You learn a lot of things after years of being a dog trainer. Thousands of dogs come and go and many seem to fall into the same categories of behavior. They are easy to analyze and prescribe behavior modification courses based on obvious traits. This is until you run into a dog like Simba. About 12 years ago Simba’s owners called us for help. They lived in Huntington Beach California in the heart of the OC, living the good life. They had a home on the ocean with their own personal dock in their backyard. They also had two beautiful teenage daughters and a male Golden Retriever pup named Simba.

The call began with Simba’s owner Robin, explaining to me that the family had purchased Simba as a puppy from a breeder. At six months of age the family had found Simba to be a very difficult puppy. They called a local trainer to perform in home lessons. The trainer after meeting Simba was sure that there wouldn’t be any difficulty since Simba was a Golden Retriever (a breed known for being easy to train and very compliant to commands) and he was a professional trainer. How hard could it be?

She explained that the trainer after several lessons gave up in despair as Simba, no matter how hard he tried, could not be expected to hold a sit or down stay command. He was mortified as a dog trainer that he couldn’t explain to the client why he could not provide a successful result with something as seemingly simple as a Golden Retriever puppy.

Robin now explained that Simba was over one year of age and close to being turned in to a rescue or worse. His behavior had been getting more and more bizarre over the past year. It started with his sudden obsession with the french doors at the back of their house. She explained that Simba would be lying in the sun asleep by the door and then suddenly would wake, look at the door and lunge toward it as if it was an offensive creature. He would scratch and bite at the french doors for a minute or so and then just as suddenly curl back up in the sun and go to sleep. In addition, he would sometimes display the same bizarre behavior when being walked by the family. He would be walking along fine and then suddenly lunge at one of them and begin scratching them.

The final straw happened when one of the teenage girls was taking him for a walk by the sea wall and suddenly he lunged at her. She fell over the sea wall with the dog. As they hit the water the girl was afraid for her life that the dog would continue his assault on her. Apparently the shock of hitting the water had shocked him into reality and he did not continue the assault.

I was instantly curious about this strange behavior and asked Robin to bring the dog out for a consultation. Upon evaluation Simba appeared to be a normal lively Golden Retriever. Given his history we agreed to take him in for observation and training to the extent possible. He was put into our indoor, outdoor runs that house the larger dogs. These runs have doors that open between the inside and outside portions. These are not doggy doors but regular doors that open out.

It did not take long for us to hear a terrible banging sound coming from the kennels. The kennel techs came running, exclaiming that we must see what Simba was doing. We all filed out the door to witness Simba standing on his back feet pushing the door open and closed as fast as he could manage.

He was pushing the door so hard that it was slamming back at him without getting a chance to close.

We immediately requested that he be put in a run without a door. These runs are totally indoors and have a sleeping pallet in the back corner. Simba was deposited here and all was quiet for awhile.

Within a couple of hours the kennel techs came back again with another request for us to witness Simba’s behavior. This time he was leaning against the wall of the kennel scratching at the pallet. Even though at least four people were standing at the door of his run he focused entirely on his pallet intent on scratching away the demons that he apparently envisioned. Even calling his name did not get his attention for about 30 seconds. He suddenly looked up and came to the door happily wagging his tail. Within 30 seconds however, his head snapped back towards the pallet and he left us for another assault on the pallet. He scratched and whined, and dug at the pallet as if his life depended on it.

Okay, now I knew this was something I hadn’t seen before! He didn’t always exhibit this behavior. He went out for training and was actually progressing between these strange periods of being transfixed by mysterious creatures, or whatever he was seeing in these hallucinations. While applying the typical behavior modification I suggested to the owner that we take him to a specialist I was familiar with in Palm Desert who dealt with Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. We went together and he prescribed Simba Prozac while he was in training. The Prozac only had the effect of making him a happy hallicinator. He continued to show these bizarre behaviors as well as acting as though he was stung on the rear by a bee periodically while he was training. At other times he would act as though he were seeing bees or flies while performing a down or sit stay command. He was so convincing that even the trainers would look for the insects that he was seeing.

When the Prozac was ineffective we took Simba to a Neurologist who diagnosed him with Behavioral Epilepsy. He explained that Simba had the equivalent of crossed wires in his brain. The misfiring was in the Behavioral Lobe which was causing him to have a seizure in this region. Unlike Motor Epilepsy you cannot see the evidence of the misfire except for the bizarre behavior. As with Motor Epilepsy he prescribed Phenobarbital which had to be adjusted based upon the response. This actually worked and after the appropriate adjustments the client had a 70% improvement which made it much easier to live with Simba. This diagnosis actually made the difference between them being able to tolerate Simba and giving him away. This was partially due to the fact that they could now understand him.

Since dealing with Simba we have had just two more of these cases. One was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who would sit in the window for hours snapping at imaginary flies. Another is a Border Collie who we often board, who will stand on its back legs and spin in circles snapping at imaginary flies for hours on end. The neurologist reports that these are common breeds that display this disorder.

Your average veterinarian cannot diagnose this type of disorder. If you think that you are dealing with something similar to this behavior, you should consult a specialist in Canine Neurology.

If you would like to learn more about dog behavior I suggest that you read:

Dog Training 101- The Book You Need To Take Control.

You can purchase this book by visiting our web site at: http://www.K-9Companions.com

Karen Duet is co-owner of K-9 Companions Dog Trainng and K-9 Security & Detection Int’l LLC. She is the author of 4 internationally recognized books on dog training: Dog Training 101, Advanced Schutzhund (nominated for a Maxwell Award), The Business Security K-9, and The Home & Family Protection Dog. She can be reached through her web site at: http://www.K-9Companions.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Duet