---start--- if androgenization in utero is a possibility for cause of dominance aggression in female puppies, what is your recommendation regarding spay? we aren't sure if androgenization is the cause but it might be. so you should not spay prior to the first heat cycle. again - we don't know if they were androgenized. if they were, we want to see what effect estrogen hormones has on them. it's interesting that these animals don't often have first heat til 10-14 mos- first one may be silent, backing up this idea. O Farrell article in handout looked at dominantly aggressive young bitches at various ages. the ones spayed at 6 mos of age or younger were the only group for whom aggression increased. the only ones for whom aggression increased were the ones who showed aggression first prior to 6 mos, and then got spayed. now, if this is a shelter animal and you are supposed to do early spay/neuter...you have to spay b/c you don't know where it's going. pet overpopulation is a bigger overall problem. can you take behavior clinic rotation more than once/ yes. Role of breed: we all have the feeling that some breeds do some things...but there are no aggressive breeds. there is a big movement for breed specific legislation (BSL) which is racist, makes you no safer, and provides the dangerous illusion of making you safer. look at graph - number of dogs vs behavioral profile. looking at herding behavior - an altered stalk sequence, rounding up, not grabbing and damaging, some guarding behaviors. a suite of behaviors requiring reactivity, distinguishing inside from outside, etc. you have a normal distribution - some of these dogs are unacceptably fierce - kill the sheep. some are unacceptably shy - run from sheep. the unacceptably fierce dogs have dominance aggressive or territorial/protective aggression. also we have the unacceptably shy dogs -restraint, unwilling to deal. breeders of dogs may have mean in the middle of curve. other breeder has mean to the right of the middle of the curve - that may be the preferred optimum. 20 generations later maybe you get there. you didn't change size of population, you decreased amount of dogs unacceptably shy, and increased the percent of unacceptably fierce dogs. still not an aggressive breed, though. you just changed the breed profile. when you relax selection, breed without thinking of genetics - you increase the proportion of shy and fierce, and increase population size. when dogs get popular, this is what happens. it's no accident that the most common breeds of dogs here in dominance aggression clinic are labs, goldens, GSD, rotties, dalmations - they are popular dogs. only ESSP are overrepresented wrt VHUP patient profile. two videos of dogs doing breed specific behavior that could be misinterpreted as problem behavior: golden retriever and border collie. golden is patient -originally dx with OCD but has inappropriate play - is grabbing puppy and snarling while showing gums. the small 13 wk old dog is a border collie. the puppy is here for evaluation of "nasty" behavior, but he's really just doing herding stuff. he is harassing the hell out of this golden. he's herding it. nipping it. the golden is saying "i am not a sheep, leave me alone" and the puppy is not taking no for an answer. these dogs are acting perfectly normal. flash and emma - dr o calls flash - he comes near - now he is staring at emma, who is staring back. now he is stalking her - slowly slowly walking - putting foot up - it's an intention move - he stops - he's showing protective and territorial aggression. manifestation of behavior problem shows up this way b/c of his breed. now he is chasing emma, who is faster than he is. that's a behavior that is normal in Australian Shepherds. this exaggerated behavior shows up in his play, in his aggression, etc. again - the mode of play - stalking - is shaped by his breed. you'd see similar play behavior in similar breeds. but that is different from saying breed specific aggression. you can have breed associated aggression. what if you have a dog dx with territorial aggression. dog bites mailman. can mailman ask to have dog killed? he can ask. you can say no. if no reported bite record exists, they lose. if they subpoena hospital records, they show a propensity, but still have to prove negligence. was dog running around loose? was sign posted? does diagnosis create legal problems for the dog? well, dogs with diagnoses are more reliable b/c people know how to handle them. you go to court and say diagnosis is x, so under what circumstances did situation occur? owners who seek help are less liable than owners who didn't seek help. 90-95% of these dogs improve so much you'd never know there was a problem .70% are well controlled. we euthanize fewer than 3-5% of dogs. Dr O believes if we got these dogs earlier, we could do even better. this is b/c of highly motivated clients who wait 6 mos for an appointment. Breed specific aggression in ESSP? no. in ESSP, 50% of dogs in certain line develop dominance aggression. But there is no such thing as "breed specific aggression." English cockers in UK esp solid colors esp red have dominance aggression. here in US are not. anxiety disorders: at social maturity you get social status changes, physical activity changes, neurochemical changes, and development of fears, anxieties, phobias, and aggressions. anxiety disorders are caused by dog's uncertainty about environment. we need to educate people about communication with pets. need to explain to people that not every person needs a pet. if a person gets a pet but doesn't develop a bond with it that is a bad situation. dogs/cats change as they get older. owners have to realize it. anxiety: human definition: apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of dysphoria (in humans) and/or somatic signs of tension including vigilance and scanning, autonomic hyperactivity, increased motor activity and tension. focus of anxiety can be internal or external. we can see the external triggers, but not the internal ones. behaviors associated with fear: fight, flight, immobility. all can be normal behaviors. stimuli associated with fear include: predators, intense physiologic or environmental stimuli, conspecific threat, or endogenous stimuli. if endogenous, again, what do we do? we can't see it? if it's external we can identify it, avoid it, change it. some dogs just withdraw at 8-10 mos of age and we do not know why. they were raised with littermates, nothing changed, others are ok. endogenous panic disorder? fear can be an adaptive response in context. context makes the difference. genetically fearful dogs - look at