OCD. What medications help? - Page 2

I will pray that this dog doesn't get stuffed up on medication that it doesn't need. Not ALL vets understand the working needs of a dog, especially in a German Shepherd Dog. Het, with such person like you who kennels up dogs (I call them jail dawgs) and then goes and calls people who actually cares for their dogs (Yup! I don't kennel my dogs) and help people to understand the characteristic of the GSD an idiot... That is so irreverence. PS, My name is not hard to spell.. If it is, to you.. copy and paste!

Brittany, who said that my dog was going to be pumped up with drugs???? I didn't! I know that vets around here aren't up to date on OCD matters, and that's why I'm doing my homework. If I know what kind of medications can be used I can check them out fisrt before letting my dog have something prescribed that is not going to suit him. This is not my first GSD. It is however, the first that has this problem. He is from a "Showline" and is not high drived at all. Have you had this problem before??? I sure haven't, and I'm glad to hear other poeples experiencies and see what can help, or in other cases, not help. Are you a vet? Do you know that he doesn't need something to get him through this phase? All speculations. I really appreciate honest help and tips, but comments like the ones that you give....

Actually Brittney, I don't kennel my dogs.they are house dogs...if you could read then you would see that I said that dog WAS a kennel dog.she was bought at 3 years of age...not that I had raised her in the kennel....

Het, that is a very clever way to distract any dog from chasing its tail.

thank you..it did work prety quickly with her, and it was a behavior that she had for years befor I got her...she had mutilated about an inch of off her tail. within about 3 months she stopped biting it but would spin when she got excited.

I must agree with that! I know I should be glad that he doesn't mutilate himself anymore.My question now is, as my pup doesn't mutilate his tail, he doesn't spin either, he traps his tail under his foot and pulls it between his toes(!?!?! must feel nice!?!?!), and as soon as its through, he'll start again, isn't the posibility large that he'll start mutilating himself again if I don't try to do something against it? He doesn't do it in the house at all and he doesn't do it if I'm in the garden with him and the other dogs, as soon, however, as I leave him outside alone or with his playmates, there we go again, he's doing it again. Help!

Isabelle, it will most likely be an on-going thing with your dog. If you live near a vet shool, you might want to consider having one of their behaviorists examine him. Vet schools here in the US are paying a lot more attention to behavioral issues than they did at one time and most have vets that specialize in the treatment of dogs with OCD. I assume you are not a resident of the US? Another option might be for you to contact your local vet association for a referral to a behavioristif you don't already know of one. If they do prescribe meds, you can be assured that they will work with you to adjust the dosage to the minimum that will give him some relief; the treat to affect plan. I imagine your dog is not experiencing the best life he could worrying about that damned tail day and night and meds could very well give him a more pleasant future not to mention giving you a better night's sleep LOL. Meds are not always the answer, but some issues are just too tough to manage without their help. Dogs only live for 11, 12 years on the average and the odds of the sort of meds used for OCD causing longterm damage is not very likely. He has a better chance of causing himself damage if left to his own devices. Good luck.

the backpack might make him think about something else, you could also try jelopeno juice, or something that would burn his mouth and just spray it on the end of the tail, when he starts in with this , ouch. Has he learned that when he does this that you run out to stop him? he might be doing it for attention??I have one that digs, and I relized that everytime she does it I run out there and stop her, well she being the smarter of the two, lol me being one of the two, will dig just to get the attention...she will even scratch the dirt a couple of times and look at the back door, this is what made me relize that she is doing to get me out there with her.

Hot sauce will not always distract dogs from chewing, I have had dogs that rather liked it. :o) Dogs don't do bitter or citrus stuff. Won't help with running the tail through the toes. How does the dog do that?? I would suggested the use of Bach Flower Remedies here. There are books on the topic, some written specifically for pets. Mine is still boxed up somewhere. I have had some ok results with it when I needed it, certainly worth a try and basically drug free. Google the term Bach Flower Remedy Dogs and you should come up with quite a bit info. These remedies can be very helpful when aiming for behavioural changes. Most people have heard of the Rescue Remedy, that is part of the Bach Flower program. Also, keep your dog busy throughout the day. Feeding time can be a good way. Either sprinkle dry kibble on the (fenced) lawn and let him search for it, twice a day. The more you can spread it out, the longer it takes your dog to search for it. It gives the senses that extra workout and makes the dog more content. I just tried one of those balls that you put food inside and the dog has to roll it around for the food to come out. Works fine too, but supervise to make sure the dog will not chew up the toy as well. The idea is to add some busy time for the dog without taking up your extra time. Try it, you should see some changes in behaviour from that alone.

Some of the behavioral consults that we've done at my place of business have turned into referrals to local vet schools for their input, and a great deal of work goes into actually determining what is causing the dog's behavior. In the event that a dog will continue to self mutilate and the behavior is consistent (i.e. the dog always spins to the left) you can be fairly confident that a chemical imbalance causing OCD can be considered. The biggest clue is that now that the behavior has somewhat been curbed the dog is showing a new obsessive behavior. Something to keep in mind is that the vet schools that we've worked with will only make a diagnosis with extensive tests - blood work, video tapes of the behavior including things like closeups of the dialation of the eyes during the behavior, etc. Most schools recommend behavior modification in addition to any kind of drugs (that are usually weaned off of gradually), so be suspect of a vet that prescribes drugs based on a little physical testing and no immediate plan for when the drugs can be weaned away.