Hi Mumsnetters
I’m hoping that some clever person on here might have some experience of a similar problem, or have some tips/advice, because we’re fast running out of ways to help our gorgeous boy. Apologies in advance, this is long because I wanted to cover all bases.
So, a bit of background; DPup lives with me, my DP, a 4 year old (slightly spoiled) ShihPoo (shih tzu/poodle cross), and two lazy, friendly, large breed house cats. DP & I are experienced dog owners, having had a number of dogs in the past. Our old collie died (aged 14) early 2020 and he left a big hole in our lives. My DP, who has some physical limitations, works alone in his own shop and having a large-ish dog on the premises gives him security and peace of mind (a little, yappy ShihPoo just doesn’t really have the same effect!).
With all that in mind, we considered a number of options to fill the hole in our lives left by our old collie. We initially wanted to re-home a rescue, so we contacted loads of rescue organisations across the country with no luck (most didn’t reply, others said no rehoming was taking place due to COVID). After thinking long and hard, the decision was made to purchase a puppy rather than try to continue in vain to find a suitable rescue dog.
We spent the summer looking for a suitable puppy, avoiding what were obviously back yard breeders and puppy farms, but it proved incredibly difficult. Puppies were being snapped up quickly, even for stupidly inflated prices. Eventually, we found DPup, a smooth coated male collie, and there followed lengthy email, phone & video conversations with the breeder. We saw photos of the father (very distinctive markings which our pup shares), and DPup was still with his mother and litter mates in what looked to be a private home, so it all seemed legit and we decided to purchase him.
When we collected DPup, all was not as ‘legit’ as it had originally seemed….it was definitely a private home, the mother was there and was clearly a family pet, but the puppies (about 8 of them) were brought in from a filthy kennel/pen outside and it was all very chaotic with the pups peeing, pooing and vomiting all over the place/each other, squabbling, yelping, jumping all over each other, etc. The pup we’d reserved was the quietest of the litter, but still alert, bright & healthy looking, and we thought this was a good sign in that he’d be a relatively laid back puppy. The breeder couldn’t find DPup’s microchip with her scanner (she found the chips in the other puppies), and she confessed that he hadn’t actually had his first vaccines (she’d originally had told us he had). We were annoyed, and almost ready to walk away without DPup, but there were (literally) people queuing outside to buy the puppies and we felt very pressured after so long searching for the right puppy.
So DPup is now approx 6 months old. He’s adorable with the sweetest nature and he’s super smart; he slept through the night from day 2 (from 11pm – 7:30am), he was house-trained after about a week (he pees and poos on command), he’s never really chewed anything he shouldn’t, he doesn’t mouth/nip, he learned sit/wait/leave/down very quickly, he knows loads of words, and he has good recall (although this isn’t 100% reliable). He’s walked for about an hour/day on a long lead, sometimes two walks/day. He’s never been left alone, other than overnight, when he sleeps in his crate in the kitchen next to our other dog. The other dog doesn’t really seem to like DPup (there’s occasionally teeth baring and warning body language when DPup tries to play, etc), but he tolerates him most of the time. Despite lockdown, DPup is quite well socialised, we expose him to new experiences wherever possible and he meets other dogs/puppies/people on a regular basis.
However, like many collies, he’s very highly strung, anxious, fearful and a total stress-head! About 6 weeks ago, he started to chase his tail and this quickly escalated into an obsessive/compulsive behaviour. We have no idea what first triggered the behaviour, it seemed to start completely out of the blue. He’ll spin frantically until he runs out of energy or he bumps into an immovable object. He seems to do it more when he’s stressed/tired/excited.
He’s very noise sensitive (which I understand is common in collies). So far, we’ve successfully desensitised him to a lot of previously scary (for him) noises, but he still has a real problem with phones (the tinny voice on the other end of the line) and any kind of raised voice (including laughter); these really trigger his spinning and we’ve so far failed to desensitise him to these.
However, whilst initially very scared, anxious and reactive, he does get used to most new things quite quickly with reassurance and positive reinforcement. The way he comes to terms happily/quickly with some things and is absolutely terrified of others completely baffles us, to be honest!
So, back to the main problem. The spinning. We’ve had him checked by the vet three times so far (in addition to health checks at both vaccine appointments). We’re not sure exactly how much of an examination he’s had due to the vet not letting us go in to the consulting room (COVID), but every check-up has resulted in a clean bill of health and a referral to a dog behaviourist. We’ve now consulted with three different dog behaviourists; two via telephone/zoom and one via a face-to-face session (an hour). All three suggested different ways to remedy the problem. We’ve also done loads of reading/research on how to stop the behaviour, but there are so many different methods out there that our brains are fried!
All of the behaviourists have, however, agreed that we really must nip this behaviour in the bud, as the longer is goes on the more entrenched it will become. We’ve been told; (by behaviourist one) to make a sudden noise to interrupt him when he starts spinning, but this seems to make him more anxious, (by behaviourist two) to distract him with a toy, but this is impossible because he goes into a trance-like state when spinning, and (by behaviourist three) to spray water at him to interrupt the spinning 
. However, none of these methods sit well with me; he’s not being “naughty”, he’s a stressed, anxious dog who’s dealing with things the only way he knows how. No right-minded person would punish a child with tics, or one who sucks their thumb, and – to me – this is similar.
We’ve also read various approaches online; we should ignore the behaviour and give positive reinforcement when it stops (this doesn’t work as he only stops when he bumps into something or he’s exhausted) / we should physically prevent him from reaching his tail by using, for example, a buster collar / we should use clicker training (but this seems to train him to spin even more!) / we should get him onto Prozac / we should have him PTS.
He’s off to the vets again today, this time for a blood test. We ideally would like him checked for levels of serotonin and dopamine (apparently an imbalance can lead to this kind of compulsive behaviour), but the test costs c.£1200. We simply can’t afford that at the moment (DP’s shop is closed as non-essential and I’m on a rubbish salary).
One thing that may be relevant is that DPup has major FOMO; he’s “on” all the time, rarely settles and doesn’t really nap (perhaps an hour a day, tops). He also never really settles down with a chew/antler/lick mat/stuffed Kong; he’ll have a lick/chew and then pace around, then go back for a chew, then pace again, and on and on. This inability to settle/be calm is something that we’re aware is likely a major contributing factor to the anxiety/spinning, but we’re finding it impossible to improve the situation. DPup also seems to have a sensitive stomach, often goes off his food for no apparent reason, has intermittent diarrhoea…..and the worst flatulence ever! We’re moving him onto a raw food diet at the moment, to see if he might have some kind of food allergy/intolerance.
Can anyone suggest the best way to help us to help our poor, stressed DPup? We’re at the end of our tether, and it’s fraying fast! To watch him spinning and chasing his tail is so upsetting and distressing, even more so because we don’t seem able to help him in any way.