IKE, THE BLOODHOUND
Busy week last week! I promised to fill you in on Ike, the Bloodhound who has challenges with aggression, reactivity and resource guarding. I had a lot going on, including visits from the equine vet and the farrier early in the week, and three consults on Friday. I usually don’t do more than two consults in a day because between preparation, the actual 2-hour consult and writing the follow-up report, they can be pretty draining. So now I’m coming up for air and I invite you to meet Ike.
BUT FIRST, A PEACEABLE PAWS HOLIDAY OFFER
But first... We’re done with our 2024 academies, have one workshop coming up November 9-10, and are planning our 2025 events. As a thank you to all of you who are reading my blog, I’d like to offer you our PPaws Holiday Special – a 10% discount on next year's academies and workshops. If you sign up for a 2025 event during the months of November or December using the code ppaws10 you will receive a 10% discount. If you pay the amount in full, you get the discount when you pay. If you pay the deposit, you will receive the discount when you pay the balance next year. Academy tuition is $1500 for the 6-day course, so a 10% discount saves you $150. Happy Holidays! You can go here for more information: https://peaceablepaws.com/programs-services/ or contact our office at info@peaceablepaws.com or call 301-582-9420. We’d love to see you here in 2025!!!
AND NOW, IKE!
I have to begin by confessing that I love Bloodhounds. I had one myself, Otis, many years ago during my long-gone hippie days. Yes, I was a hippie, living in a school bus – in California, of course, because that’s where all good hippies went. I adopted Otis from the Marin Humane Society, before I even started working there in 1976. I’d post a phot of him if I had one, but we didn’t have cell phone cameras in those days, and hippies couldn’t afford real cameras and photo developing.
I’m happy to say that Otis was a lovely boy - he didn’t come with the behavioral challenges that Ike presented. Ike, now four and neutered, was purchased as a puppy from a breeder who stopped returning the owner’s phone calls when she contacted them about his behavior issues. (That tells you something about the breeder…)
His aggression manifests as resource guarding of food, space and his humans, and the other two dogs in the home, older Beagles, are the unfortunate recipients of much of Ike’s attention, as are some human visitors. Doing the best they knew how at the time, Ike’s humans unfortunately have used verbal corrections and some physical coercion in their attempts to deal with his behavior. Not surprisingly, Ike’s behavior had escalated over time, likely a function of his behavioral success (the Beagles try to avoid him and his resources!) and the additional stress resulting from the use of aversive "correction" attempts.
As we know, aversives can succeed in shutting down behavior in the moment, but they add stress to the dog’s stress load (and stress causes aggression) and they don’t change the underlying cause of the behavior – so when the relevant antecedent occurs again (ie – Ike perceives a threat to his resource) the behavior happens again, this time with additional stress due to his anticipation of human aggression.
The Consult
I was seated when Ike and his human entered the room. Ike checked me out and did not bark at me, but was not affiliative – he did not invite interaction, which suggests a level of discomfort with strangers. He explored the room with reasonable confidence, although he was concerned about a dog statue on the windowsill.
We know that Ike missed out on early socialization during COVID. His reactive barking is likely a result of this, and probably fear-related, even though he doesn’t appear to be an overly fearful dog. He has learned that barking makes the bad things go away (he doesn’t know they were often going to go away anyway), so the behavior is reinforced – and behavior that is reinforced increases – the likely explanation for the escalation of his arousal behavior over the past 3 years. I emphasized with his humans the critical importance of management so Ike’s behavior doesn’t continue to escalate, and so our modification program can be successful, and also so no one gets hurt. Management for Ike includes anti-anxiety medication (which he was already on via his veterinarian; I encouraged them to discuss an anti-anxiety “cocktail” for possible further benefit via a phone call with a veterinary behaviorist if necessary), covering windows to prevent daily reactive barking at passers-by and vehicles, and changing their feeding locations so the Beagles didn’t have to walk past Ike’s feeding station.
