This Thanksgiving I'm Thankful for Paxil: a 6 Week Update

Wow! What a difference two weeks makes! My last med update was kind of… lackluster. The numbers were actually a little worse, even if, subjectively, I felt she was doing better. This time around, the numbers have improved and my subjective impressions feel much more definite. For anyone interested, here’s the baseline, here’s the first update, at two weeks, and here’s the last one, at four weeks.

I did another round of behavior logs for 48 hours earlier this week. Here’s the cold, hard data:

The 45 minute resting test is where we chill out together and I measure how often she startles or raises her head during a nap. During the baseline, she had 11 instances, punctuated with lots of vigilance. At two weeks, it was also 11 times, but with less vigilance. At four weeks, it was an abysmal 19 times, but I think that was mostly because we’d gone for a walk first, which totally riles her up.

This week… Well, it’s getting much harder to count. Do I count when she lifts her head up or otherwise move? If so, there were 14 instances of that. But if I only count times where she was startled or vigilant, it was three. THREE. Most of her movements were stretching, and when she lifted her head, it seemed more like she was bored, not restless. She was sleepy-eyed, and moved slowly and lazily. This is in sharp contrast to six weeks ago, when her movements were quick, frantic, and she scanned the environment frequently.

Next up: startling or alerting towards subtle environmental stimuli. At baseline, she had an average of 3.375 per day, many at night, with prolonged vigilance following an incident 45% of the time. At two weeks, this number was 2 per day, with vigilance 25% of the time. At four weeks, it was 2.667 per day, and again with 25% vigilance.

This week… Again, it’s so much harder to count. Technically, there were four instances, putting her average at 2 per day. However, most of them were questionable. During one, I was sitting right next to her on the bed when she jumped off. My husband, who was in the adjacent room, said that it seemed like she was startled, but I hadn’t gotten that impression from my vantage point. During another, we couldn’t tell if she was rushing at a cat or not (I haven’t been counting those incidents because it was too hard to get accurate baseline data on them). It had all the qualities of being cat-related, but we hadn’t heard the cats do anything naughty. Finally, in a third instance, I honestly couldn’t tell if she was sneezing or if she was “wuffing.” Which leaves only one honest-to-goodness incident, which had only mild vigilance following it. And none of them were at night. (Yay!)

As for reactivity, this is the part where I have to admit that I haven’t been walking her as much lately; winter in Minnesota has set in with cold, snow, ice and early sunsets, all of which conspire against us. Still, she has had two reactivity-free class sessions, which is amazing!

So, while data looks pretty good to me, what’s even more amazing are the things that I can’t quantify- the little things that are going on around the house, and which prompt me to email my dog friends about five hundred times a day. I think they might be tired of things like “OMG SHE’S SLEEPING YOU GUYS.”

For one thing, she’s sleeping more. I don’t mean quantity- she’s lying down about the same amount as she used to- but rather, quality. Instead of dozing, she’s actually sleeping. On Sunday, she actually began running in her sleep, something I’ve never, ever seen her do before, and which indicates that she’s probably in REM, the deepest level of sleep.

Similarly, on Tuesday morning, I rolled over in bed. Maisy sleeps with us, and usually when I shift, she jumps up and moves. But that morning, she didn’t stir, not when I rolled over, not when I touched her, not even when I lifted her paws up and then dropped them. She was limp. She was asleep.

Further proof that she’s probably sleeping more is the fact that this weekend, my husband repeatedly commented on how cute she was, lying flat on her side. Wonderful though he is, he’s not a terribly observant man, so for something like this to make his screen is pretty amazing.

Maisy is also a world-class beggar, but she's polite about it: she'll lie down with her chin on my foot or leg, and stare at me with her big brown eyes. When she does this, she is very clearly working me, but this week, while begging, her eyes just kept closing. It was like she just couldn't keep them open.

