Lulu's Behavioral Exam Results

[Guest GentleHugs]

After being told many times that the way LuLu was acting was normal dog behavior, I made another call to my wonderful vet. In short, thanks to him (and me being upset and frustrated), he contacted an old colleague of his. Dr. Chris is not only a licensed vet, experienced with Greyhounds but also is a behaviorist and practices in holistic meds, too. She's currently not practicing (she's focusing on her new family and just had a baby boy) but she still keeps up her license, etc.

 

Luckily, Dr. Chris was coming into town this past week for some other stuff. My vet pulled a favor of his for LuLu and I because he felt LuLu is a "special case". Dr. Chris agreed to stop by my home with my vet and do a full behavioral exam on LuLu this past week. The whole evaluation lasted 3 hours. It consisted of LuLu and I doing a variety of things while Dr. Chris and my vet observed, took notes, etc. I was so thankful and relieved at the end of everything - no one will ever know! It was like a big weight finally lifted off my shoulders. I learned quite a lot and I think I understand LuLu a lot better now than I ever did.

 

In short, it has been confirmed now that LuLu is NOT normal. She's had some very probable brain damage from when she was hit by a car a few years ago. She has a looooong list of behavioral problems - some of which can be modified through training and modification and some that probably will always plague her no matter what. Dr. Chris feels at this time, I am to continue training her but not to overdo it. Her little brain can't handle what a normal 7 yr old Greyhound's brain can handle. She basically has a 2 yr old puppy brain stuck in a 7 yr old dog body due to the brain damage she sustained about 3 1/2 years ago. She will not be able to pass any of the significant testing for a medical alert service dog which is ok with me. I just wanted to find out how I could help her more than her help me. I love her dearly - even with all of her faults.

 

Her list of behavioral problems start with separation anxiety, attention seeking behavior, abnormal ingestive behavior (Pica - because she ingests nonfood material but it's not to be confused with poop eating because she doesn't do that), obsessive-compulsive behavior, hyperactive behavior, some generalized anxiety and ends with a touch of some cognitive dysfunction. When one kicks in, some of the others kick in making her brain go into overload.

 

Dr. Chris taught me some additional training techniques for mentally challenged dogs that I can use to see if LuLu responds better to those than the ones I have been using. She said most of all, I am to be consistent every day, all day with using hand sign signals for LuLu to grasp on to the training. Sometimes LuLu's brain forgets so she needs a constant reminder.

 

So, although she can never be my official medical alert service dog, she can still be my "unofficial" service dog so she feels like she has a job to do anyway. It will possibly help her brain to re-wire itself eventually and overcome the challenges she faces mentally.

 

Now, Dr. Chris also evaluated Ashley and Patrick, too, but not as in depth as she did with LuLu. Ashley is a normal aging senior girl. Patrick has some issues with neophobia/noise phobia. He's sensitive to the barometric pressure changes and electrical charges in the air produced by changing atmospheric conditions (thunderstorms). He's not sensitive to the noise thunder and lightning makes - just the atmospheric pressure and electrical changes. There are some conditioning exercises I can do to help him overcome his issues which is a good thing for both of us - more him than me though. Once we achieve non responses, he will be good to go.

 

Thanks for reading.

[CaliforniaGreys]

From your biggest fans LuLu

 

Mom's a saint

[Guest GentleHugs]

From your biggest fans LuLu

 

Mom's a saint

 

Naw.... just in love - that's all. It was more about helping her than it was about her helping me.

 

And tell Ekko that LuLu is raring to go!

[Remolacha]

Fascinating! It must be wonderful to have such insight into little Lulu

[greytpups]

How interesting...I love hearing Lulu's stories and it was so obvious that you loved her so much no matter what she got into... glad you found some help as well.

[greysmom]

Wow! That must have been a fascinating process to go through. And great that you now have some definitive answers and concrete things to work on with her.

[CaliforniaGreys]

LuLu is Ekko's hero

 

And after all that she went through, she's amazing!! And for those of you who do not have LuLu's book, it's a must have, truly

[lovinggreysslp]

What an eye opening experience for you (and we greytalkers). It must feel good to have some direction and support for what you thought was not normal behavior.

[Batmom]

I'm a bit confused as there are many dogs who behave the way Lulu does -- doesn't seem odd or pathological to me at all. But I'm glad you've gotten some new directions in working with her, that may prove fruitful.

[Patclara]

At least you now know what you have to deal with.

Knowing is always better than not knowing or being unsure.

At least, that is and has always been my mind set.

[Guest GentleHugs]

I'm a bit confused as there are many dogs who behave the way Lulu does -- doesn't seem odd or pathological to me at all. But I'm glad you've gotten some new directions in working with her, that may prove fruitful.

 

I just typed a response and then it disappeared. Hmm.....

