Medication in Canine Behavioral Rehabilitation Work.
I weighed in on a conversation about pharmaceuticals used in "behavioral training."
If you've followed PackFit for a while, you know my stance.
Here's the thing:
We live in a culture that wants fast, easy, and cheap.
Businesses, products, programs, and even - what we refer to as- "health care" is built around and feeds this (what we refer to as "health care" isn't health care at all, it's "sick care"... but I digress).
I've long taught and said that behavior is information. It's a form of expression, indicative of gaps, discrepancies, excesses, and disconnections, and is valuable, valuable intel.
Numbing, dampening, and suppressing behaviors - which are symptoms of what the core, root cause of any problem is - actually **hurts** the rehabilitation process, and here's why.
What's getting numbed, dampened, and suppressed through medication is offering clues as to :
- how effective any behavioral modification and rehabilitation approach being taken is,
- whether or not what needs to be addressed is actually getting addressed, and
- whether or not the root cause is being reached and the work is making a difference.
Oftentimes, pivots, tweaks, and adjustments are involved, based on the feedback we get from the dog; and we simply can't do this when a dog is numbed out and comatose. So, the root cause of any behavioral issue doesn't effectively get spoken to or addressed.
Pharmaceuticals "take the edge off," but this "edge" is information.
Whenever we do behavioral work with dogs, we always, always have them weaned off of any medications they may be on for these reasons.
Putting dogs on medication for "behavioral issues" is more about the human than it is the dog, and- sadly- there's a lot of money in doing so. It creates long term clients and another income stream.
While it may have its place in certain situations, its way over-prescribed, over-used, and over-depended upon.
The majority of behavioral issues are not chemical in nature, and altering the chemistry is what pharmaceuticals do.
Sadly, this is a very unpopular POV because it challenges the "fast, easy, and cheap" mindset. Alas, I've gotten accustomed to being the unpopular kid on campus : )
This is a clip with the amazing Dr. Gabor Maté talking about it from a human angle.
https://youtu.be/y0gy5fMW0Zw?si=LRTUElME_kcsZLH0
