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11/20/2019

Prozac and Trazodone: Are We Overmedicating Our Dogs?

15 Comments

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Every year we keep a tally of dogs who have been prescribed Prozac, trazodone, or some other type of antidepressant drug, and unfortunately the number keeps going up ever year. Why? Because we are treating our dogs like human beings. We are forgetting that we signed up for an animal to live in our house, and that these animals the needs of a dog, not of a human. Buying them more toys, hanging out with them in the tv room, snuggling in bed with your dog. These are all great, but they are all bullshit. Your dog doesn’t need it, humans do. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do all of the things listed above too, once my dog’s needs are met. I love my dogs more than anything else in the world, ANYTHING, but I will never forget that they are dogs. They are not my kids. The second I get that twisted, is the second I fail them. I treat Trigger, Thurman, and Xena like dogs BECAUSE I love them so much. Because I respect them so freaking much. Let’s dive in.

Dogs are prescribed prozac and trazodone left and right. (which by the way is not a reflection upon the owner. This is not a guilt trip on you, you are following the direction of someone who is following protocol. My goal, is to change that said protocol) They are prescribed for separation anxiety, nervousness and fear, and worst of all overexcitement and too much energy. Are there some dogs who need medication, absolutely. However, I’m going to go out on a limb and say less then 10% of the dogs I train actually need it. What they need is structure. They need to be treated like a dog. They need challenged through exercise, mentally and physically. They need to work. That is the bottom line, and something we forgot along the way. These dogs, they were bred for a purpose. Our job as responsible dog owners is to give them that purpose, and it’s not to hang out in the house and do a short 15 minute walk everyday. That’s not enough. That is not going to cut the mustard.

How can we be better? We can start by changing our mindset. Yes, some people own dogs that dont get Regular exercise and they live a perfectly “happy” life. That shouldn’t be the standard, and honestly, it should be far from it. Some of the higher drive and energy dogs need, two good 40-60+ minute exercise sessions a day. Before we start to think about the, I don’t have the time, remember, this is what you signed up for. Daily obedience sessions, even a few 10 minute sessions daily can change your relationship between the two of you! Exercise alone is not the only component that will fix this problem, its a huge piece though. The other? Teaching your dog down time. Teaching your dog that doing nothing is indeed doing something. This is where it gets hard. We love and recommend kennel training, the right way, and never to be used as a place for punishment. Ever! The kennel though, when introduced correctly, becomes a tool to slow your dog down, so they know they can relax and hang out. (We will go further in depth about re-crate training your dog our next blog post.) Structure in every part of your dogs life. Dogs need to know where they stand and what they should be doing constantly. Knowing what youre doing creates confidence, decreases insecurity and anxiety. Have you ever gone to work and no one tells you what to do? You’re ready to hit everyone in the office with a baseball bat, because it creates stress and anxiety.

Give your dog absolutely nothing for free. Make them work for everything. You want to go outside? Perfect, do a down. You want to eat your meal? Beautiful, let’s practice impulse control and have you stay on place beforehand. This mindset of actively working your dog, is life changing. Not just for your dog, but for you!

As always remember, “Properly trained humans can be a dog’s best friend!”

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15 Comments
Olivia L
2/15/2021 05:02:56 pm

What are your thoughts on medication for travel? My GSD is anxious in the car but we don’t medicate him daily. We are in the process of training him to be better in the car, but it’s difficult to stay under threshold for a long unavoidable trip

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Natalie McLaughlin
3/8/2021 09:40:09 pm

I had my 1.5 year old australian cattle dog mix in training and made sure she got at least 2 hours of exercise every day. She had to work for all her food and we did regular training sessions every day. But she developed generalized anxiety because of being fearful of one of my roommates. The trainer told me getting her on prozac would help with training her not to be less fearful through classical counterconditioning which we are working on every day now. But two weeks in the prozac is making her lethargic which makes me feel bad for her. I hate the over-medicating tendencies in our society but I also know her fear was at a very bad level. So I am trying to figure out if I did the right thing?

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Daryl Wikowski {SUPERK9TRAINER}
4/19/2021 05:56:24 pm

To directly answer your question if you did the right thing, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to err on the side of more likely no you did not. We stated at the end that you knew her fear was at a very bad level. I guess my question would be how would you absolutely know this without a degree in behaviorism or canine behaviorism. I'm not saying that this is the case with you however I am saying 95% of the time or more the general public Miss reads or exacerbates a condition or mislabels it.

