Update: Luxating Patellas and Behavior Modification

Welp, it looks like Delilah is going to need surgery for her knees.  We went to the vet recently and she was officially diagnosed with grade 3 bilateral luxating patellas.  We talked about treatment and management options and it was recommended that she has surgery in the next 6 months since she is young, fit, and it hasn't become inflamed yet.  The estimated cost of surgery for both knees is a little over $3,000!  I'm definitely going to be applying for care credit.

We also talked about increasing her fluoxetine to see if that will help with her Canine Compulsive Disorder.  We've been seeing some progress with Delilah's anxiety and behavior, but not really any improvement with her compulsive behaviors.  She's now on 5 mg of fluoxetine and we're also trying some CBD dog treats (made with hemp oil) as a supplement.  I was particularly interested in seeing if it would help with her anxiety, but CBD's supposed to be helpful for a number of ailments including arthritis and joint pain/inflammation, so I'm hoping it will help manage her knees as well until she gets surgery.

In terms of behavior modification, she is continuing to improve slowly.  My boyfriend's sister stayed overnight yesterday and it was the first time Delilah's experienced a "stranger" staying for so long.  At first she was very reactive and loud but I had her on a lead and did some counter conditioning and impulse control exercises with her and she soon quieted down enough to even relax on her bed in front of the fire place!  She was very interested in his sister and would go up to her, sit next to her, and even try to give her kisses, but then Delilah would remember that she was a "stranger" and get freaked out and run away barking.  She definitely wants to interact, she just gets so anxious.  But overall she did very well, she was very manageable and tried her best to listen to me and calm down.

In the morning we stayed in bed until his sister left.  Delilah would alarm bark if she heard her talking downstairs but easily quieted down after.  This is a huge change from before the medication and behavior consult, when she couldn't quiet down at all, and would just bark and scream until well after the guest had left.  

On a separate note, I just found out a trainer's offering Reactive Rover classes in my area.  I've been talking with him to see if the class would be appropriate for Delilah.  I feel like a class tailored to dogs with special needs like that could be a good step towards taking agility lessons again.  And maybe I'd learn some new techniques and ideas for helping Delilah manage her emotions and impulses.

I put Delilah's bed in front of the fireplace where it would be most comfortable for her and also give her some space from the "stranger."  We started "place" after she calmed down enough to work.  It took about an hour of counter conditioning (dropping treats) to get her to stop reacting and be able to focus enough to work.

Right now she is still nervous and alert but staying in her "place" because I asked her to (and because she's getting a lot of chicken).

After about 20 minutes she finally relaxed and napped by the fire.  This is incredible progress for her.  This is where practicing "place," Karen Overall's protocol for relaxation, and counter conditioning and desensitization to strangers is paying off!

Beginning Fluoxetine

Delilah's fluoxetine arrived yesterday.  This will be her second day of taking it.  She had to get a special compounded prescription because she is too small for regular dosage, or even to split a regular dosage into halves or quarters.  We got beef flavored chews, and she seems to like them!  Hopefully we'll start seeing a change in her behavior relating to her compulsive behaviors and anxiety.  As I type this, she is screaming at dust particles in a beam of light...

Delilah's fluoxetine chews

In other news there are two pretty cool dog events coming up near me in the next couple of weeks.  The first one is this Saturday and it's called the Vermont Dog Festival.  There are going to be a lot of different vendors- local businesses, breeders, and rescues.  There are also going to be dog sport demos, seminars, and a dog show.  I'm really excited to go and I'm debating whether to bring Delilah with me or not.  She's done well at outdoor events like Farmers' Markets.  But I'd also like to enjoy it without having to worry about her the whole time.  I might bring her if the weather's cool enough to crate her in the car if she needs a break.

The other event coming up the week after is the Green Mountain Iron Dog competition.  I want to go see what that's all about.  The main course covers 1.5 miles and involves a variety of obstacles.  Other competitions include the 100 yard dash, a drug search, and a suspect search.  I'm excited to see working dogs in action- my dream is to handle explosives detection canines for the TSA.

Delilah's Vet Visit

Delilah went to a new vet last Wednesday, specifically to talk about anti anxiety medications for her anxiety and compulsive disorder.  This is the THIRD vet we've been to since I adopted Delilah a little more than a year ago (not including an emergency vet visit... long story).  I really liked this new vet- he seemed to have a greater knowledge of dog behavior than the previous two vets we've been to.

The first vet I had brought Delilah to actually cornered her when she was cowering and barking and didn't seem to have any idea of how to interact with a frightened dog.  The second one was not that bad, he was a decent vet.  The problem was when I showed him the videos of Delilah fixating on dust and light, and told him that these compulsive behaviors were interfering with training, and that she had a lot of anxiety in general, he told me it didn't look like any abnormal behavior, just "her being her."  That was the point I started looking for behaviorists and trainers to contact.  This new vet was very good with her and also took my concerns about her behavior and health seriously, and I didn't feel like my worries were silly or unjustified.

We are going to try fluoxetine.  I have to get custom prescriptions because Delilah's so small, breaking a regular dosage into 7 or 8 pieces would probably be a pain and inaccurate.  I haven't ordered yet, I'm still deciding between a few options, but I think I will call tomorrow to order.

