Fido & Freud - Couched in psychological terms, that misbehaving mutt might just need a shrink

Tuesday, March 11, 2003
By ANGELA ALLEN, Columbian staff writer

Doggie, down? Or is it "DOWN, Doggie!" that your furry friend isn't hearing?

    Whether suffering from depression or bad manners, some dogs live with hangups that prevent them from growing into the Lassie-like companions we hoped for.

    Without fail, the experts say, a pet's problem fast turns into an owner's nightmare.

    Behavior issues, not old age and disease, are the No. 1 reason pets are euthanized, and the No. 1 reason they end up in animal shelters. Estimates from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals indicate that 8 million to 12 million pets enter animal shelters every year, and 5 million to 9 million (or 60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats) are put down.

    Who wants to adopt a dog that constantly barks, occasionally bites, relentlessly licks or sporadically urinates inside?

    Then again, what's a pet owner to do when a canine dogged by serious issues is complicating everyday life?

    These days, there's such a thing as a veterinarian with a specialty in animal behavior. In the pet world, Stefanie Schwartz said, "I'm the equivalent of a psychiatrist."

    A board-certified behavioral vet and owner of five cats, a sweet-tempered Boston terrier and a Saluki (a dog), Schwartz is among the three dozen veterinarians with similar credentials in the country.

    Dr. Lynne Seibert in Lynnwood is the only board-certified practitioner in the Puget Sound area, and veterinarian Jacqui Neilson, who heads the Animal Behavior Clinic in southeast Portland, runs the closest practice in this area.

    The behavioral discipline surfaced in the past 10 years, and only a handful of programs are offered at vet schools. Washington State University is starting one.

    Schwartz charges $199 for a two-hour consultation, and usually within two visits has helped the animal and owner enough to wind up appointments. She also has a Web site called dr-cookie.com, where she offers hand-outs, for a small fee, on behavioral problems.

    As thriving as Schwartz's practice is, she faces competition, mainly from the incompetent.

    Treating animal behavior and feelings is becoming "an increasingly trendy field," she said in an interview from her Boston-area office. "A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon with no training."

    Dog trainers don't have official training. "Anyone can be a dog trainer. Some of them have dog sense; some don't. That's worrisome."

    As well, some "people" psychologists branch out into pet psychology, which Schwartz says provides scant solution to a dog's head problems.

    Psychologists aren't vets, she says. "They're not familiar with a dog's underlying physical mechanisms that can be contributing to the problems. They don't understand the interplay of disease and behavior. They're not prepared or licensed to treat an animal."

    A board-certified animal behaviorist remains a pet owner's key to resolving a pet's head and heart problems, Schwartz argues. "Anything less is really less."

    Mel Mathes, however, a pet psychic with a 16-year business based in Columbia Falls, Mont., and an Ann Landers-style pet columnist, has talked with and treated 4,000 pet owners about their animals' problems.

    She charges $1 a minute, and most of her consultations occur over the phone, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Her Web site is petinsights.com.

    Owners call with complex questions, such as "Should I put the dog down?" or "I think I saw my dead cat reincarnated."

    Their nature is to love

    Others are challenged by simpler animal-related problems.

    "'My animal hates me. What am I doing to make him hate me?' -- I get a lot of that," Mathes said from her home office in Montana.

    "I tell them, the dog just doesn't understand something. Their nature is to love you. Food, light, water is you. Maybe they're having physical pain and they're just plain grumpy. Or maybe it's your perfume. Or you moved the furniture. Dogs are very basic."

    But, she says, we underestimate their hearts and minds, even if "they pick up our energy. If I'm having a stressed bad-hair day, the dog is going to know that."

    Absolutely, Schwartz agrees, dogs have feelings and needs.

    "Do they get met? Probably not."

    She says most of us cheat our dogs of adequate exercise, intellectual stimulation and social interaction with fellow canines and humankind. Because dogs are pack animals, they thrive on company.

    "That doesn't mean you have to hold their paws 24 hours a day."

    If they don't receive enough attention and playtime, "from the neck up and the neck down," Schwartz says, they act out, often to the owner's dismay.

    Contrary to cliches, you can teach an old dog new tricks, she says. Bad habits can be changed with perseverance, as long as the owner hasn't reached "the point of no return, that threshold of tolerance."

    When a frustrated pet owner plagued by his dog's subpar behavior is entertaining visions of the animal shelter, help is possible, Schwartz says.

    "You need information right away. It's a problem if it's a problem to the owner. If you don't fix it, we're going to lose the dog."

    As for drugs, Schwartz acknowledges the huge and growing interest in and obsession with psychopharmacology for humans as well as for animals. Though benefits can come from using medications like "puppy Prozac," she says, "drugs should never be a first line of treatment.

    "There's no such thing as a magic pill. Nothing replaces lifestyle changes and the right diagnoses. Drugs can help things along, as they can with humans. People try to take the easy way out."

    Mathes agrees that more pet owners than pets need Prozac.

    "Medicating your dog because you're messed up in the head is not necessary," Mathes said.

    With the growing interest in holistic medicine, people are seeking answers that respond to the whole pet, mind, head and tail included. Most dogs with help, Schwartz says, can change and become better adjusted, happier pets.

    There's hope for them all?

    "There are some bad dogs around, just like there are some bad people. Dogs are put down for less. Life is precious."

    If there's a sliver of hope for recuperation, rehabilitation or better days, Schwartz says, book an appointment, and do it soon.