Why Are We Drugging Dogs: A Growing Problem
This image is a snapshot being used simply to depict this dog’s state of concern. Each and every one of us has experienced some form of concern, maybe even fear, when we try something that is totally out of our comfort zone. As humans, we can rationalize that behavior to help overcome our concerns, or we can self-medicate ourselves into a stupor to make the experience less painful or fear-inducing. Dogs don’t have that.
The Push to Medicate Dogs
There is a tremendous ‘push’ to medicate dogs for things that, for decades, were better and more easily resolved by:
- Breeding away from soft temperaments.
- Training the dog and helping it become more confident through learning coping strategies that are incompatible with fear.
- Not treating them like stuffed toys or ornaments driving our social currency.
It was a proven strategy until folks got it in their head that dogs could avoid the experience of emotional discomfort the same way we do—avoid it and drug it into compliance. It’s far easier to garner sympathy for having a ‘difficult dog.’ Complaining about a dog’s behavior seems to be the new currency on social media. That, or the copious videos of dogs behaving badly, sung to the tune of millions of likes and follows and overwhelming misunderstanding.
The Role of Social Media and Misinformation
Armchair ‘experts’ want to either deny millions of years of evolution or try to put a human face on it, never coming to terms with the exploitative nature of the video that prompts others to put themselves, their children, or their friends and families at risk. It’s difficult to argue with—there’s so much of it.
The Reality of Pharmacological Intervention
What the pharmacologically predisposed folks fail to tell people is the fact that drugs have a loading phase and also an adaptive phase, where the dog is expected to mitigate the physiological changes that occur from this altered state without understanding why.
I used to be a big partier. I smoked, drank, had a drug habit, and engaged in risky associations because that was far more fun and way easier than accepting adult responsibilities. I chose this behavior because I knew what the effect of drugs and alcohol would do to me. The side effects for Fluoxetine in dogs read like one of those drug commercials for humans—”Taking this drug may resolve your symptoms for XYZ, but it could kill you!”
The Issue with Drugging Dogs Instead of Training
I have been involved with dogs for many years—decades, in fact. I have never seen so many people willing to avoid ‘adult problems’ and drug their dogs rather than entertain being mildly inconvenienced by having to actually follow a program and create a timeline to complete that program, ensuring their dog is capable of managing its own emotional state without the use of drugs. I don’t get it, really.
Dogs ‘under the influence’ of pharmacotherapy tend to be at much greater risk for inappropriate behavior until the dosages render them entirely emotionally inert. If I wanted a carpet with hair on it, I would have gotten a steer hide or fur coat.
I have never experienced a dog that was improved by drugs, and I have met a lot of dogs on them. I can also state that of the dogs being treated with drugs for behavior, every one of them was improved enough through sensible training to not need them.
A Client’s Story
I tell a story about a client that never disclosed to me that their dog was being chemically dosed to control her aggressive behavior. We went a month and a half without any improvement. I finally sat them down and asked why they thought the dog wasn’t improving, and they had the unmitigated gall to tell me that they were “just waiting until the drugs took effect.”
It doesn’t work that way, and there are still folks in the veterinary community that insist that pharmacology is the preferred treatment. Have we fallen so far from reality that our answers lie in a bottle? At what point in time did owners willingly give it over to this nonsense?
Do Drugs Help? The Unanswered Question
Do drugs help? I don’t know, honestly. I have never seen it. My experience isn’t all-encompassing, but it’s a pretty good representation. I have ‘heard’ of it, but in a state of ‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ I have my doubts.
When You Are Ready, We Are Here
We also offer comprehensive online courses for puppies and adult dogs.
