Obsessive compulsive disorder

M

Mishelties

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Has anyone had experience with this with their Sheltie? My youngest Sheltie a 2 1/2 yr old girl who I have been training for agility and has developed an obsessive compulsive problem with running in circles, she doesn't just do it during agility she is trying to runs circles every waking moment that she has.

I am doing some behavioural work with her to try to break the habit and have pulled her from agility comps for the time being. Interested to hear what other have done when dealing with obsessive type problems.

Thanks
Sandra
 
I've seen this in a flyball sheltie. The owner figured it was due to anxiety, and her solution was to always be one step ahead of the dog and tell it what to do. I only saw her for one class, but I believe she had a mat, and as soon as an exercise was done, she told her sheltie to go mat, so the sheltie never had a chance to think about the fact it wasn't sure of the next step. I know she was working on having a strong drop to break the cycle, but she moved away shortly after so I'm not sure whether she accomplished that.

Have you talked to the breeder?
 
The sheltie spin - very common in the breed, usually expresses excitement.

I would try redirecting her whenever she gets excited. Throw a ball, squeak a toy - it will have to be something relatively high in value. My male spins a lot - I don't discourage it much, but when it's accompanied with barking or nipping, which happens when he is uber excited, I redirect him onto a stick or squeaky toy (depending where we are). At first I played with the stick/toy with him, now it's become natural for him when he gets the urge for sheltie craziness to just pick up the stick or toy himself.
 
Sca does this at times but his is just a walk around something in circles. If I am at the table eating he will get into this mode at times and sometimes in the living room he will pace around the coffee table. I am lucky though as he will stop if you call him and break the pattern (or even stick a leg out to interfere).
 
Zara is really obsessive with her cirling, she yips with excitement at times. It's not spinning, although she does spin once in a while, this is circling the size of the room or the size of the yard or whatever space she is in.

I waited several years for her because her sire is a really high drive dog and consistently produced this in his puppies, however, some how that drive has ended up with an OCD problem. It may be something I've done and although I train, exercise and do a lot of mental stimulation work with all my dogs, perhaps I needed to do more with her.

My problem now is trying to break the behaviour. I have done a drop on a mat, I have worked a lot on doing recalls to me from circling and continuly rewarding her for following me - which means she is not circling. Other things I do are a drop when circling, sometimes works, not always, marking the behaviour with a 'wrong' word which seems to stop the behaviour but she then seems to go into shut down, I put her on lead before I think the circling might occur to prevent it, in addition to all her other activities I've started working her on the tread mill to wear the batteries down. If I can't watch her I crate her. I give her all her food for work/training or in kongs and treat balls. It's almost a full-time job, but I'm prepared to put in the work because she needs a job to do, I just know she's worth it.

Because the circling is always clockwise she often ends up lame on her right shoulder, often takes the skin off her pads as well. So ultimately not a healthy behaviour both mentally and physically.

Nothing to do with the problem itself, but her skills in agility are awesome. If she didn't circle on course she would be a force to be reckoned with!!

I'm open to any ideas, please feel welcome to comment with anything you think might remotely be helpfulj.

Sandra
 
Have you discussed medication with your vet ? Maybe a calming remedy...sounds pretty intense if paw pads are wearing out. May not be a behavior issue.
 
If it's that bad I agree - you should check with your vet about getting medication to help you break the cycle.

I would still work on redirects to high value objects but if it is so firmly entrenched you may need extra assistance. I've got a high drive sheltie female that is obsessive about balls - and I mean really OCD. But I do encourage her to focus on balls rather than developing other behaviours because I can control the ball and it goes away when we aren't playing.
 
Just got the remainder of the results back from neurological testing we had done, not a behavioural problem a medical problem. I'll post something to the health section of the forum.

Thanks everyone for your feedback
Sandra
 
Btw - welcome I didn't realise you were a fellow Aussie.

Sounds interesting. I would love to hear more about the testing - didn't realise there was neurological testing available here. I know quite a few people who have used medication to help with behavioural issues and, once they found the right combination, the dog has done amazingly well. But I also know dogs with OCD or fear aggression and it is often a big step for the owner to get a neurological diagnosis from a vet.
 
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