I have studied dog behavior for many years. But study alone doesn’t give you enough knowledge or wisdom to diagnose or treat many dog behavior issues.
You must have experience with a lot of situations and have seen a lot of things. Many of the concepts and solutions I have developed have gone beyond whatever I formally studied.
I was presented with such a case the other day. I will give you the shortened version.
The owners adopted an adult pit bull mix about 4 months ago. The dog was a very sweet dog, and they fell in love with him. Right from the start, however, he had panic attacks. Furthermore, there were two instances when a family member went over to him, and he lashed out at them.
They had consulted several local dog trainers (they are not located in Arizona) and had a veterinarian do an exam. The exam came back with no indications of any medical problems and the vet prescribed Trazadone for the lashing out.
I heard about this case from a friend who messaged me after seeing them asking for help online. She referred them to me since I will do online consultations. Later that day, they called, and I talked to them for about 40 minutes. During the phone call, I could hear the dog have a panic attack in the background. I noticed the tone of the vocalizations. My diagnosis? The panic attacks were seizures, the Trazadone probably triggered the latest one, and to get a second opinion from a veterinarian.
Unfortunately, I was correct. The second opinion by a veterinarian (I’m not sure if it was the same original veterinarian) was this dog had brain damage from previous abuse. The recommendation was euthanasia.
How did the first veterinarian and all those other local trainers misdiagnose what was going on? And would it have been fair for some dog trainer to punish this dog for lashing out? Was the prescription the right answer?
The answer to all of this was years of experience. There wasn’t one single element that could be found in a typical dog training course or book. But the accumulation of all these years of experience made clear the actual problem.
Do I have a bunch of letters after my name (such as a certified this or that, or a DVM)? No. That didn’t mean I didn’t know what to ask and to be able to propose a diagnosis to be verified, even though I live over 1000 miles away.
Study + Experience = Correct Answers.
This was not a happy ending, regardless of what I know and what they found out about their dog.
Plan accordingly.