22 Sep Puppy Prozac: Medication Shouldn’t Be A Last Resort
Even though the stigma surrounding humans taking medications for mental health issues such as anxiety and depression has somewhat lessened in modern society, it hasn’t transferred to dog medication.
If a dog is displaying fearful behavior or anxiety, many owners will do everything in their power to avoid giving their dogs medication. They will try things like Thundershirts or melatonin tablets to keep their pets calm when they’re having panic attacks when fireworks are being shot off every five minutes on the Fourth of July or a sudden thunderstorm rolls in during the summer. While the those could help dogs with mild anxiety or phobias, sometimes they won’t help a dog with more severe fear issues.
In order to treat dogs with severe fear issues, owners should reach out to a qualified force-free trainer, or a qualified veterinary behaviorist so they can identify their dog’s triggers and learn how to countercondition and desensitize their pet to their fears.
CARE For Reactive Dogs defines counterconditioning as the “replacement of an undesirable or maladaptive response to a stimulus with a more desirable response, by means of conditioning procedures” and desensitization as a “technique very often paired with counterconditioning, in which the subject is kept below threshold and exposed to fears in an increasing hierarchy of intensity.”
Essentially, counterconditioning and desensitization are methods where owners teach their terrified dogs that the thing they find scary actually isn’t so terrifying by using lots of delicious treats to create a positive emotional response or gradually introducing the feared object or sound at low levels. Of course, it’s not easy and you always have to move at the dog’s pace—if they’re freaking out, you moved forward too quickly and need to take a few steps back. A good trainer or vet behaviorist will be able to explain the proper protocols for counterconditioning and desensitization, as well as give a demonstration as to how to properly execute the methods.
Just like with humans, sometimes dogs need medication to fix a chemical imbalance in their brain. Over course, there are quite a few nay-sayers who start screeching that giving a dog a medication like fluoxetine (Prozac) is “abuse” and “all you are doing is drugging your dog.”
Of course, owners shouldn’t expect anti-anxiety medications to be a quick fix—they will still have to work with a trainer or a vet behaviorist to help…
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Owners who are considering medication for their pets also have to contend with other owners who firmly believe in holistic or “all-natural” herbal remedies that shame them to giving into “Big Pharma” and say that items such as Bach’s Rescue Remedy should be all one needs to soothe a fearful dog.
Meanwhile, other owners claim that dogs should be left to “figure out” their fears “the way they do in the wild.” This is, of course, absolutely preposterous, as dogs have been domesticated for quite some time.
Unfortunately, due to the stigma surrounding anti-anxiety dog medication, many owners only start researching them as a last resort, and that’s a shame. We would be horrified if someone told a friend or relative to take an herbal remedy instead of making an appointment with a psychiatrist and a therapist in order to help combat their panic attacks, and we should be just as horrified that owners are shamed into viewing anti-anxiety dog medications as the very last resort for treatment.
Of course, owners shouldn’t rely on anti-anxiety medications to be a quick fix—they will still have to work with a trainer or a behaviorist to help their pup overcome his fears. That being said, if your dog has moderate to severe fear issues, dog medication should absolutely be your first option because it is cruel to let our dogs suffer through crippling fears. It would be like denying a diabetic dog life-saving insulin. Just because we can’t “see” the illness doesn’t mean that it isn’t there, and dog owners should sit down and discuss medication options with a vet behaviorist. If they can’t afford one, then it is important to discuss options with their trainer and their vet so that their pets won’t have to live in fear.
There are plenty of anti-anxiety dog medications to choose from, and while some dogs might have to sample a few in order to find the right one, once they’re on the right medication and dosage, it will help lower their anxiety so they can actually absorb the counterconditioning and desensitization. Just as we humans ideally need to work with both a qualified therapist and psychiatrist to help us manage issues such as depression, PTSD, and anxiety, our dogs need a combination of medication and counterconditioning in order to learn how to overcome their fears.
If your pet is suffering from severe fear issues, do not be afraid to discuss anti-anxiety dog medications with your vet, trainer, and a vet behaviorist. Sure, other dog owners might sneer or look down your nose, but the tide is changing and there are many trainers and behaviorists who advocate for medications. For example, the celebrated Dr. Nicholas Dodman’s new book “Pets On The Couch” explores how animals and humans share the same neurochemistry, and sometimes they need to take anti-anxiety medications. Since our pets can’t talk, we have to be their advocates. Don’t be afraid to put your dog on anti-anxiety medications—if they could, they would definitely thank you for helping to ease their stress!
About the Author:
Amanda Ferris is an accomplished writer who has written for sites such as TheThings, IndieReader, Fashion&Style, and New York Family. For the past five years, she has volunteered for Bay Ridge, Brooklyn’s very own Love Wanted Pet Adoptions. She currently owns a laid-back 12-year old Bichon Frise named Esme, and a 3-year-old fearful mystery mutt named Zoe whose noise phobia and anxiety sparked her foray into the world of positive reinforcement dog training.
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