Dogs Show The Way On OCD

(CBS)  To look at Arlo Katie Block's year-and-a-half-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, it's hard to believe that not so long ago he was a deeply disturbed puppy. He chased his tail and bit his ears incessantly.

"It was like somebody being in pain and not being able to control themselves," she told CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger "It was painful."

The Block family tried everything from training classes to distractions, but nothing worked, until their vet suggested taking Arlo to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, an animal behaviorist.

Dogs like Arlo can get OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, just like humans, according to Dr. Dodman of Tufts University Veterinary School outside of Boston. He has seen all varieties of it.

"I mean, you wonder, why is your life consumed with this pointless mindless repetition?" he said.

Dodman has treated a lot of dogs for a lot of problems. Often, if a bit of training doesn't help he opens the medicine cabinet.

Dodman frequently relies on medications like Prozac, developed for humans, that also help dogs. And now dogs might be ready to return the favor.

Dodman and medical researchers at the University of Massachusetts and MIT are looking for specific genes found in dogs and humans to discover the cause of OCD.

"And we're looking at these candidate genes here," he said. "And we're all working it together, sort of trying find this needle in a haystack."

Dr. Edward Ginns is a neurologist at the University of Massachusetts and has been studying the DNA of some of Dr. Dodman's patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

"There's a new way to approach, not only the diagnosis, but also treatment of these illnesses, both for the humans and for the dogs," Ginns said.

Researchers believe they'll find the gene soon.

"And we should have the results, the first results, by the end of 2007," Dodman said. "We're also going to look after that."

Patients with four legs, like Arlo, could benefit first. But treatments for humans might not be very far behind. The beauty is, everybody wins.

"Well, we're all mammals in this together," Dodman said. "We've got to stick together."

[ndodma01]

Vincevar2K''s comment is way off base. You can''t punish a dog out of OCD using a choke chain. It may produce a momentary cessation (good for TV) but is a totally a totally inept (and temporary) approach akin to treating a OCD handwasher by electrifying the faucets. Punishment of OCDs is dead wrong. By the way, vaccines have nothing to do with OCD in man or animals; neither do dog food or drug companies sales strategies. OCD is a biological condition arising from a genetic tendency and involving anxiety.

[noaanhc]

OCD is a real illness,millions suffer from this horrible and cruel disease,and I speak from my own personal experience,I battle with this disorder everyday of my life,but many others sufferers are in the shadows and refuse to seek help because they are afraid if being ridiculed and labeled by others in our society.Again I can speak from my own personal experience for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is classified as a mental illness and those 2 words still scare a lot of people.A broken leg we can see and so is accepted,diabetes is an disease that is accepted too,for it also a known illness,But to be afficted with a mental disorder,we sufferers are often shunned by others,because they simply do not understand the illness we have.
Dispite my OCD I work a full time job and have loving and supporting wife who does not havethis illness but she accepts me and loves me for who I am.

[vincevar2k]

I wondered If they have tried dog psycology to change unwanted behavior.

The behavior these dogs display look very similar to the ones that Cesar Millan deals with. And he''s very successful at getting desired results.

http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/

[linfinster]

I wonder if the drug co are putting something in the vaccines we get ... Just thought of that .. but really, it''s because we''ve added so many chemicals to our food and air. We a mess we''ve created!

[michellem99-2009]

I figger that as thier master/mistress might have it as well,

[andor3]

we should all be so grateful to the drug makers for saving us from these conditions. what ever did we do for these conditions before we had a pill or a jab for everything? oh, wait these conditions were very rare before the pills and jabs... hmmm...

[cyinzl8r]

I think the Ron Paul poster has ocd. He just can''t stop!

[grammawhamma]

I would NEVER vote for Ron Paul just because of your spamming rants about him. CBS...please get rid of this spam trash on your site.

[4marlene]

Of course the puppy shots (vaccines) with toxic additives would have nothing to do with dogs getting OCD. That''s ok. Big Pharma makes money from Prozac and other meds for dogs and humans alike. Some of us lemmings can put two and two together.