She’s also beginning to demonstrate the ability to self-interrupt. She has long taken on the role of Cat Cop around our house, rushing and barking at them when they do naughty things like jump on the counter or scratch the furniture. Usually, that rushing includes running into them and bowling them over, but sometimes she will stop herself and then look at me, kind of confused about what she ought to do instead. I praise her lavishly when that happens.

All in all, I’m thrilled with how she’s doing. She seems so relaxed these days. Full medication effectiveness comes at eight weeks, so I’m hoping that the little bit of anxiety I’m still seeing subsides. But even if it doesn’t, I’m so thankful for how she now seems comfortable in her own fur.

I wrote this entry on Tuesday morning, because I knew we were leaving for my parents' house for Thanksgiving that afternoon, and that I wouldn't have time to crunch the numbers once there. Of course, I expected that a new environment would make Maisy edgier, but I wasn't prepared for how much. She's returned to pre-medication levels in terms of frequency of outbursts. She's barking, growling and rushing at things.

Even so, I do think the vigilance has reduced. Initially, she seemed to search out the causes of sounds (the hundred year old clock especially unnerved her), but she quickly adjusted. She isn't as relaxed as she has been at home, of course, but I'm pleased that the vigilance has reduced. Even better- she's sleeping here! The picture in this entry, poor quality as it is, was taken on my parents' couch. She was sound asleep, and was even doing that twitchy-almost-running in her sleep! Also, my dad commented that she seems "calmer" than she used to, and he didn't know she was on meds.

I have a lot to be thankful for today.

Medication Update: 4 weeks

Maisy has now been on paroxetine for four weeks, three of which have been at the full dose of 8mg. When Maisy’s veterinary behaviorist prescribed it, she said it would take 4-6 weeks before we saw any results. Since I saw some improvement at two weeks, I was very excited to see what she’d be like at four weeks. So, for the last three days, I’ve been keeping behavior logs in order to get some objective data.

The data has been… interesting. I was expecting to see a decrease in the number of outbursts Maisy is having, but this has not happened. Prior to her appointment, Maisy would bark or growl at subtle or undetectable stimuli an average of 3.375 times a day. At two weeks, this had decreased to an average of 2 times a day. During this week’s behavior logs, Maisy’s average was 2.667 times a day.

Although this is a reduction from the baseline, I was still disappointed when I saw this. Of course, the numbers are the numbers, but I really felt like Maisy is doing better than she was, especially since it seems like Maisy isn’t as vigilant as she used to be. She might be vocalizing when something startles her, but she seems to settle down faster.

So, I went back to the original behavior logs. Although I hadn’t been scoring the intensity of her reactions, I had kept a fair amount of detail. During the basline period, Maisy’s outbursts included extended vigilance (defined as either trotting around the house scanning the room intently for at least ten seconds) 45% of the time. Two weeks ago, she demonstrated such vigilance 25% of the time. This time, she scored the same: 25%. Good.

Next, I did the restlessness test. This is where I settle down with Maisy and watch a TV program while she lies next to me. During the baseline, she lifted her head or got up 11 times in 45 minutes. Two weeks ago, the number was the same, but the amount of time she looked around had reduced greatly. This time was actually worse- 19 times. It really seemed like she was having a hard time settling down. I think this was because of when I did the observation. The first two times, I came home and immediately watched the show. Yesterday, we went for a three mile walk with friends first. I think the amount of activity immediately preceding the test affected the results. I’ll do it again in a couple of weeks and see what happens.

As for her reactivity, she’s doing well. Like I said, yesterday we went on a walk with friends. I was a bit concerned in the beginning when she rushed towards two dogs. However, she was quiet during those incidents, and frankly, I couldn’t tell if she was trying to scare them off, or if she wanted to go say hi. After that, she settled down nicely and passed other dogs, including large, dark, prick-eared dogs, without a problem.

We also had a milestone in her reactive dog class on Tuesday: It was the first time she went through an entire class without any incident. She’s come close before, with only one or two soft vocalizations during the hour, but this week, there were none. Now, granted, she was in a covered crate the entire time, but that’s never stopped her before. Even better, she was actually relaxed- she appeared to be resting instead of working for treats.

