Aggression, fears, phobias, house-soiling, destructive behaviours. Just how bad can a pet’s behaviour get? If you think you have a problem with your pet, maybe you’ll feel better to know that things could be worse. Compare your problem child with these perplexed pets to see how it rates.

• The Kelvinator Masticator
• Tom the Teddy Tickler
• Dogs that love too much
• Sassy the Daffy Staffy
• Coping with an attack from Zorro
• Savage Dreaded Red

The Kelvinator Masticator    Top
Firstly there was the case of the ‘Kelvinator Masticator’. Skippy, the Fox Terrier would spend most of his waking hours chewing the door of the fridge. While the top of the fridge was pristine, the bottom was devoid of paint, rusted, dented, scared and mutilated like the decaying hulk of a sunken ship. No wonder Skippy’s owner was giving him the cold shoulder. Skippy was a Fox Terrier with an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD’s are behaviours that occur repeatedly and which are often harmful to the animals involved. While chewing refrigerators is unusual, a more common obsession in pets is circling and tail chasing. Obsessions are usually seen in dogs that are over excitable or hyperactive. Dogs like this almost never rest. The obsessions often start because the dogs need ‘brain fodder’. These dogs are too active for their own good and when nothing else satisfies their needs, the dogs’ tails are always hanging around and refrigerators? Who knows! Solutions for tail-chasing, circling and fridge-chewing dogs, and other compulsive disorders, always involve providing other activities to give the brain some ‘work’. Boredom is the greatest evil for such dogs. Obedience training and any form of aerobic exercise that involves some brain challenge, such as ‘fetch’ and ‘hide and seek’, are vital. Distraction should also be tried. Immediately the dog starts its compulsive behaviour, give it something else to do instead. However, you can forget punishment because the dog is not in a mental state where it will understand what the punishment is for. While the above techniques are vital, a better response is achieved if medication is used. New types of medications are now available which are often effective at reducing these compulsions but they must be combined with some form of training to modify the pet’s behaviour.

Tom the Teddy Tickler    Top
Another interesting case was provided with Tom the Teddy Tickler. Tom was an ordinary moggie with an extra ordinary problem. He was in love, but not with another cat. Instead, Tom showed romantic tendencies towards certain plush toys with which he shared the house. The Happy Birthday Teddy was his first passion. Whenever Tom touched the teddy tenderly on the tummy, a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday to You” would flood the house. This aroused his libido but he was not the faithful type. He soon turned his bent brain to a Tickle Me Elmo Teddy. Those of you who have seen a Tickle Me Elmo will predict what happened. His prodding and poking caused Elmo to emit raucous and perverted giggling accompanied by vigorous vibrations. To manage this flirtatious feline, we stopped the Teddies in their tracks by removing the batteries. Then the Teddies were attached by a piece of string and a simple pulley to a rat trap secured safely in a box on a high bookshelf. The string was tensioned and when Tom moved the Teddy, the trap was activated and the Teddy sprung away, pulled by the swinging arm of the rat trap. What a shock for Tom! The last piece of the jigsaw was to provide Tom with some other interests. As he was only showing ‘affection’ to the Teddies at night, when all else was quiet, he was given access to an outdoor enclosure via a cat door. Tasty, dry cat food was scattered around the enclosure at bedtime and, when Tom was looking for night time excitement, the enclosure and its goldmine of snacks were just what the doctor ordered.

Dogs that love too much    Top
Love can hurt in other ways and especially when animals love their owners too much. Cleo the Toy Poodle and her owner, Marjorie had a real problem. Cleo and Marjorie were totally devoted to each other. This was a problem when Marjorie wanted to leave the house. Cleo could not cope with that - not even for a minute. She would howl and bark and scratch the door and carpet to such an extent that she tore her nails off. Marjorie was horrified to come home one day to find blood splattered around her bedroom. It resembled the scene of a violent and heinous crime. Cleo recovered physically from the damage but her mental state was a real worry for her owner. Marjorie decided she wouldn’t go out of the house without Cleo again and became a prisoner in her own home. Cleo had a common problem. It was a condition called a Separation Anxiety. Cleo improved when she learnt that being away from Marjorie, was a normal part of everyday life. In fact, not only was it normal, she actually enjoyed the lifestyle that Marjorie provided for her when Cleo was alone. Firstly she learnt that Marjorie would go away from her many times a day, but for only fifteen to sixty seconds at a time initially. Marjorie would walk through a door and casually close it behind her, leaving Cleo on the other side for a short moment. Then she would walk back into the same room just as casually but this time exit again and leave the door open. Cleo quickly learnt that Marjorie would return. Then Marjorie started to leave her in the laundry regularly to chew a pig’s ear or a chicken wing. For a while, Marjorie would hum or sing to herself in the kitchen while Cleo was in the laundry just so Cleo knew she was at home. Another part of the solution came from providing Cleo with a rich lifestyle when she was left alone. Kong Toys, Roller Balls, frozen bones and a whole host of toys were given to her in different combinations every day she was left alone. In not time, Cleo was looking forward to Mum going so she could get into the toys that were left behind. Dogs like Cleo need to learn that they can be away from their owners and enjoy it. Sometimes they need anti-anxiety medication to help them to be calm in the initial stages of separation but most dogs improve.

