
How do you treat a dog with OCD? - signor_bosco
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170627-how-do-you-treat-a-dog-with-ocd
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mothsonasloth
A dog is a dog, a human is a human.

It really pains me when I see friends and family treating dogs like humans and
trying to apply or mirror their own disorders on to their pets.

A caption from the article reads:

> Many labradors with CCD compulsively carry objects in their mouth.

Its a f __ __n Labrador, a gun dog. It was bred to carry objects in its mouth.

If your dog is misbehaving, it is probably because its anxious, caused by you
being a bad owner (most of the time).

I had a border collie when I was younger, I loved that dog and made sure it
was cared for. A friend who had another Collie never gave it the full
attention it deserved. This resulted it in wreaking havoc in their family
home.

They took it to "doggy school" along with all the housewives who couldn't
control their pugs or designer dogs.

The more they tried to treat the dog as a human, the worse its behaviour got.
I looked after it several times and after good long walks and a couple of
slaps to the nose for bad behaviour, he was a great dog to look after.

Seriously, some people need to stop self diagnosing. Especially the faux OCD
sufferers who complain about how they iike a "tidy bathroom or work desk".

OCD is a debilitating illness, we trivialize it with all these fake mental
diagnoses people pick up after reading an article on psychology.com

To those who are thinking of getting a dog please think carefully:

\- Make sure you have the time and love to give it

\- Make sure you can be firm but not cruel to it

\- Make sure you can afford it

\- Make sure you try adopting or rehoming before going for a puppy

~~~
tjr
Border collies can be especially intense. Would recommend to a potential
adopter to very strongly consider _not_ getting a border collie. Only if you
are sure it is right for you, and that you are right for it, _then_ go for it.

~~~
sjg007
If you get a border collie get a few sheep too.

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montalbano
We took our family dog to a vet in London when it seemed unwell, the vet told
us that our dog was depressed and recommended a prescription of expensive
canine antidepressants.

Skeptical of this diagnosis, we took the dog to rural vet closer to home. This
vet quickly diagnosed a physical ailment (anal gland compaction) and treated
the dog - who was very happy by the time we got home.

~~~
jrace
Anal gland issues are very common. If you ever see your dog dragging his but
you should have a vet do an exam.

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jrace
My Greyhound/Lab cross was diagnosed with OCD and treated with medications
(too long ago to recall what we used), exercise, and lots of redirection
training.

The diagnosis came after we had to have all his claws removed due to fungal
infections. He would chew on his paws whenever he was left alone. Despite
having 3 cats and another dog in the house, as soon as there were no more
humans he would get anxious and OCD.

The meds helped to reduce, but the true treatment was redirection of his
compulsions.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
When you say "the true treatment was redirection of his compulsions", do you
mean that a regimen of redirection eliminated compulsions, or that the
compulsive behavior is replaced by a different behavior that isn't harmful?

~~~
jrace
replaced with different behavior. It never cured him, only broke him out of
the cycle temporarily.

The key was being able to redirect his energy away from himself. Once I was
able to spot the cycle and "break" him out of it, usually with a sharp sound,
I could then redirect him to something else, his favorite toy, or to chase me
around the couch.

It was the breaking of the cycle that seemed the most effective.

It did take a few months of medication before redirection could work. His
issue was likely a combination of genetics and poor upbringing.

We got him at age 2....and was his fifth (and final) home. As you could
imagine he never got over his separation anxiety even 13 years later.

Excuse me while I go and remove whatever just got in my eye ;)

