So...Jad goes home tomorrow. What a ride this has been for me as a trainer and behaviorist. I am sending him home with a lot more things to try, but still no sound diagnosis or prognosis. For myself, and for his owners, I'm splitting things into what we know, and what we still need to find out.
What we know:
1. When given a lot of environmental enrichment and exercise (ie., at my house, with a huge fenced yard and 10 other dogs), he is an almost normal - albeit somewhat obnoxious - whippet puppy. His energy is higher than that of the whippet pups I've raised, but not to any noticeable extreme.
2. Even on days he has less exercise/stimulation, from early morning to about 2pm, he is a pretty normal whippet puppy; same goes from about 10pm through the night.
3. His afternoon agitation is definitely beyond the limits of 'normal' in that he seems utterly incapable of controlling it once he's worked up.
4. Light (maybe only flourescent?) seems to play a part in this. When the lights are low, he is notably less agitated.
5. Slight compression/pressure seems to possibly help. I put him in a Thundershirt (http://www.thundershirt.com/) yesterday and got breaks within the agitation period of about 45 minutes to an hour, twice. ...this is significant, when you consider that normally when he is agitated, the agitation continues for 5 to 8 hours at a time.
6. Today, I am trying an antianxiety medication called Alprazolam. We'll see how it goes....
7. Mother Nature prevented us from getting to try him out on lure coursing this week - too cold, too rainy, WAY to muddy to be safe, so we'll save that for the "Things to try in the future" file.
8. When all else fails, train, train, train. He is now capable of a 7 minute down-stay. This doesn't 'cure' him, but the plan is to continue to increase the duration of the stays until he can have a long term, 'resting' job during his agitation. In essence, train him to train his body to longer periods of rest.
Things we still need to look at:
1. Diet may be playing a part in the problems, as he has had diarrhea coinciding with his agitation most afternoons. After just a bit of research, I am REALLY wondering if it's the gluten in his diet. If you're skeptical, check this out! http://www.natural-remedies-and-recipes.com/gluten-intolerance.html
2. If this is a biorhythym or arcadian cycle gone awry, melatonin might help.
3. Treadmilling (where IS the treadmill fairy with a free treadmill when you really need her?!) may help - it will provide both cardio exercise, and repetitive motion - which he seems to like doing (digging, jumping, and butt-bumping things over & over) during his agitation periods.
4. Last but not least, another whippet (and saluki, and Italian greyhound, and briard) friend of mine has been following my posts about Jad, and sent me this link: http://www.calmingcollars.com/ It somewhat stands to reason that if the thundershit works, this may help as well.
So, with all these unanswered questions, why is Jad going home? Well, mostly this experiment was to determine if all he needed was more exercise and/or good doggy role models. We've definitely seen that while both are beneficial, they are not the only issue. The next step is to get him back into his home, with his own routine, and see if the above things will help.
With Chris & Michelle's permission, I will keep you posted on his progress!
Jennifer
Jennifer Hime owns & operates Front Range K9 Academy & Horsetooth Whippets. She can be contacted through k9counselor.com
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