 

Anyway, I have a file folder sitting here on my desk that contains at least 15 pages or more of test results and notes about her evaluation. I know it might be hard for some to grasp all of this - especially if they are not an animal behaviorist or a veterinarian. I had a hard time at first, too. But the one thing everyone has to keep in mind is that LuLu was hit by a car and nearly died about 3 1/2 years ago. After going through the whole entire evaluation, I felt relieved but yet it took me a while to understand everything. I asked questions and I read everything slowly so I knew I understood what was happening inside LuLu's body and brain.

 

I also condensed a lot so it wouldn't be extremely long either. It would take me all day to type out everything - its that lengthy.

 

The good thing is she is does not have the abnormal ingestive behavior disorders: aerophagia, polyphagia, coprophagia, pyschogenic (behaviorally idiopathic) water drinking, anorexia, or gorging - all of which are veterinary medically defined as abnormal behavior. She does have Pica which is the consistent eating of nonfood materials. In extreme, pica, aerophagia, and coprophagia can be signs of obsessive-compulsive disorders, too.

 

Luckily, she is not neophobic or noise phobic (thunderphobia falls in this category). She is OCD because of her licking in excess than that is required for standard grooming or exploration. Obsessive compulsive is a veterinary defined behavior disorder that can be seen in cats as well as dogs. It's not due to boredom either because she's extremely hard to distract from licking.

 

Her separation anxiety is almost off the scale. She is hyperattached and must be in sight or touch of me at all times otherwise she goes bonkers. When I walked out the door during the exercise, she started whining, pacing and even jumped up on the couch, running across Dr. Chris' lap trying her hardest to see where I went. She paced, panted and wouldn't settle down until she heard me enter the house again. When I entered the house and she saw me, she didn't settle but the hyperactivity and the attention seeking behavior kicked into high gear when I ignored her and when I didn't. My other two just stayed on their beds and didn't react to me leaving or returning. Their responses were normal - LuLu's was not.

 

The behaviorist strongly believes she's had some type of head trauma from the accident 3 1/2 years ago that has caused some cognitive dysfunction. I could go all out and have a CT scan done or an MRI but in my personal experience pertaining to my MS - sometimes the damage done to the nervous, behavioral and cognitive systems of the brain does not always show. I've had MS lesions show on one MRI and then three months later - none show at all. It all depends on whether or not that part of the brain has healed and healed right or hasn't healed at all. The brain is a very complex organ.

 

So, I'm very confident of the findings/results from the behaviorist (and from my vet as well) and I'm grateful for the time she took in doing this for LuLu and I. It's helped me learn quite a lot and in turn, hopefully it will help LuLu, too. That's really all I wanted to do - help LuLu.

[Patclara]

Her separation anxiety is almost off the scale. She is hyperattached and must be in sight or touch of me at all times otherwise she goes bonkers. When I walked out the door during the exercise, she started whining, pacing and even jumped up on the couch, running across Dr. Chris' lap trying her hardest to see where I went. She paced, panted and wouldn't settle down until she heard me enter the house again. When I entered the house and she saw me, she didn't settle but the hyperactivity and the attention seeking behavior kicked into high gear when I ignored her and when I

 

We also had a Grey w/ severe SA and she just about destroyed the house i.e. metal door knobs, drapes, furniture etc

We had to crate her.

So what do you do when you must leave the house and cannot take her?

[Guest SillyIzzysMom]

It only makes sense to me that if there are people who have had brain damage that causes behavioral changes then there can certainly be dogs with the same. Or even be born with some mental/behavioral differences--there certainly are with humans. Even if the behavior such as licking and pica in and of themselves can be seen as "normal dog behavior" there is a scale--even "normal" behaviors when taken to the extreme become "abnormal". It's normal for a 7 year old boy to get angry and shout and maybe kick a toy, but it's not normal if a 7 year old boy who gets angry routinely kicks holes in the wall, threatens his little sister, and then goes to his room and crushes all his toys underfoot. You could see the mother telling her friends, "Little Mike gets so angry. . ." and the other mothers saying, "All kids get angry--that's normal". Yeah. . .but. . .a professional evaluation and behavioral modification is almost certainly needed for the latter example.

 

(anecdote taken directly from my life 15 years ago. "little" mike is now 6'2". . .thankfully he has his anger issues well under control--now his education and lackluster employment issues. . .he's still working on those!)

[Guest GentleHugs]

Her separation anxiety is almost off the scale. She is hyperattached and must be in sight or touch of me at all times otherwise she goes bonkers. When I walked out the door during the exercise, she started whining, pacing and even jumped up on the couch, running across Dr. Chris' lap trying her hardest to see where I went. She paced, panted and wouldn't settle down until she heard me enter the house again. When I entered the house and she saw me, she didn't settle but the hyperactivity and the attention seeking behavior kicked into high gear when I ignored her and when I

 

We also had a Grey w/ severe SA and she just about destroyed the house i.e. metal door knobs, drapes, furniture etc

We had to crate her.

So what do you do when you must leave the house and cannot take her?

