# Hypothyroid - impact on behaviour



## huntvizsla (Jun 8, 2013)

Since this was such a puzzle to figure out for me, I thougth this might be useful for other dog owners (not just V's) to know about and consider if they are dealing with odd behaviour changes.

We have a 5 yr old male V (Mr. J) who underwent a pretty dramatic attitude change at about 2 years old. He had been training well for the NAVDHA UT test, and was showing early and strong promise, when he spontaneously (near as I can tell) started to act very uncertain, generally by refusing to perform certain activities that required high prey drive. Given that J was rather young for what we were trying to accomplish, we felt we may have moved him along too fast in his training and decided to back off, and let him gain confidence during hunting season which was quickly approaching. 

During that first, and the next two years hunting seasons, J would occasionally "quit" for no obvious reason (i.e. not in pain, no corrections etc). He also became increasingly aggressive towards our other dogs. Life with this guy became very unpredictable, as he would be sunny and happy one moment, and lash out unprovoked at other dogs the next. As a result the other dogs did not trust him, and they all started avoiding him whenever possible. This guy became a loner, not hanging out with the others in the pack or initiating play etc.

As responsible owners, we were determined to work through what we percieved as OUR training issues with Mr J. A significant (as in daily) amount of time was dedicated to work with J and the other dogs. We eventually reached a reasonable medium, but unpredictability and distrust by the other dogs made living with him a challenge.

Health wise Mr. J has had only vet visits for shots and well puppy check up. I did have him in twice to the vet for other, minor reasons and had discussed his behavior problems. Naturally the first response was "neuter the dog". Do not get me wrong, this is going to happen with this dog, but I felt that was not the root of the issue since we had other un-neutered males that did not have the issues J had.

One of our other dogs had been taken in for OFA thyroid checks. I had been searching for reasons for J's odd behaviour, and on a whim had him tested. BINGO! His test results came back firmly in the hypothyroid camp. Note that he did not appear to have the other typical physical issues (at least on the surface) regarding poor coat or sad face.

Having had Mr J on Soloxicaine (sp??) for 3 months now, the difference is dramatic. He is happy, engaged with the other dogs, participates in play, is more expressive and has great prey drive. No more quit. No more fights. The other dogs are regaining their trust around him! And we regained Mr J as a member of our pack. Given the slow progression of this disease, while we did not initially notice a change in coat or facial expressiveness, we now notice a better coat and a bright, expressive face.

We suspect that Mr J simply did not feel WELL and therefore was very protective of his space, thus the unprovoked fights, the quit, the lack of play and prey drive. Once he felt better, he became more confident, and the other dogs could read his body language better.

This makes me wonder how many other dogs out there, written off for poor/unpredictable behaviour, are really hypothyroid and need to be treated?

Of course the breeder was notified, and as this particular breeding was a one-shot deal for both dam and sire (dam had been spayed and sire had passed away), this particular cross will not be perpetuated.

I hope this experience helps other owners who may be dealing with puzzling behaviour changes.


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

This will sound dumb as heck and maybe a funny if your crayons not so dull 

was this at age 2 or 3?

Where there a bitch even near him in season?

We work out many great males performing like tested machines

they smell one ripe clam ;D

there worthless and have to hit the crates 

and moved 

and there scents are farther then ours"

I could only produce these keen scents last calls black angus pre 91" across the bars of tears

LOL

dem clams can get a road Ho male Killed :'( ;D

thyroid worse Hers'

Run


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## Vida (Dec 26, 2011)

I don't know any hypothyroid dogs,but from a personal point of view,I am hypothyroid.
It started after the birth of a baby in my mid 30's,which apparently is classic indication?
I felt like death,ached all over became depressed and hardly left the house for months. I was weak as a kitten and lost nearly all my hair,and my voice :'( It was one of the worst times of my life.
I have every sympathy for your poor dog. The worst part is that he couldn't even tell you how **** he was feeling :-\
Thank goodness he's got such a loving owner.A lot of dogs would have been written off :-[


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

So glad your story has a happy ending.
It brings up a good reason to have your dogs screened, even if you never plan on breeding them.


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## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

Vida said:


> I don't know any hypothyroid dogs,but from a personal point of view,I am hypothyroid.
> It started after the birth of a baby in my mid 30's,which apparently is classic indication?
> I felt like death,ached all over became depressed and hardly left the house for months. I was weak as a kitten and lost nearly all my hair,and my voice :'( It was one of the worst times of my life.
> I have every sympathy for your poor dog. The worst part is that he couldn't even tell you how sh*t he was feeling :-\
> Thank goodness he's got such a loving owner.A lot of dogs would have been written off :-[


 I totally agree Vida, I have to take thyroxine for an underactive thyroid,and if I forget to take it I get real lethargic and dead moody......I guess that's why my postings on the forum have been miserable lately...


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

On a side note read this http://peterdobias.com/community/2009/05/one-jerk-can-cause-a-lot-of-damage/

Now you have it written by those who deal with this. Hypothyroidism can be caused, (I'm not saying it is in this case) by trauma like from a choke chain?


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## Vida (Dec 26, 2011)

Luckily Data my husband stopped using the choke chain on me 
I do agree re the neck/ thyroid and restraint for dogs, it's bound to cause damage :-\


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## huntvizsla (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks for the comments and questions.

J's behaviour changed markedly at age 2. I have one un-spayed female, it made no difference if she was coming into heat or not (I send her away to my brothers when she is in heat). She is only two years old so wasn't a factor during the start of this weird stuff. Good point, though. My males have, in general, not allowed a female in heat to bug them too much when they were hunting, but I have also taken care not to put them in situations where that could really be a problem - so I haven't probably really put that to the test!

In J's case his hypo was genetic - I am not an expert but apparently the OFA test (done by Western MI) can discern between genetic and "environmental" forms of the disease. He fell firmly in the camp of genetic. Also, our collars are ONLY the flat, wide leather or plastic kind - we have never used choke collars, and any heeling training is done with their normal collars or a Wonder Lead. 

The link below is to the OFA site which details how the assay is interpreted. That has been my resource when figuring out what he had.

http://www.offa.org/thy_class.html


I appreciate the comments from Texas and Darcy - that is the analogy I came up with. I believe this dog felt like crap, and therefore uneasy, and in typical canine fashion this meant he had to be more protective of his own space. He seemed unable to give reasonable body signals to the other dogs so THEY reacted by being uneasy and uncertain around him. We humans haven't become dog mind readers and he could not tell us something was wrong. A vicious cycle.

He is a happy, bouncy boy now though!

And, its a reasonably priced test to clear up doubt. I think I paid $150 to $175 without OFA registry. 

Vida - LMAO!!!!! Did he transition to the Wonder lead?


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