I was lucky enough to have time to go for a nice stroll with my furry traveling buddy, Hayley. We made it to the park nice and early before the heat of the day took hold, and although it was early and a holiday, there were plenty of others out enjoying the morning as well.

As Hayley and I entered the park we could smell the fresh vegetation, hear the birds singing their sweet songs and feel the fresh air on our faces. Ahhh, what a great way to start the day off. Hayley was out in front of me taking in the many scents that were demanding her attention while I casually followed, happy to share this moment with her.

It wasn’t long before we saw the first of many people walking in the park on this fine morning. Our first passer-by was a middle-aged man walking at a brisk pace. As is my habit, I tried to make eye contact with him and say, “good morning.” He mumbled something back that very loosely resembled, “morning,” and hurried past us without looking up.

I shrugged my shoulders, and wondered how someone could already be having a bad day at only 7 am. Hayley and I continued on but barely made it fifty feet when we encountered someone else: a woman walking her golden lab. As we closed in on one another I noticed that both Hayley and the lab were pulling toward one another eager to meet. What Hayley didn’t notice, that I did, was the dog’s owner looking at Hayley with wide-eyed discontent – it seems she had correctly identified Hayley as a pit bull and was letting her uninformed mind run amuck.

I respected her space and didn’t let Hayley interact with her dog (much to Hayley and the lab’s dismay), and continued on. We passed many more people and dogs as we made our way through the park, and I continued to greet everyone who passed by with a happy, “good morning,” and a smile. Some people pretended they didn’t hear me and hurried past us, while a few were quicker than me and greeting me before I got a chance. Interestingly, a large majority of the people I hit with my “good morning,” responded with a look of shocked excitement. The returned my cheerful hello and seemed grateful and happy for the interaction.

What I find interesting is that it was obvious that if I didn’t say anything to them they would have just walked right past me not even bothering to look at me. If they are friendly people, and indeed it seemed that they were, then why not make the first move and greet people right away?

In contrast, I watched every dog look genuinely overjoyed at the mere sight of fellow canine and downright insistent upon greeting them. I say, if our dogs can do it, why can’t we?

As always, our dogs seem to really know how to live life right. So the next time you’re out for a walk or heading down the hallway toward your office, try to greet the people you pass like a dog: with a smile and a tail wag (just watch the butt sniffing).

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Cropped, Docked and Chopped

In today’s society cosmetic surgery is a widely popular and socially accepted practice. This is also true in the dog world but I think there is a big distinction between someone making the choice to get surgery done on themselves and doing it to an animal that cannot speak up for itself. Indeed, dogs don’t get a say about whether or not someone will lop off hunk of their ears or tail. Although I can’t read the minds of dogs, I’m pretty sure that given the choice, they would shout a hearty “NO!” to the question of ear cropping and tail docking.

Dogs were originally selectively bred to perform certain tasks for humans and we did everything in our power to make sure they did their jobs effectively. To make hunting dogs more efficient we docked their tails so that they would suffer fewer injuries to their tails when running through thick brush. Guard and fighting dogs got their ears cropped so that their opponents (both human and canine) had less to grab onto.

Although I understand the purpose that man originally cropped the ears and docked the tails of various breeds, I still have a hard time accepting it. I believe that we are truly blessed to have dogs integrated into the human world and that we should appreciate our unique relationship with this once wild animal with gratitude – not by taking a scalpel to their bodies for our selfish purposes.

Even if I was to go along with cropping and docking for the purposes of enhancing the dogs abilities to accomplish the tasks they were bred for, why the hell would you do it to dogs that are used as family pets? Chopping off the tails of Weimaraners and Doberman Pinchers, and hacking off a large portion of a Pit Bulls and Boxers ears serves no purpose in the everyday life of the pet dog. It’s done only so the dog will look like the breed standard, which was created a long time ago by very different kinds of dog owners.

Besides my obvious objection to putting a dog under anesthesia unnecessarily to remove pieces of a living animal for appearance reasons only, loosing part or all of their ears and/or tail greatly compromises their ability to communicate. A good portion of a dog’s body language is conveyed with the position of the tail, as well as the orientation of the ears. There have been studies done that have found that dogs with docked tails can be significantly handicapped in conveying fear, caution, aggression and playfulness. The main way dog’s communicate and build their relationships with one another is through body language, and when part or all of their ears and/or tail is missing their ability to signal to other dogs socially is greatly hampered.

Now that most dog breeds in the U.S. are not being used for their original purpose and are being bred to be pets, I think it’s time that the general public demand that breeders and kennel clubs re-evaluate the standard. Let’s stop this needless mutilation of our dogs and rethink what we are really doing. Instead of going along with cropping and docking just because that’s been the tradition, let’s think what’s really in our dogs best interested and do right by our dogs.

Dog’s put up with a lot of our human foolishness on a daily basis, so let’s start treating them with the love and care that they deserve. Let’s raise the bar of our compassion and better shape the course of our relationship with our pals, the domestic dog.

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It's All Fun and Games

To your dog every single second is a chance to have some fun. For a dog, life in general, is really all about fun. That’s all your dog wants, and most of his daily agenda is geared around finding cool stuff to do. Once Rover wakes up in the morning and shakes off the night’s sleep, he’s ready and raring to do anything exciting. If he can’t find anything entertaining enough, he’ll make his own fun (often at the expense of your furniture).

The good news is that we humans are looking for some good times as well. Hey, who out there doesn’t want to have fun? So why not have some with your dog. Isn’t that the reason you got a dog in the first place? You wanted a companion to share some fun with. I doubt that anyone would go out and get a dog thinking it would be no fun. So, fun it is!

Let’s never forget that having a dog is fun. In spite of whatever issues or minor problems you dog may have, he’s still fun to be around. Let’s never forget that. I know that I often get caught up in life and lose sight of that simple fact. No matter what kind of day you’re having, fun in your grasp (literally). Reach down, pet your dog and guess what? You’ve got a big hunk of fun in your hands.

I think it’s important to take some time every day and have a moment of fun with your furry pal. Lighten your day, lift your spirits and make your dog very happy. Make up games with your dog, be silly, run around in circles, laugh and be merry with your dog. Be creative and come up with cool, little ways for you and your dog to have a fun moment each and every day. That’s what life is supposed be for a dog – fun. And it’s what life can be for us to . . . lots and lots of fun.

So go have some fun with your dogs right now!

Here is Hayley and I having fun playing one of her favorite games.

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