Help Needed, Starting A Serious Problem!(Long)

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blackberry6

New member
Over the last couple of months Sophie (newf) 4 years old, has started spinning at everything and anything.Sophie has alway's spun, just not this bad. She has spun so fast she has hit the walls a couple of times and continue's to spin untill we grab her to make her stop. We took her to the vet for an exam. My vet said she has anxiety. She is on Clomipramine 75mg to start. They want us to walk her 5 miles aday. We are trying to use the treadmill without much luck. But I'm going to continue to try.
But what has me really concerned is the other day my husbands mason was here going over business. He was in the house w/ husband. As they were walking Sophie was behind the mason and he started saying ouch, Sophie was trying to bite his butt. Then a little while ago Sophie got out of the gate, still on my property and saw the neighbor,we were all outside and we heard her bark and growl really loud.
She has never showed aggression before with anything, alway's the sweet newf.
She was grabbed and brought back inside the yard. My dogs do not go out of our property unless they are on a leash. She got out by accident by one of the workers here. I yelled at all of them about making sure the gate is closed.
Has anyone had to deal with something like this. I'm calling my vet on Monday, but I wanted to come here first with some new info for my vet.
Sophie is a great dog and alway's loved everyone. I just don't know whats going on with her. I 'm really concerned.
 
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victoria1140

victoria1140

Active member
not wishing to worry you but the thing that springs to mind is neurological or a tumuor

is she spayed as sometimes hormones can cause some really funny reactions
 
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oldehome

oldehome

New member
Could it be something pain induced?
I've experienced aggression and behaviour change with an old dog that had pain.
 
Wayne A

Wayne A

New member
Anxiety is a awful feeling could be she just needs medication adjusted.
I wish you the best and hope you figure it out.
 
W

wrknnwf

Active member
Also check for thyroid problems. They can crop up at any time and cause behavioral problems.

Instead of having her to use a treadmill, get or build some agility equipment. The stress of having to use the treadmill could cause her anxiety problems, too if she hates it.

If there is a lot of construction or commotion going on at your house, you may want to consider putting her in day care or finding a way to get her out of what could be an uncomfortable situation. If there are power tools being used, the noise could also add to her woes. If that's not the case, try to find things that might be upsetting her and help her resolve the problem somehow.
 
ardeagold

ardeagold

New member
I agree with Jane about the thyroid. But make sure they send out for the full panel, not just the in-house test. I'd have it sent to Dr Jean Dodds. She can be contacted directly by your Vet or by you for a consult. She's very very accessible and is highly respected as a top canine endocrinologist. Scroll down for thyroid info:

http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/HEMOPET.HTM

As far as the turning in circles, I'd make sure to get her checked out completely ASAP. There are several things that can cause this. I've heard of it before...on a Golden forum. It's NOT normal and indicates something medically wrong. It could be more than "anxiety". Here's a list I picked up on the link below.

NOTE: The comment to take the dog immediately to the ER was in response to the poster's question and situation, which doesn't entirely mirror yours.

I believe the Golden on the forum had a vestibular problem, which isn't uncommon.

Possible Causes:

1) Congenital hydrocephalus

2) Seizure activity (less likely if circling is constant but good rule out if circling is intermittent)

3) Encephalitis or Meningitis (bacteria or protozoa such as neospora or toxoplasmosis)

4) Vestibular disease

Also can be systemic or metabolic disease:
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- Toxins
- Hypoglycemia

Based on your initial post and repeat posts, I would recommend bringing him to your local veterinarian or ER tonight - if not possible, immediately in the morning.

