The visit with the Behaviorist

The session began with an evaluation, so we sat on a couch and stayed quiet
while the behaviorist watched Kuma explore the room. He covered ground pretty
quickly, checking out all the objects (bone, kong, chair) but was wary of some
other things(inside of kennel, dark space behind piano, behaviorist). Elias
pretty much watched quietly, aside from making his shoe squeak on the floor
(made Kuma tense up and watch for him to make a move). He ended the evaluation
by speaking to Kuma excitedly and trying to get him to come over to him. Kuma,
of course, decided it would be better to bark and bark and bark and didn't show
much inclination of going near him.

At that point Elias came to sit with us and started interviewing us, getting all
the background. We felt embarrassed admitting how little we really knew
about the breeder. Quite upsetting to look back on... We also showed him a brief
video of one of Kuma's "episodes" - milder than his worst - where he ignored the
food set before him and pawed/mouthed at Mike (my husband), then resisted when
Mike tried to hold him back. That seemed to make an impression.

Elias then started to talk about what he thought of as the problem. He's fairly
certain that Kuma's issues are largely genetically based, some of it due to his
breed. He described asian dogs like Akitas, Chows, and Shibas as having more
primitive brainstems more similar to wild animals like foxes and hyenas. Those
animals are of course very careful about contact with humans and other
unfamiliar situations because their lives depend upon it and they're concerned
mostly with their safety. Elias feels that Kuma probably is more in that
direction than most dogs, and the temperament of his parents as well as Shibas
not being as neotenized as other breeds are to blame.

He then went in to a good deal of detail talking about the neurophysiology of a
dog's brain, describing how the impulses for safety come largely from the
pons/locus ceruleus. In wild animals like hyenas, the neurons of the locus
ceruleus are more developed than in the average house dog. He also noted that
studies of human cadavers have shown that people with anxiety disorders also
have more developed neurons in the same part of the brain. Specifically, the
locus ceruleus communicates with the limbic system - the part of the brain
largely responsible for emotional state.

In Kuma, he says, all these "Alert" signals are coming from his primitive brain
and influencing/directing his behavior in a range of situations.

Unfortunately, Elias doesn't think using medication together with behavior
modification will be particularly effective. What he said during his discussion
is that the available medications really don't work to affect neurotransmission
originating in the locus ceruleus, so it can't override those signals. He does,
however, feel that he has a reasonable chance of helping Kuma by using
Avoidance Conditioning (e.g. shock therapy). While the science behind the shock
therapy was quite interesting, we really have no interest in pursuing that
option. Honestly, Elias pretty much said to just get a new dog.

Mike, a pharmacist, does not agree with Elias' belief that medications will not
work. And I think that giving it a chance is better than nothing. So, our vet
prescribed Clomicalm and he had his first pill this morning.

However, I don't think just giving him a pill is the answer - I think we need to
work with someone on addressing these problems and addressing how we might best
deal with his reactivity.

Kuma's breeder is a moron.

She hasn't been very helpful and I told her then real danger in using her suggestion of "picking up kuma by the cheeks so that he is at eye level" as a response to his episodes. I told her this would most likely lead to a bite.

She says, "My suggestion of picking a Shiba up by his chubby cheeks works every time and have yet to have been bitten. When you say any physical punishment leads to an escalation of behavior would be correct, because he is telling you he is alpha and he will win, not you and as soon as you leave him, that proves the point. A Shiba is a very confident, head strong and determined breed as to getting what they want, being treated the way they want and acting the was they want. A negative, has to be met with a negative fairly. The suggestion of spraying Kuma in the face may work."

My husband has already lost a chunk of his lip trying her "in his face" approach.

Things have gotten worse, vet suggests a behaviorist.

I'm worried.

Things have gotten progressively worse with Kuma's behavior even with the things we have been trying to do.

Unfortunately, our vet said there aren't any real good behavioralists in the general area. She's often not happy with their methods but sometimes it works.

I'm real worried and scared.

Our visit with Dr. Sell

So, we have definitely found our new vet. She is amazing - we really like her. She is a vet and dog trainer. She spent a lot of time with us and really watched Kuma's behavior. He didn't need to be muzzled because she was quite slow and calm with him. He didn't enjoy it by any means but he put up with it.

She thinks we have possessive issues...which we kind of already knew. She also says that he is quite fearful and needs to build confidence. Which is true but we never have really thought a lot about it.

So, our goals are to work on the food issues. She thinks we need to feed him less and see how that goes. We are going to work on trading toys - he does this well with us already but we are going to work more on it.

We are also going to have more people over and help him have more positive experiences...especially with children. We're going to try to avoid the stranger reaching for his head business - which is REALLY hard.... everyone seems to come right up to him and it's just not the right thing for at this stage.

Maybe it's separation anxiety?

We finally realized the connection.

Last week, we went out a few nights and left his dinner (food) as his treat when we left. This is the connection to him getting upset when we give him his breakfast - I think he's afraid we are going to leave.

Today, when I was getting the kitchen ready (where we keep him while we are gone), rather than running to the kitchen, excited for his kong, he ran to the door waiting to go where ever I was going.

While I was away today, he escaped from the kitchen and tore our carpet up.

I forgot to include that when we leave, we can hear him barking - it's his frustrated/sad puppy bark. He never used to do this. He also has been whimpering when we put his kong down.

Diagnosed by vet as dominance and aggression....

So, I took Kuma to a new vet today. The vet is wonderful. However, the visit was awful. He was totally out of control - never seen him like that.

She asked a lot of questions and was really concerned and helpful. She did a full exam and think there is no physical problem. She thinks he has a dominance and aggression problem. And I believe it, especially after this visit.

I feel sort of at a loss. We have been doing training - have completed 3 obedience classes and were planning on signing up for agility. We have been strict with him - I think. But perhaps not strict enough?

Kuma's problems begin.....

So, we are having problems with little Kuma. I've noticed that he's been a little less interested in his food and eating slower lately. This is highly unusual b/c he usually inhales his food. Well, yesterday when Mike fed him... he snapped at him and barked (not a nice bark, either). He wouldn't eat until a few hours later. Today, he wouldn't eat either. He didn't get snappy right away but a few hours later he snapped and barked at me. It scares me when he's like that.

Should I take him to the vet right away? Unfortunately, we don't like our vet so much and I was thinking of finding another one. I think he doesn't like Shiba's. He's NOT very good.

I'm worried, a bit scared(!) and unsure as to what I should do.