Finally, I should note that Maisy is not experiencing any side effects due to the medication. During the first three weeks, she had some harder stools than normal, but that has subsided over the past week.

Overall, I do think the medication is helping her. She’s tolerating well, and she seems more relaxed. The decrease in vigilance is pretty amazing. The medication will continue to build up in Maisy’s system, and full effectiveness should be seen between 6 and 8 weeks. Hopefully, Maisy continues to improve.

Encounters of the Couch Kind: How Video Can Help Our Dogs

Maisy has always been cautious of new objects, especially those that suddenly appear where they shouldn’t. I recently got a great example of this on video:



I recorded this on one of our daily walks a few weeks ago. Although I didn’t set it up this way, I got lucky that the day I was taking video to prepare for Maisy’s appointment with the veterinary behaviorist was the same day that someone decided to put a couch out on their curb.

I really like this video because it clearly demonstrates just how nervous it makes Maisy to encounter something unexpected; she startles several times throughout the video. This is a long-standing trait of hers. She’d lived with me for less than three weeks when she first expressed her displeasure at something changing. In that case, she barked with all of her puppy might at a soda can that I had carelessly left sitting out. Since then, she’s grown up, and more importantly, she’s grown braver. A lot of this is because we’ve worked hard on dealing with environmental changes, so I’m very proud that she was brave enough to investigate an object she clearly felt unsure about.

I also like this video because it’s a nice example of what I’ve previously called the conflicted nature of reactivity. Even though Maisy’s not lunging, barking or growling here, you can clearly see the conflicted feelings that often lead up to such reactivity. (And, in fact, later in this walk, she did lunge at a biker- a trigger that she has largely overcome. You can see that video here.)

But what I really find fascinating about this video is the way she startles. Although it initially seems more like a double-take, later on, her jumpiness coincides with road noise from cars, something that doesn’t normally provoke a response from her. This suggests to me that relatively benign changes have the effect of increasing her environmental vigilance. In turn, this increased vigilance probably contributed to her reactivity towards the biker.

Beyond the insight I gained into Maisy’s behavior, this video also showed me that there is a clear advantage to studying a recording over assessing a dog live. Being able to watch the same event several times allowed me to see more nuance to Maisy’s behavior. It allowed me fully concentrate on what she was doing without needing to worry about what was going on around us, or trying to manage the situation. And good video always helps me see ways I can improve the way I interact with my dog.

Of course, this last bit can be difficult- no one likes seeing what they do wrong. For example, my handling skills are not great in this video. I should have offered Maisy treats as she first began to interact with the couch in order to reinforce bravery. Instead, she didn’t get a treat until after she moved away from the couch, which was, at best, ineffective counter-conditioning, and at worst, reinforcing the retreat rather than the approach.

I don’t like to make excuses for my mistakes- I prefer to learn from them. However, in this case, the excuse actually offers a really good lesson. You see, I thought that it would be better if the veterinary behaviorist saw videos of Maisy “how she really is,” so I didn’t offer her as much guidance as I normally do. Unfortunately, my hands-off approach meant that vet behaviorist had less to work with when advising me. Considering how valuable I found her suggestions, I wish she could have seen more of how I normally interact with Maisy.

Still, I found that taking videos of Maisy in everyday situations was incredibly enlightening. Although I’ve been recording formal training sessions for a long time, I never realized before how much I could learn by watching videos of my dog outside of training. Doing so has allowed me to see new pieces to the puzzle that is Maisy- pieces that, when put together, have allowed me to see just how anxious my poor dog is… and it makes me feel confident that my decision to put her on medication was the correct one.

But enough about me. I’m curious to know how you guys use video. When do you take it? And if you haven’t, why not? Have you learned anything interesting about your dog? About yourself? How have you adjusted your training strategies as a result? I can’t wait to hear about your experiences.