We also talked a little about her luxating patellas.  They're starting to get really bad.  I can't even walk her anymore without her hopping along on three legs.  She's going to need surgery.  I can't afford surgery right now, so I'll have to wait a few months to start saving up after I start my new job in October.  Between the patellas and the behavior issues, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to continue with training classes or dog sports with her.  I'm really starting to want a second dog that I can actually do things with.  Of course, that won't be for a couple of years at least, because I do want Delilah's behavior to improve and to get her surgery first, she's my first priority.  Consulting with the trainer and the vet has given me hope that Delilah can improve, but has pretty much crushed any dreams I've had of doing agility with her.

Delilah's Behavior Consult

1) Medication
I'm going to make an appointment for Delilah at a different vet clinic and get her on fluoxetine/prozac. I kind of expected that medication would be recommended.

2) Anxiety/Reactivity
Delilah has been very reactive to strangers and becomes very distressed when anyone other than me or my boyfriend are in the house. We talked about exercises we could do to countercondition and desensitize her to visitors. We also came up with a new way to introduce Delilah to visitors by meeting them outside and allowing the visitors to enter the house first. There's actually a whole protocol with a lot of different steps we're supposed to follow for visitors involving Delilah watching them approach the house, enter the house, leave the house, sit down, etc. I already have a few friends who volunteered to help to stage some training situations for me.
We're also going to try out a thundershirt and a calming cap, as well as increasing mental stimulation. She said we were already doing a good job with trick and agility training, and the food puzzles Delilah has, but she gave us some other ideas for mental stimulation as well.

3) Compulsive Disorder
The hope is that fluoxetine will help. We're not supposed to let Delilah engage in any activity that she is unable to complete the motor sequence. Like if she can't physically catch anything. So no chasing dust or light of course, but we're not allowed to play with her with bubbles or water either, which is too bad because she loves those. I'm also not supposed to redirect Delilah with a toy anymore because the trainer thinks that might be reinforcing the behavior at least partially. Delilah's very attached to me and doesn't like being away from me so she said if Delilah doesn't listen when I tell her to stop the compulsive behaviors, I should leave the room or the house for a minute or so. She said Delilah is very fixated but doesn't look like she's completely spaced out so she might be "there" enough to learn and understand consequences.
She said there was likely a genetic component to Delilah's behavior- apparently Wire Fox Terriers are predisposed to compulsive disorder and the Toy Fox Terriers and the Smooth Fox Terriers they are descended from are closely related.

4) Sports/Classes/Agility
Since Delilah's most intense compulsive behavior has occurred during agility classes and barn hunt, she said Delilah was way over threshold and may never be able to handle a class or trial environment.  She encouraged us to continue practicing on our own for mental stimulation and said if Delilah makes any significant progress with her anxiety and compulsive behavior then we could look into private lessons. She recommended an agility trainer to me that she knows that does private outdoor lessons. I'm hoping Delilah can get to that point.

Delilah Behavior Update!

I've been talking about it for almost a year now, but we're finally going to consult with a trainer about Delilah's anxiety and compulsive behaviors.

For those of you who are newer to the blog- Delilah has a few behavioral problems that we've been trying to work on pretty much since we adopted her last July.

She is very nervous and vocal around strangers, she does NOT like anyone coming over to our house. She spends the entire time yapping, even if we put her in another room.  Delilah can be reactive towards strangers on leash (but has improved a lot with that). According to my boyfriend, she also gets very upset when I leave, and will spend around 20-30 minutes crying at the door, running around the house, and sniffing all of my things as if she were looking for me. Even when he's still home with her. 

The sound didn't work in this video from last November, but she is making a high pitched whining noise the entire time.

She seems to have some compulsive behaviors as well- fixating on dust, light, spots on the ground- and this occurs most frequently in situations where she's stressed or anxious. The more stressed she is the more intense the behavior is and the harder it is to break her focus and call her away.  When we did barn hunt she did that at the gate to the enclosure we were in and I tried everything: calling her, clapping, yelling, running away from her to get her to chase me, kneeling on the ground, etc to try to get her to leave the dust (we would have been DQ'd if I physically touched or removed her).  She didn't even notice.

This is the behavior she does during agility and barn hunt- except more intense.

She first started doing this in agility class with the agility equipment.  It got to the point where she wasn't learning anything and I was getting embarrassed and frustrated.  She would just chase dust the entire time instead of doing the exercises or practicing with the equipment. 

I thought maybe she would like barn hunt because she enjoys murdering small animals so we tried that in June.  She did really well for her first run but just fixated on dust during her last two runs.  Even when I showed her where the rat was she wasn't interested- she just went back to chasing dust.  The thing is, I moved the dust away so there wasn't anything there, and she still kept pouncing at the gate, like she thought it was.

My vet saw those videos and said he didn't think it looked unusual and was just "her being her."  I persisted, saying that it was interfering with training and that she was very anxious in general.  He gave me some VetriScience Composure chews- which haven't really helped significantly at all.

Lastly, a minor concern compared to the other things, she just doesn't have a great recall. When she was younger we worked a lot on it and it was great, but when she matured her prey drive seemed to take over and now she blocks me out if there's a squirrel or bird or something. So now we can't go hiking unless she's on a leash, which is an inconvenience for both of us.

So those are the things we're hoping to work on with this trainer.  I've had several email exchanges with her and she seems very experienced and knowledgeable, especially with these particular problems.  I'm really hopeful and I think it's going to go well.  We made a date for the 19th and my boyfriend's going to take work off so he can be involved as well!  I'll keep you guys posted!