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Natalie McLaughlin
4/19/2021 06:39:01 pm

I was working with three dog trainers, all with degrees in canine behaviorism. I would love any advice you have. What would you do if your dog continuously ran at your roommate with her hair standing up and had bitten her twice? Now I just keep them separated (different roms) and we do counterconditioning for very brief sessions with high value treats. My roommate walks into her sight and the who time I continuously feed. It's made a big difference but has certainly not made her fear go away.

Daryl Wikowski
4/20/2021 01:56:38 am

Okay well you offered new information in your follow-up, comments. The original post did not mention you had worked with professional behaviorists. I certainly appreciate the severity and extreme difficulty of your situation I would love to speak with you or at least message you on this. I guess I feel some of the things you're still saying are very contradicting. But this could be just not understanding exactly what you're trying to say. You say the dog has an extreme fear of your roommate... Fearful dogs no question are more dangerous than aggressive dogs, however with the extreme fear you describe I'm in a little bit of a State of shock that your dog actually charges with intent to engage the very thing that she is fearful of. Dogs with extreme fear usually do not choose to charge the something that they fear.. and for sure do not choose to charge with intent to engage it.
Do you happen to know the reason why the dog is this reactive towards your roommate?
Daryl Wikowski
{SUPERK9TRAINER}

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Natalie McLaughlin
4/20/2021 07:40:19 am

I'd love to chat. You can email me directly at nataliemclaughlin68@gmail.com or text me at 7109377278. My dog (Ava) tends to be more fearful of men and taller people. My roommate is very tall. Ava also is afraid of boots and clothing that isn't "normal." My roommate sometimes wears boots and lther things that scare her. She's been afraid of her all 7 months they've lived together and she does charge her. I could try to get it on video. I'd love to get another opinion on what is going on. Ava has a lot of other fears and triggers that I could describe.

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Daryl Wikowski
4/20/2021 07:45:37 pm

Dogs are incapable of being prejudiced or biased towards AGE, RACE, and SEX of a person.

However they are very capable of being energy biased

Daryl Wikowski {SUPERK9TRAINER} 😧

Reply
LeAnn Watson
5/14/2021 06:05:34 am

I have Luna , she’s an American Eskimo and she just turned 9. We got her at 2 + years old. They didn’t want her anymore. I’m not sure if she was abused by the kids but they were rich and had a great house and yard and she loved to swim in the pool they said. Her parents are show dogs. The vet said not to breed her because she could pass on the crazy. Her Knick name is Luna- tic she’s very scared of most people,and any loud noises even when a loud car is driving by or back fires. She loses her mind when fireworks go off. It takes her an hour to calm down and I’m afraid she’ll have a heart attack. Her body shakes so bad it can’t be good She barks at everyone!!! Except for my aunt Franny, never once it was amazing ( she had Alzheimer’s) didn’t like dogs but she loved Luna. She licks everything and everyone it’s like she can’t stop ( I think it’s OCD ) she has other issues too. It’s hard because we have to put her away every time someone comes over and I don’t like to walk her because she wants to bark and go after everyone. She’ll choke herself out trying to get people or animals. It’s embarrassing sometimes when she’s barking at people walking around she sounds like a rabid dog. The dr prescribed Prozac and then upped it but I don’t know if it’s ok or even working. She’s so freakin cute and I love her so much.!!! She’s out of control. Oh yes lately she’s always hungry and if we’re in the kitchen at all she’s right there and she starts crying and whining until she’s getting food and then she wants more. I don’t know i think it’s worse since she got fixed. She’s a hott mess but I can’t live without her!!! All of her teeth are falling out and she’s got really bad breath since the lockdown 4-5 teeth Thanks so much I’ll pay to get help with her so she can be happy and just relax So she doesn’t have to follow me everywhere and cry nonstop when I’m gone when for a few minutes she’s going nuts when I’m bsvk.
Thanks so much
LeAnn

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Natalie McLaughlin
5/14/2021 09:46:30 am

That sounds incredibly challenging. You rock for caring for her. Prozac seems to be helping my dog a lot at this point. She's on 20 mg/day and isn't lethargic anymore. I found this article really helpful http://www.drjensdogblog.com/behavior-medication-first-line-therapy-or-last-resort/?fbclid=IwAR0UiHWrmrwGNIOK0s6EpYwbvi24bDP1n_I5LTR_uSEMkxKSoRhAbWo5DLU&fbclid=IwAR3L3ndoVCbqKjOT9u2QXrQcl2yhQU0tRW_-JY18oWW73RPY_a2SLDlPY8Q

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Alexa Michel
8/26/2021 12:01:12 am

Hello! I have a five year old mutt, Kona, definitely a collie, lab, pitty mix. He has a lot of generalized and separation anxiety. Otherwise, he is really good, easily trained, works for his food, toys, walks, etc. Knows lots of tricks, great recall. He loves to run, go to the dog beach, any puzzles. I recently have moved to Denver from Chicago and have taken him with me. If I even leave to go to the bathroom and he's not in there he will cry and bark. If I leave the house he will cry bark and whine until I come home. I have bee using CBD but really havent seen much effect. I think I will try the trazodone for when I really need to leave him, but my vet is prescribing prozac too. Let me know your thoughts and if you have time to chat!

