From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

Today begins Part 1 of my series about Venus, our Akbash/Lab mix. Two months ago she was diagnosed with CCD (Canine Compulsive Disorder) compounded by aggression. In this series I will document her diagnosis and treatment, along with her history. 

While surfing the intertubes to find out more about CCD, I couldn’t find any individual case studies. I decided to publish our experiences in hopes of helping other dog owners facing the same illness. Feel free to send me your questions as our story unfolds.

CCD was identified as an illness in 2000, by Andrew Luescher, director of the Purdue University Animal Behavior Clinic. His report is titled: Compulsive Behavior in Companion Animals

Read additional information in this article: Canine Compulsive Disorders  by Margaret Mums, DVM

With CCD there is no beginning and there is no end. Venus has probably always had CCD – we just didn’t know it – and she always will. Researchers believe it is a genetic disorder and it is definitely progressive.

While creating the outline for this series, I realized the best way to tell our story is to begin with the series of incidents that led up to the diagnosis then work backward through the past, which is kind of like how we’re living it.

A Tale of Two Dogs

First came Zeus – 

Zeus is 8 years old. He’s a happy, well-adjusted Alaskan Malamute. We got him from a private breeder when he was 7 weeks old. Zeus is a low energy dog, in fact he’s hypothyroid. He has always responded to training, and he’s a good listener. He likes everybody. His hobbies include hiking, camping, skijoring, running around Dogland, chewing on bones, and sleeping. He’s currently involved in a tumultuous relationship with Venus.

Here’s Venus – 

Venus is 3 years old. We adopted her when she was 10 months from a family who had to give her up. She’s a high energy, high anxiety Akbash/Lab mix, heavy on the Akbash. She definitely has a “strong independent nature” and “thinks twice upon receiving commands”.  Training her has been a challenge. She also enjoys the same hobbies as Zeus.

That photo of Venus was taken on a camping trip at Meadow Lake the weekend of August 16, 2008, almost 5 months ago. Coincidentally during that weekend Venus snapped and snarled at Zeus over something – a dish of food or water, a stick – I can’t remember precisely what triggered her aggressive behavior. We stepped in before her behavior accelerated and separated the 2 dogs.

We don’t ever take dog aggression lightly so we were concerned. Until then, for more than 2 years, Venus and Zeus were good friends and got along very well. They ate together, walked together, rode together, boated together, played together – life was good.

Here’s Zeus and Venus acting like a team 2 years ago –

Until everything changed …

Two weeks after the photo of Venus was taken, we traveled to Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend to visit my family. We have a pickup camper, so we took the dogs with us.

On Sunday, there were six of us sitting on my sister Donna’s porch talking. There were no other dogs around except Venus and Zeus. They were lying down about 20 feet away from each other, looking cool and calm. My brother-in-law Tom walked outside with a bowl of grapes. Zeus stood up to move out of the way. As he did so he sniffed the bowl. Venus jumped to her feet in an instant. She bolted like lightning across the porch, grabbed Zeus by the neck and clamped her jaws. No one saw it coming.

We could’ve had a full blown dog fight on our hands at that moment. Except Zeus is not a fighter. He outweighed her by 40 lbs at the time yet he stood firm and didn’t go into aggression mode.

Tod, my daughter Ema, Donna, and I tried to get Venus to release him but she held on like a pit bull. Finally Tom grabbed a pail of water nearby and dumped it on her head. She released, still snapping and snarling. We separated the dogs. Ema had a single bite on her arm that was bleeding. Zeus had a bite on his neck that was also bleeding. Neither of the wounds required stitches.

To say we were surprised at Venus’s sudden aggression is putting it mildly. We were shocked by how quickly she morphed from calm to red zone in a split second. Because of the incident at Meadow Lake 2 weeks earlier, I had brought with me the homeopathic remedy Aggression Formula. I started dosing her with it and she calmed down.

We left Wisconsin for Colorado on Monday morning. I kept Venus on Aggression Formula and she didn’t show any further aggression toward Zeus on the 2-day drive home. On Tuesday however, when we stopped for gas in Denver, a woman that Venus didn’t know tried to pet her and she started growling and barking and lunged at her on the leash. That was not typical behavior.

Tuesday evening after we arrived home, Tod was eating a bowl of popcorn in the kitchen. He tossed some to Venus, then Zeus and POW! She attacked Zeus again. She clamped down on his sore neck. Tod grabbed her. Zeus bit him on the arm. I dumped a bowl of water on her head. She released and Zeus fled. We separated the dogs again.

The next day I ordered another homeopathic remedy PetCalm to add to the Aggression Formula. I also made an appointment for Venus to see our vet. We kept the dogs separated for 2 days and gradually Venus’s behavior returned to normal. She hated being separated from Zeus.

By the time we got in to see Dr. Cheryl Pearce the following week, Venus was on PetCalm and Aggression Formula and acting normally. I also give her a 1000 mg capsule of fish oil once a day. Dr. Pearce was new to Divide Creek Animal Hospital so that was our first meeting. I reported on Venus’s aggressive behavior. Dr. Pearce and I went over her whole history from the moment we adopted her. When we talked about exercise, I explained that Venus is leash trained but most of the time we walk the dogs at Dogland, our local off-leash dog park. Dr. Pearce advised that we put Venus back on the leash and work on behavior modification. She also recommended keeping her on the homeopathic remedies since they seemed to be working.

For 3 weeks we worked with Venus on the leash. She acted normally toward Zeus. She seemed fine again. Then in mid-October there were 2 separate incidents where she attacked 2 different dogs at Dogland. We were able to stop her aggression easily and no dogs were injured. But we put her back on the leash.

By then however we were both really frustrated. Venus just didn’t seem to be responding to the homeopathic treatment or the behavior modification. I had been dosing her with PetCalm and Aggression Formula twice a day. I upped it to 3 times a day.

Then all hell broke loose …

Stay tuned for Part 2

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