Tests:
- Rule out hypoglycemia with blood glucose taken during the circling
- Rule out portosystemic shunt with bile acids
- Look for open fontanelle

Treatment will be based on examination and test results
- Empirical treatment for neospora/toxoplasma?
- Empirical treatment for bacteria?
- Steroids if needed?


http://www.justanswer.com/questions...ng-in-circles-nonstop-theres-been-ants-around


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R Taft

R Taft

Active member
Once the thyroid and all metabolic disorders have been checked and all is ok, i would seriously consider something neuro. It could be something pressing on part of her brain or something simple like a severe ear infection (very deep).
I know that Jane is right about the agility though. it really helped Annabelle to do agility. It gave her confidence and got her very tired. i think a treadmill would be boring and not get all the stimulation side of good exercise. i know it is difficult to walk 5 miles, but i think even 1-2miles on the road would be better then 5 mile on a treadmill. It is all about the smells and sights. Even on a road that might appear boring to us.
We ones dealt with a sudden onset of aggression in a rescue......., Lobo, she was very sweet and had been put in rescue because she suddenly got unreliably aggressive with her previous family. We spent two months trying to find the reason, retraining, vet visits (many). One day we got a skull x-ray done and they found an abscess in her gum. It was not visible on oral exam. Noise and hugging used to trigger her. She had surgery and passed away after eight years at 15 years
 
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Garden_girl

Garden_girl

New member
For what it's worth...

I had the good fortune to work with a rescue Dobe that had Spinners Syndrome, so I was able to see it first hand. It is perplexing and watching it exhausts you. :(
I really feel for you and Sophie & what you are going through.
From what I understand, it is rare, but not terribly uncommon in Dobes and more common in Pits.
His problem is caused by an inner ear imbalance.

On the other hand, my son-in law has a Newf that he purchased from a BYB and this dog is a compulsive circler and there is a difference between the two.

In both cases, aggression never presented in either dog.

I am wondering if you could possibly be dealing with two separate neurological issues?

For the compulsive circler, exercise did the trick, but it sounds like you have a spinner on your hands. Porter the Newf, wears a backpack on his walks and although he will compulsively circle now and again (just a couple of times a day) it isn't constant anymore.

I have some links for you and added to all the help you received from the folks above, you should be able to walk into that Vets office armed with information!

Compulsive behavior in dogs

Ear problems in dogs

Vestibular Disease

The last link is a PDF which you can save to your computer, of interest to you would be page 2, paragraphs 2 & 3 as it relates to a dogs diet. It's a long shot, but its also an interesting article. http://www.caninetrainingessentials.com/images/Diet.pdf

Best of luck to Ms. Sophie!!!!
 
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blackberry6

New member
Thank you all. I will print out everything and bring it to the vets office with me. Also I would never put Sophie on the treadmill for 5 miles. It was something else to add to her walking and whatever else we did. I will go over everything said here with my vet and get her tested for thyroid problems.
 
georgie1

georgie1

New member
Hi, I myself have a spinner dog. She is a shihtzu. She is a rescue who came from a back yard breeder. I took her because I knew no one else would. Chinny, all she does is spin! She can NEVER go on a leash walk. She also needs a soft sided crate because of the harm a regular crate could do to her when she bangs into it. Somedays I have a hard time watching her, I just feel for her.She has very limited vision, the eye Dr said shadows at best. She also has lessions on her brain. Diet, well she eats only what I eat. Barely any dog food for her. She takes multi vitamins, fish oils so on so fourth. She has improved since I got her 7 years ago. Then she only spun in tight circles, like didn't lift her left foot off the ground just spun on it. Now she walks in circles, not the tight spinning. Every once in awhile she will run from one part of the kitchen to the front door where her bed is! I just love that! Her muscles on one side of her are built up where the others are not from the constant spinning. I put her in our hot tub with a vest on and she even swam in circles! She use to when you would pick her up paddle her feet and tilt her head to the left like tring to spin. She doesn't do that as much anymore. I can say anxiety is part of the issue. When things set her off, ex. my husband hollaring while watching his Nascar, doing anything loud ( we just put in a hard wood floor ugh that was horrible for her), if I remove her bed to wash it, some extremely simple things just set her off. I did try a tread mill but she can't do it. Like I said a leash walk is impossible but I tried. I agree a good diet is important. Dr Konrad Kruesi in Vermont helped me ALOT with Chinny.He also does phone consults and such. When she does her circles try and see what's going on. Like I said if I remove Chinny's bed ( even though she has 2) she just wiggs out. I mean tight circles, a whine everything until it comes back. You really have to look out of the box sometimes to see the triggers at times.
 
suse

suse

New member
I don't have any more advice but wanted to wish you and Sophie all the best. I hope you can get this straightened out.
 
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