Reply
Barbara Buhrman
5/4/2022 04:40:30 pm

Have to be careful giving trazodone and prozac together, could develop serotonin syndrome. This could be life threatening.

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carol greer
10/17/2021 12:00:14 pm

HI - I need your help - I have a 3 year old pure bred cocker spaniel who is a rescue and he is an absolute nightmare

He was lunging at us initially- when I got him

Now the vet has put him on prozac and he has been on it 3 weeks and we are still having issues

we have hired a personal trainer - from bark busters

What can I do next to help this dog

I do not want to have to put it down or have it bite someone or hurt anyone

thanks

I welcome any help at all

Carol Greer

Reply
Christina M Landry
10/20/2022 09:16:55 am

I'm sorry you are having difficulty with your new pup. It saddens me that this behavior has become part of his personality. Feel good in knowing you rescued him from whatever situation put him in this heightened state of fear. And I feel with the right structure and boundaries you will have a wonderful companion.

I'm not sure if you ever used Bark Busters but stay clear of that organization all of their training is fear-based. Their methods are reinforcement of what our canines don't need. They do not give our pups the confidence they need to correct unwanted behavior. They are of "break the dog" mentality. And take your money show up for an hour and blow you off after that.

Anyway, statically speaking 50% of our dogs are put.on medication will need either dosage adjustment or will need to change medication altogether. Some don't need it at all. My pup had a long story involving a bad breeder who told us he was the "runt" of the litter, and Vet confirmed he was actually just barely 3 weeks old. Needless to say, he comes with a lot of fears and anxiety. At a year old he was prescribed Prozac and alprazolam (xanax) and on our test dose of Xanax he experienced a Paradoxical Effect. Talk about heartbreaking. He seems good on low-dose Prozac and low.dose Trazadone. (He's been on the Trazadone on and off for about 6 months) more steady now.

After all the obstacles we've been through with Peanut (pekingese) the most effective thing that has been successful is giving Peanut confidence to be a successful and happy dog. A $25.00 one-time fee 2-hour seminar at Petsmart is what changed Peanut's life. Because we human parents were given the beginning tools to give Peanut the confidence to be a dog. And he has been successful with those simple.tools that he can trust to recenter himself with a few hand gestures or words/commands that help him to navigate situations.

I think it's important to mention that if you choose to use medication, I am.not judging in either direction on that decision, that you are not getting an authentic version of your pet. You're working with a medicated version of your pet. And most medications of this nature are not intended to be "forever" medications. Upon those medications being removed you may find those unwanted behaviors returning along with some new ones. Medication can be very useful for some and more detrimental for.others. so I would say, my final thought here is in summation:
Don't use Bark Busters
Educate yourself regarding dog behavior tools you need to help your.pet
Give all else a try before turning to medication.

Reply
Heather
12/20/2021 01:55:51 pm

I agree and disagree, not that my opinion matters. We have a 6 year old Catahoula/Shepard mix. We adopted him at a year old . My husband was just medically discharged from the military, so moving is our life. When we adopted our puppy we had no idea he had separation issues. But we worked through them and introduced the crate. That being said each time we move he regresses. The past move was super hard because it was a temporary rental until we purchased. Said dog likes to destroy boxes and everything in his path to find us. So temporarily medicating saves his life. He isn't eating his crate, doors, the floor, and so on. But we ween him off once we are settled. Once he understands this is home and our routine is back he back to "normal". But this logic also applies to humans. None of these meds should be long term for anyone. Just to get over a hurdle and get therapy, humans and animals.

Reply
Deb
3/21/2022 03:04:49 pm

No big surprise that trainers would try to stop helping dogs with medications that help millions of people cope. You are not qualified to talk about medications for dogs and it’s a conflict of interest. All those who read what you’ve written should check out Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the ultimate expert in dog behavior from Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Dogs are sentient beings with many of the same physical and mental problems as humans and can and should get the same treatment. Try training a child like you do your dog and see how that goes over, and yet dogs have cognitives abilities of à two or three year old human.

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    Vinnie Somma

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