Canine compulsive disorder (CCD) affects many breeds. The most susceptible seem to be the hunting breeds. Other breeds that may suffer from these afflictions would be the working class dogs. Genetic predisposition is a major factor in whether a dog might develop canine obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Why did this happen?
Good breeders have done their best to breed this problem out of their pedigree. Unfortunately, we still live in a society where many dogs come from “puppy mills” that care little if anything about breeding out undesirable traits. I was a “puppy mill” dog. I have a severe under bite along with a pee pee problem and I am a shadow & light chaser.
Most canine compulsive disorders are brought on by boredom. Others may manifest themselves through stress. To treat the compulsion, you must treat the cause. If you are simply looking for a house pet then hunting and working breeds are probably a poor choice.
What is happening?
Dogs are self-groomers and predators, which are behaviors that can become obsessive with them. These compulsions are performed over and over again and out of context. Prevention of dogs from engaging in their particular compulsions can create anxiety in its own right. As previously stated, these otherwise normal behaviors become obsessive. The one thing you should remember is your dog is not trying to annoy you, he/she is trying to tell you that something is not right.
Some manifestations
Lick granuloma in the canine is equivalent to hand washing in the human. Affected dogs lick their wrists or hocks excessively, over-cleaning or over grooming themselves until the skin in these regions becomes ulcerated.
Spinning, self biting and shadow & light chasing are predatory traits taken to extremes. If allowed to continue, these compulsive behaviors can become so repetitive that a dog will forgo food and water. Fortunately, my parents recognized, while sometimes funny and entertaining, my shadow chasing was not normal behavior.
Have your veterinarian rule out other medical conditions
Medical conditions such as skin infections and tumors can manifest themselves in repetitive behaviors. It is wise to rule out these types of conditions before labeling a behavior as CCD. A few simple tests can rule out other underlying conditions. Your veterinarian may run blood work and x-rays in addition to a physical examination.
Treatment for Canine Compulsive Disorder
If the problem is determined to be CCD, a combination of drug therapy and behavior modification are usually effective treatment. The two drugs are commonly prescribed are Reconcile and Clomicalm. While behavior modification alone can be successful, drug therapy without behavior modification is useless.
The key to behavior modification is consistency. Punishment is likely to lead to more stress and increased compulsion. Traditional training methods and items such as shock collars may stop one behavior but frequently another unwelcomed behavior will manifest because there has been no treatment of the underlying cause.
Whether the cause is boredom or stress, spending more time interacting with your dog is important. Increasing the dogs exercise is also effective. And instead of punishing the compulsive behavior, redirect your dogs attention to some other activity. You would be amazed how simply calling your dog over for a good petting will take their mind off the compulsive behavior.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Woof,
Desert pups here just saying woof. We saw your blog on blog catalog and thought we’d check it out.
Woof, woof
Scuba, Keiko, Norman and Toby
Desert Pups
Woof back at you.
I see you watched “Greatest American Dog” also. I’m so upset I’m not there.
None of them could chase shadows like me!
Keep coming back and I’ll make sure and make frequent visits to your site also.
Woof, woof
Lilly
I wish more vets knew about this vs having owners spend lots of money on vet visits and many many things that don’t work
Loretta
I sympathize. Obviously, you are looking for answers which is the best any FurMom can offer. I’m sure your furkids appreciate you, very much. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet. What excessive behavior is your furkid exhibiting?
This is managable. I am much better with my problem and would love to help you deal with this issue.
Best,
Lilly
My chihuahua has ccd. he compulsively licks himself the “fly snaps” and light chases.
We recently took in a rottweiler called Roxie as her previous owners were leaving the country. They told us about the paw licking, which they said was just a habit and nothing wrong physically with her paws. Having had a springer spaniel in the past who suffered from excessive grooming I kept an eye on her over the first few days to determine the extent of the problem. I found that she not only licked her paws almost constantly, she also gnawed at her paws and claws, especially her dew claws. Her front paws were so sore she could not stand for them to be touched. They also told us she enjoyed chasing the light of the torch during her late night walks.
I increased her exercise and gave her a steady set routine which she slipped into quite nicely and played games with her, tug being one of her favourites. However as light and shadow chasing had never been an obsession with our other dogs (they had always at some point chased a reflection or the light of a torch with the kids without developing a problem), my Husband started playing the light game with her when he came home from work because she seemed to enjoy it so much and it gave a chance for him to bond with her, this rapidly spiralled out of control and it soon became only too obvious that she had a serious obsession. She stopped wanting to play other games or with her toys and was completely fixated. She even started to demand that we play the game with her. Growling and prancing backwards and gesturing with her head towards the torch that is hung besides the door to the garden to light the way to out door storage on dark mornings.
She also started to become obsessed with shadows on the floor and when she saw them or the light, she would ignore everything else, including food, even her favourites. She was only eating at night after we had all gone to bed, because it was dark and there were no shadows or lights for her to chase.
Thankfully we noticed that it was a serious problem as quickly as it developed and we are thankfully on the way to helping her to be free of it. Distraction, ignoring the obsessive behaviour, rewarding the cessation of the obsessive behaviour and lots of patience has been the key. We have a way to go, but the licking and paw gnawing is a thing of the past and we can touch her paws now, hopefully the light and shadow chasing will be soon too.
We are so happy you are seeing positive results. As you know, diligence is key but is hard to keep up. Sounds as though you put a lot of time and love into Roxie. She is lucky to have you!
I know of a deaf border collie, 2-years old, with some percentage of blindness that has CCD. I wanted to adopt her and try to help but quickly realized the problem was severe and working full-time makes it hard. About a year ago, Gracie’s brother who was her constant companion was given away. I had her for one day and watched her and she did the following: run in tight circles with her head down, stop occasionally to bark at something on the ground jumping on it with her front paws and if playing, stop the circles occasionally long enough to jump up and down as if playing with an imaginary playmate; dig a hole, grab dirt and throw it around. She would stop running in circles when my dog would start to approach her but when my dog backed away, Gracie started the circles again. She also does the air-licking thing. She loves people and walks wonderfully on a lease but once unleased, the circles start. She is very skinny because she is moving constantly. Her owners live on a farm with an underground fense but are scared to not keep her in a pen because she gets scared and hides and have also ran up on someone cutting logs since she couldn’t hear the noise. There are lots of other dogs around and they all seem to get along with each other. Is there any hope at this point? It broke my heart to watch her. She is a beautiful dog.