Question Details
Fear/aggression
by swaneysue - April 14, 2009
I have been treating a 6 year old rescue german shep. with severe aggression. he was in a shelter for a few years then the last two he has a home with a shelter worker and her 3 dogs. he is neutered,
signs: noise sentitive-getting worse, storms, voices-example the husband was outside talking with a delivery person the dog ;CUBBY' heard the other voice and started barking then he ran thru , yes thru a closed glass door, it had panes so he know it was there. He is afraid of the out side- only if he is distracted- chasing a bird or somthing will he be ok, then he remembers he is out side a runs in. She cant take him on walks he gets stiff and wont move. He loves the lady and he husband wants to be with them real close-ie. on their laps. must be in physical contact. Needy. If a loud noise or storm comes in he flips out will open the oven door and try to crawl in, destroy the woodwork, etc. he nprefers to be in a quiet darker place. He can have episodes of playing and acting like a reg dog. but these are few. He has attacked a few people he wears a basket muzzle when out in public. He is unpredictable and can change quickly. Once he knows you he is ok with you unless something swets him off. he perfers women. He gets stress dirrhea if he has a bad episode. His aggression appears to be fear based-like he is trying to get what ever before it gets him. recently he has had 3 episodes while sitting relaxed with the owner where he spaces out and gets a strange look on his face and the owners become afraid that he is about to get aggrssive. She puts a leashe on him and puts him in the basement where he recovers in 30 min. -maybe a stange seizure like thing???

T=black mostly,maybe pale pink spots
P=wiry, strong , maybe thinner left
Coat nice little dandruff, pads little dry
Mild hip dyspalsia
drink normal, head hot when upset
lays on rugs
Active points-bl 23, behind shoulders, bl 18 , top of the head is really intense energy-feels like bubbling intense water and painful-very strange

I feel like there is a good dog in there but he has some serious issues-possible brain ds ? rage syndrom ?

First treatment put on long dan xie gan san and shen tong zhu yu tang. and did acupuncture- move liver calm shen, and support hips stagantion in channels.Did appear calmer but still had episodes.
Second treatment a put him on a phlegm fire rising formula Zhen Yin Tang-big misstake- he flipped out and was attacking everyone and every thing-woops.

So now that tells me maybe there is more def than excess ??? what do you think is up. I was thinking a mix of long dan xi gan san and tian ma gou teng yin (calm repose) ? but is this strong enough ? or do you think ther p[athology is too serious. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Replies
by naturevet
April 14, 2008
Hi Sue,

I like your thinking and the idea of combining TMGTY and LDXGT. The extreme fear aggression suggests Empty Fire, so the above combination should work. If there is a softening, which realistically may take several months to complete itself, milder and more moistening Liver formulas can be looked at for maintenance. We've found Yi Guan Jian works well for that, and probably helps just by promoting cognition through its support of cerebral perfusion.

Right now, however, there's almost too much cerebral perfusion. In fact, heightened sensory acuity is due to too much Yang energy in the head, Yin deficiency being one cause of that.

An additional option to employ if you can find it is Kava Kava, which is excellent for addressing noise sensitivities and thunderstorm phobias in dogs. It's hard to find. It may take discrete calls to herb stores in Canada. It's easy to find in the US if you're headed that way. Give 0.2ml per 5 lbs beginning one or two hours before the storm, and repeat up to every half hour or hour or so as needed. In this dog's case, you could just use it twice daily for a while to get it calmed down. Human studies have shown it to be as powerful as many anxiolytic drugs.

Hope that helps!

Steve
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