I also explained why it was vitally important to stop using punishment for Ike’s behaviors, and they seemed on board with this.
Medical: It is always imperative to consider possible medical contributors to behavior (I always ask my clients to provide me with a complete set of their dog’s medical records prior to our appointment). Ike has had some past issues with itching, and I noticed his left ear was hanging lower than his right, so I urged his humans to get that looked out. (There’s nothing like pain in your ear to make you grouchy!). He is also overweight. Since Bloodhounds are one of the breeds that is genetically prone to hypothyroidism, I strongly suggested she have her vet check that as well. Hypothyroidism, even subclinical levels, can contribute to behaviors such as stress and anxiety. (See: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/health/help-for-dogs-with-hypothyroidism/ ) Here is a link to a great resource - it lists many different breeds of dogs and the heritable/genetic disorders that are common in those breeds: https://www.hsvma.org/assets/pdfs/guide-to-congenital-and-heritable-disorders.pdf
Protocols: We explored several protocols for Ike, and agreed on the ones below to start with. I always come to agreement with my clients for “commitments” – they tell me what frequency is realistic for them, rather than me telling them how often they have to practice. I find this makes it far more likely that they will stick with the program. Here are the commitments we agreed on for Ike and his human:
• Feet/Search: Dropping treats at your feet and tossing treats away from you, at least 1 time per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more (more is fine!). This can help to get him refocused on you (at your feet) when he hears “Feet!”. You practice this without distractions at first so he develops a very happy association with the “Feet” cue, and then if you use it when he’s starting to get worried/aroused it can also help to move his brain from worried to happy. You and Ike did well with this.
• 1-2-3 (and other pattern games): At least 1 time per day, 5 days per week, 5 minutes or more (more is fine!)– Leslie McDevitt’s Pattern games help create a predictable routine, which can be very helpful for reactive dogs. You practiced this with Ike and you both did well.
• Counter Conditioning and Desensitization (CC&D): At least 3 times per week, 20 minutes or more per session - doing CC&D as we did in our session, at a location where you can control intensity of stimulus to keep Ike below threshold (not barking, and willing to take treats). This is a very important piece of our modification program – changing Ike’s association with the things that concern him so he no longer feels the needs to bark at them. We did CC&D with me moving at first. Ike was aware of me but not overly concerned about my presence, as he had already spent 90 minutes in the room with me. We started about 30 feet apart and decreased the distance to about 15 feet as he started giving you CERs (conditioned emotional response looks) when he realized that my presence was making you give him chicken. We then had Lucy come in. He was definitely more tense and concerned about the new person in the room, starting at a distance of 70 feet, but was mostly able to take treats and eventually did a few CERs for Lucy as well.
Our goal behavior is this: “Ike is able to remain calm, quiet and relaxed in the presence of the stimuli that presently put him over threshold.” This is important for Ike’s quality of life as well as the quality of life of the humans who live with him.
I shared with Ike’s humans that I am optimistic about our potential for success, as long as everyone in the family is committed to following the program. Fingers crossed for this big guy!! Since not all family members attended the session, I included this in my written report: “Know that the cooperation of the rest of your family will be critically important to our success. If different family members are applying different methods and philosophies it will only confuse Ike and stress him more. Consistency is key to helping him learn how to be the dog we want him to be.”
FOR NEXT TIME
By the way, I just had cataract surgery in my right eye yesterday (with miraculous results!) and so am taking it easy for the next week – just one consult this Friday.
For my next blog, I plan to share one or more of my three last Friday consults: Viktor, a 4-year-old neutered male Australian Cattle Dog, leash reactivity; Luna, a 2-year-old spayed female Husky mix, fear-related behavior; and Ivy, a 3-year-old spayed female German Shepherd, anxiety and arousal.
Until next time…
HAPPY HOWLOWEEN!!!!!
Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA