WHEN TRAINING MAY NOT BE ENOUGH

   
    While doing an internship at a psychiatric hospital out in Texas as part of my graduate degree, I was offered a part-time job as a unit psychologist on one of the units.  (While the term "unit psychologist" today would be reserved only for a person with a PhD in psychology, years ago that wasn't the case, at least not out in Texas).  A patient was admitted to our unit who had been driving his way across the country when he ran out of gas in his van and was found wandering around the highway,  acting erratically.  Police were called, and since he wasn't making a lot of sense, it was determined that he needed psychiatric care and he ended up on my unit.

His first few days on the unit were loads of fun--for him.  He liked to pry the fire extinguisher off the wall and spray staff and patients with it.  If the aides got it away from him, he would run to another one, and if he couldn't find one, he would run in a patient's room and grab clothes out of the closet to throw, or run into the day room and find chairs  or whatever else he could to throw at people, all the while yelling and laughing hysterically .  It resulted in a lot of drama, and he loved it.  After a few days, he became more rational, and  quit trying to throw things, although he still liked to yell at odd times to get a reaction.  Life on the unit became more "normal," or what passed as normal for a unit of acute psychotics.

What happened?  Did I save the day by devising a behavioral plan to teach him more appropriate responses?  I wish..., What happened was medication.  The man was bipolar and had been in the midst of a manic episode.  For a listing of behavioral criteria necessary to be diagnosed with a manic episode, click here .   As the man's medication kicked in, his thoughts stopped racing, he started sleeping regularly, and his disruptive behaviors diminished, except for the occasional yell to get a reaction.

So what does this have to do with dogs and dog behavior? Dogs may not have manic episodes (although sometimes I wonder), but  I get a lot of calls about dogs  who are fearful or aggressive.  Most of them are helped by basic training,  counterconditioning, redirection, and differential reinforcement of other/and or alternate behaviors.  However, some dogs are so fearful or agitated  that they have gone beyond the ability to be helped by training alone.  In those instances, medication can help to "take the edge off" long enough for learning to take place.

Feeling fearful or agitated all the time is not good physiologically, for dogs or humans. It was after  Hans Selye published his book, " The Stress of Life" in 1956, outlining his research on the physiological effect of stress that we became aware of how much stress can affect the body. Psychotropic drugs were developed in the mid-20th century, helped by the  research of Julius Axelrod on  the release and uptake of neurotransmitters in the brain. There is still a lot of social stigma regarding these medications in general for people, and the thought that dogs might benefit from them, even more so.  Some people even find the idea  humorous, that a dog would need medication to help behavior.  Not if you live with a fearful or anxious dog, though. In that case you know only too well how disruptive it can be to live with any creature who's always on edge.



Obviously, your veterinarian is the one who will prescribe the medication.  There are also veterinary behavior specialists. Though small in number, they are increasing.  I work with several local veterinarians in the area and with a veterinary behaviorist at the UT vet school.  Keep in mind that when you start using a medication, it may take up to 4 weeks before you see a response.  Medication works best in conjunction with a behavior plan.  For a good article on fear/anxiety medications, and whether or not to use them, click here.  Keep in mind that medication alone won't turn a dog into Lassie, but it can help make the dog more receptive to training.


One of the dogs I'm working with now, we'll call him Buzz, is a prime candidate for medication.  I first met Buzz, a medium sized,  powerful looking dog of indeterminate ancestry, when his owner signed up for my basic class.  She had adopted him from the shelter and had no information regarding his history.  She is a vet tech who has worked with animals, and thought a class would help him with his behavior.  If you've ever taken your dog to an obedience class for the first time, you know it can be a bit chaotic.  Dogs dragging their owners into class, barking, excited, owners not knowing how to handle the dog, leash, treats, and then feeling embarrassed at their dogs' misbehavior, as if only a perfect dog should come to class.  Buzz came in late (which didn't help) and immediately started twirling around on his leash, screaming at the top of his lungs.  It was all his petite owner could do to hang on.    I had just gotten the rest of the dogs calmed down and  focused while  working on an impulse control exercise, but this went totally out the window when Buzz stormed in.  I immediately got him situated in an isolated corner behind the counter where we put dogs who need barriers, and demonstrated to his owner and the rest of the class (as well as I could given the counter in the way)  how to work on getting him quiet, focused and under control.

Now I have had dogs in that situation who have gone on after a couple of classes to being fully integrated with the other  dogs. Not so with Buzz.  In talking with his owner after that first class, it was apparent that Buzz needed private lessons and more.  Buzz seemed to live in a state of constant arousal. His owner lived in a apartment with a roommate and another dog.  Buzz screeched at other dogs when she walked him, he spent a good part of his day running from one window to another barking at the dogs and people he saw walking by, and to top it off--her roommate had a rabbit in a cage in the living room. Every day when Buzz saw that rabbit, it was like he'd never seen it before and he'd go ballistic barking at it.  After a while he'd stop, but later on it would be like he discovered it anew, and the barking and screeching would start up again.

I met with her for private lessons. We discussed better management of his living environment so he wasn't constantly being stimulated, relaxation protocols, impulse control, basic training (he had very little) and techniques to change his behavior when he encountered other people or dogs.  His owner is a runner so we also discussed how to start increasing mileage for him as he became easier to walk on a leash.

All the above-mentioned procedures helped, but the problems persisted. I had Buzz in for a week of training and he did get better.  However, he still was a bundle of nerves and had a hard time relaxing. I talked with his owner about medication and she agreed to give it a try.  I can now say after Buzz has been on medication for 3 months now, he is calmer.  NOT totally, but better.  He's at least calm enough to the point where his attention span is better and while he still gets revved up very quickly, it's a bit slower than it used to be, and he is able to calm down quicker.  His owner has worked diligently with him, and he's running more with her as well, which has been good. Not only does he get out (and she plans her routes and times as best she can to avoid over stimulation), he gets out some of that energy.  However, exercise is NOT a panacea, and exercise alone may just give you a fit dog who can just bounce off the walls for a longer period of time.  I've got him back for a week and I'm looking forward to seeing how much more progress we can make.  I'll keep you posted...