 

Ashley was like that in her previous home. Her final act of destruction there was ripping a door completely off its hinges, chewing the door frame to pieces, etc. She ate a plastic vari kennel, broke her canines off on her wire crate, pee'd, pooped through out the house - it was a mess. When her family decided to return her because it was clear she wasn't happy with them, she came to me. That was back in 2001. They tried the kong method and it didn't work with Ashley.

 

We never crated Ashley because she HATED to be confined but we also had 2 other Greys that were pretty content, confident and secure. That helped Ashley a lot plus we used the de-sensitizing method of going out the door for a minute or two then coming back in. We kept increasing the length of time we were gone until we reached the 4 hour mark. In the beginning we did use a bit of RR (rescue remedy) with her but discontinued it about 3 months later. From then on, Ashley stopped all SA behavior.

 

Now, with LuLu - she's not destructive to furniture yet and I don't want her to become that way either. Although I have a crate, she freaks in a crate - thrashing about, etc. and that heightens her anxiety levels. Dr. Chris said to work with her without crating and see if she can't overcome the SA that way. If not, we will have to crate and maybe slightly medicate to keep her from harming herself. I asked about using a kong with her and she said that is an option I could try but since I have 2 other Greys in the house that are not crated either - the food thing might bring upon a fight when I'm not here. I can muzzle the other two (LuLu removes her muzzle) if needed to prevent unnecessary aggression over the kong. However, Dr. Chris really wants me to try without using a kong so we are not trading one behavior problem for another.

 

However, she does not respond well to me leaving when I just walk out and not speak to her. She responds better if I speak to her before leaving. All I say is: "Stay LuLu. I will be back" and then I leave. Of course, when I return, she is still waiting right there for me but she didn't rise into a sheer panic mode during the time I was gone. However, her attention seeking behavior and hyperactivity levels are still quite high when I return but they are easier to calm down, too. Much better than they get if I were to just walk out and not say anything at all to her.

 

So, I use a calming voice, the stop sign hand signal for LuLu and we've been practicing the desensitizing method of me leaving for a short bit and returning - acting like nothing is wrong - nothing happened - everything is normal when mom left and everything is normal when mom returned. I am not to show her attention at all and if she blocks my way of walking, I'm to push through and walk on by. Turning my back to her heightens her anxiety levels and then she goes out of control and ends up hurting me unknowingly.

 

The downfall to all of this is I hardly ever leave the house due to health problems so I've been making an extra effort to go outside - even if it's just standing outside the door out of sight for a few minutes catching a breath of fresh air, etc. to do the training exercise. Dr. Chris said to do this about once an hour and each time I leave I'm to increase the length of time of being "gone" by one or two minutes. We are on our 4th day now and I can be "gone" for up to an hour now without her going bonkers. We are hoping to achieve a 4 hour period of being without mom by the end of summer.

 

LuLu is also more "buddy buddy" with Ashley than she is with Patrick. If Ashley is gone (like to the vets for whatever), LuLu is very clingy and very insecure whether Patrick is here or not.

 

Dr. Chris said all pets have some sort of attachment to their humans but for a pet to be "right on top" of their human at all times is abnormal. It's a form of insecurity.

 

This was my experience with Ashley and now my experience with LuLu. What I used with Ashley might not work with LuLu and what I use(d) for both of my girls might not work on another dog.

[Guest GentleHugs]

It only makes sense to me that if there are people who have had brain damage that causes behavioral changes then there can certainly be dogs with the same. Or even be born with some mental/behavioral differences--there certainly are with humans. Even if the behavior such as licking and pica in and of themselves can be seen as "normal dog behavior" there is a scale--even "normal" behaviors when taken to the extreme become "abnormal". It's normal for a 7 year old boy to get angry and shout and maybe kick a toy, but it's not normal if a 7 year old boy who gets angry routinely kicks holes in the wall, threatens his little sister, and then goes to his room and crushes all his toys underfoot. You could see the mother telling her friends, "Little Mike gets so angry. . ." and the other mothers saying, "All kids get angry--that's normal". Yeah. . .but. . .a professional evaluation and behavioral modification is almost certainly needed for the latter example.

 

(anecdote taken directly from my life 15 years ago. "little" mike is now 6'2". . .thankfully he has his anger issues well under control--now his education and lackluster employment issues. . .he's still working on those!)

 

Dr. Chris evaluated LuLu using a scale from zero to ten! Zero (0) was for normal or non exsistent going up to ten (10) was for abnormal consistent behavior. Her SA was a 10 - it was the highest. The rest of the behaviors she was abnormal in ranged anywhere from a 6 to a 9.

 

I think sometimes we don't see a problem because we are too close to it so we think it's a normal behavior or we have gotten used to it and we become de-sensitized. But, for the people who are looking from outside the box to inside - see something totally different and recognize some things are just not within the general realm of being normal.

 

Well, it's time for LuLu and I to do our exercises again. I hope we have another successful day. I have to keep a positive outlook on things - every day will be successful!