BehavioRx Case of the Month
for April 2004

Housetraining and Understanding Digestive Reflexes

The client's 10 month old neutered male Corgi suddenly started violating his housetraining after several perfect months self-control. However he had developed
what was perceived to be "Separation Anxiety." This was diagnosed after he had started barking and chewing when the client, a school teacher, went back to work following summer vacation.

Four weeks of medication with an anti-depressant drug did not result in improvement, along with elaborate desensitizing with pre-departure rituals which included having the dog sit, then rewarding him with a food treat, then putting him on a sit-stay and circling him, then treating him again for apparently calm behavior, etc., etc. This is a printed desensitization routine that accompanies many of the drugs prescribed to separation anxiety. However, the client had not been made aware of the normal dog's reflexive (automatic) responses to the intake of food. When the client was told that the entry of food into a dog's tummy stimulates its
bowels to start their contents moving toward the rectum (peristalsis, triggered by the gastro-colic reflex ) she quickly grasped it's consequences and inquired about changing her pre-departure routine and phasing out the drug, since it had not been effective in stemming the chewing and barking.

She was also quick to understand her Corgi's plight, i.e.; after three months of constant daily companionship in the summer, during which she usually took him along in the car to shop and for other activities, then suddenly leaving him "home alone," he might be somewhat disappointed when abandoned five days a week.

With the cause for his anxiety diagnosed, the remedial program was begun. "Prince" was put on the Learn-to-Earn" praise and pets program, along with the leadership exercises explained in the BehavioRx System Instructions "Obedience training - A Primer." She also followed the Separation Anxiety instructions, which use our old canine behavioral ally, Allelomimetic behavior friend (act-like, be-like behavior), and instituted the pre-departure "quiet time" exercise, leaving calmly after Prince calmed himself down, without any spoken commands or gastric activity exciting treats.

As happens with most young dogs, it was a matter of a few days before Prince stopped his barking and chewing and his household elimination ceased. Even so, the programs were continued for six weeks, the time needed for most reflexive learning to become permanent.

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