littermates - are they normal? phobias are always out of context and maladaptive. separation anxiety nonspecific signs occuring within context of separation anxiety: salivation, termbling, shaking, increased or decreased motor activity, vocalization, elimination, etc. necessary condition - physical or behavioral signs of distress exhibited by animal in the absence of or lack of access to the client. sufficient condition: consistent, intesnive destruction, elimination, vocalization, or salivation exhibited only in the virtual or actual absence of the client; behaviors may be subtle (autonomic hypersensitivity, increased motor activity, increased vigilance, scanning) and become apparent as the client exhibits behaviors signalling departure. often people say they don't get it - dog is fine until person leaves. so ask - is dog acting the same in am as when person comes home? setting burglar alarm may trigger anxiety in dog. dog may not eat biscuits until person comes home. people leave toys stuffed with treats - they want dogs to play while they are gone. risk factors: rescued dogs rehomed dogs dogs relying heavily on set schedules older dogs with cognitive changes idiopathic development - abnormal dogs for example - if dog is used to you coming home at 5 and then you start rotations, dog can freak out b/c now you come home at 3 or 8 or 10 or 1 am. older dogs with a sense of neediness often dogs are attached to one of several owners don't forget we don't even notice the sad lonely dog sitting quietly. we only notice the dogs that create problems for *owners*. people may report dog has diarrhea when he goes out at night - due to anxiety. the idiopathic development dogs are abnormal, most common type. ? slide: McCann, the Shar Pei, adopted from family who no longer had time for him. he'd been kept in a closet. he was a JAVMA case. in 2 hrs, he ripped out the whole damn kitchen, looks like. ate some insulation, tore up the spare room and the pantry - didn't eat the 40lbs of dog food he "liberated" but ripped it to shreds. ripped up the bathroom - wasn't playing, but was distressed. in 2 hrs did 20,000 bucks worth of damage. what triggered this? a suitcase. people were packing to go on a cruise. this dog had had subclinical separation anxiety and been misdiagnosed. was put on thyroid meds inappropriately and made thyrotoxic. that made this worse. he's doing ok now, but he's on meds. lick granulomas - lesion is in the brain! dog licks the whole time he's alone. pain and pruritus look the same as anxiety at the level of the neuron. kids with allergies are overrepresented in behavior problem population of young children. if you're itchy you're bitchy :). steroids give you mood swings. leslie is making voiceprints of dogs with separation anxiety. arf, arf, arf, arf, arf, 6-8 hrs a day! mailman comes and dog goes arghargharghagrrrrghargharrrr and shreds the mail. but high pitched, atonal bark is typical. do not tell owners to crate the dogs. may help some dogs, may make dogs feel trapped. half the patients destroy crate, break teeth and nails, b/c they feel trapped. but some dogs love crates, with toys, chewies, blankets. factors affecting outcome of separation anxiety: duration, number of concomitant signs, intensity of signs. they change their underlying neural substrate with time, and become really incurable, requiring lifelong meds. do any dogs improve with addition of another dog? yes, but they have to get a little better first before the second dog will help. they have to be starting to become more normal. the other dog gives them an animal against which to model normal behaviors. panic: same signs. necessary conditions: sufficient, profound, nongraded extreme response exhibited out of context to provocative environment manifest as active avoidance, escape, or anxiety associated with sympathetic activity sufficient condition: as above including mania or catatonia conncomitant with decreased sensitivity to pain or social stimuli. repeated exposure results in invariant response slide: dog - panic disorder - was supposed to be in closed, covered run, but was put in open run. ripped out her toenails in 10 minutes. putting her in covered cage stopped her from panicking. other panic type disorders - associated with noise - same nonspecific signs. noise phobia: same response - but to noise instead of to something else. if panic is involved, with separation anxiety, you doon't want to introduce another dog. you can't break a phobia without medication. these phobias like storm phobias may run in families. drugs: alprazolam (noise, panic), benzodiazepine is needed for a panic. if there is fear, anxiety, etc - you need daily baseline TCA or SSRI. behavioral dx: cognitive dysfunction: change in interactive, elimination, or other something something associated with aging but not associated with any organ dysfunction (eh?) see handout. may start peeing in house, lose sleep wake cycle. brain is starting to deteriorate. pacing. confused. no focus. navigating randomly. it seems brain cells shrink (primary or secondary?), poor response to NT pulses. most drugs that we use augment things like dopamine that are higher up than serotonin - then the cells plump up and behavior improves. drug of choice for cognitive dysfunction: deprenyl (MAO-B inhibitor) - affects dopamine function through stimulation and blockage of degradation. OCD in dogs - occasional tailchasing is normal in young dogs - self play. habitual tail chasing, esp if accompanied by biting, could indicate a health problem --- or ritualistic behavior! factual hints - minimum 2.5% of human population suffers from some form of OCD. if you have any manifestation of it, your relatives do too. repetitive stereotypic motor, locomotory, grooming, ingestive, or hallucinogenic behaviors occuring out of context to their normal occurence or in frequency or duration that is not normal... circling, tailchasing, fence running. flybiting, self mutilation, hair biting, vocalizing, chewing, other. she went WAY fast here, I didn't get down a lot of stuff starting with cognitive dysfunction. video: asian cat breed chewing something. ingestive form of OCD. this is a thai cat. he eats holes out of blankets. he can't stop. it's not a nutritive disorder. he can't stop. another kitty - doing self directed vocalization and aggression. gets really agitated. sees his tail and flips out. totally abnormal. a dog having a hallucination - dog is looking for mice. ever since a mouse ran through the house, the dog has been acting like he has been seeing a mouse. he's pouncing on nothing. this dog does nothing but this. ever. ---end----