Sassy the Daffy Staffy    Top
Kids and pets are an interesting mix but they usually get on better than Sassy the Staffy and her owner’s eighth month old daughter, Chloe. Chloe was a good girl. She didn’t pull Sassy’s tail or poke her in the eye. Nor did she hit Sassy or take away her food. All of that would probably have been far preferable for Sassy than the true nature of the feud between the two. The problem? Chloe hiccupped once in a while! This is a problem? Yes and a major one! One hiccup and Sassy the Daffy Staffy would immediately shoot like a bullet through the fly screen door, usually without opening it first. She would charge down the back steps in morbid fear, and burrow under the boundary fence like a startled cockroach. She would not come home for hours. Sassy had a problem that is often seen in Staffordshire Bull terriers - a noise phobia. However, most Staffies with noise fears react to the boring, humdrum standard range of loud noises such as thunderstorms, fireworks and gunshots. For Sassy, the hiccup was terrifying. Sassy was just showing her individuality! Sensitive medication improved Sassy’s behaviour until Chloe matured and stopped hiccupping, and that didn’t take long but dogs with fears of thunder and the like are best cured with a program of progressive desensitisation. This process involves exposing the dog to recorded noises at low volumes, or muffled real explosions. The phobic pooches are trained to calmly accept these noises while they are increased in volume slowly over many days.

Coping with an attack from Zorro    Top
Speaking of storms, the thundering rumbling that echoed ominously from the hairy mass under the table was unsettling to say the least. Zorro, the sixty-kilogram Alaskan Malamute, was making his feelings to visitors known, using the dog equivalent of four letter words. This massive, hairy hound was aggressive. What was worse is that he was showing much the same behaviour towards the children of the family. Even Jack, Zorro’s owner and a strapping big man he was too, had been injured when the hairy beast took offence at being put outside one night. Now here was a wolf in dog’s clothing. This big, bad boy was aggressive but the worry was that the teenage children weighed less than Zorro himself. This is like living with a White Pointer in your lounge-room and the danger was obvious. Aggression towards children is a very risky matter. My advice to the owners was to consider the safety of their children as the first priority. No matter how well Zoro responded to training, the family had to accept that there was a lifetime of risk involved with this big boy. For safety’s sake, Zoro was immediately separated from the children while his training was being implemented. While he did respond to training, in the end the family took the sensible but sad step and parted with him. There are many different forms of aggression and many roads that can be travelled to improve an aggressive dog’s demeanour.

Savage Dreaded Red    Top
Brutal savagery was also the problem with Dreaded Red. Red was a colourful character but he really had his owner, Adrian, pegged. Whenever Adrian walked through the house, Red would fly after him and attack his heels - nipping and biting painfully while Adrian tried to outrun the beast. Red would even attack when Adrian tried to leave the house to go to work. He would bail him up against the wall and stand guard, not letting Adrian move. Adrian was dead scared. Compared with Zorro though, Red was smaller, a lot smaller. Where Zorro was a sixty-kilo heavyweight, Red was a featherweight at a demure 100 grams. Red was indeed a featherweight, or more correctly, a lorikeet. But he had attitude and class and a personality that was as bold as brass. This aggression was caused by the owners playing rough games with Red. It was fun at first but had developed into a problem. Time out was the solution for Red. As soon as the behaviour started, a laundry basket was plopped over Red for a few minutes. His reward for then being calm was that he was released from the basket for a short ‘kiss and cuddle’ session. The problem was solved in no time. So how do these awful behaviours compare with your pet’s problem? You’ll be happy to know that most pet behaviour problem can be solved. So there is hope for your Imperfect Pet! Contact your veterinarian and you will be pleasantly surprised with the result.