The term canine post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) was first used by military veterinarians in 2010 to describe the aberrant behavior of some military working dogs after combat deployment. However, it was only applied to military working dogs. The term didn’t enter mainstream veterinary science until 2013, when Dr. Walter Burghardt described the issues faced by these dogs during a presentation at a joint meeting of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.
“We began identifying more and more afflicted dogs . . . that were failing in service; they were unable to do something they were trained to do and had always done successfully.” He went on to explain that the negative traits seen in some of these dogs paralleled those found in humans suffering from PTSD, and slowly, the term Canine PTSD joined the mainstream veterinary lexicon.
While there was some initial hesitancy among veterinary professionals to diagnose PTSD in dogs, data currently suggests that up to seventeen percent of all dogs are affected by C-PTSD. Factors contributing to the disorder can include military or police work, use as a bait or fighting dog, severe abuse, being raised in a puppy mill or living as a stray after being abandoned, and trauma from a natural or human-caused disaster.
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The clinical signs of C-PTSD are quite similar to many of those experienced by humans. As with humans, dogs can suffer from some or all in combination: chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance of certain people, places, or situations, sleep disturbances, fear of being alone, decreased interest in a favorite activity, or aggression.
In his book, Pets on the Couch, Dr. Nicolas Dodman relates the story of Elsa, a dog who was accidentally shot in the head by a Boston police officer. While Elsa miraculously survived, her mind didn’t heal as well as her body. She developed all the classic signs of PTSD: hypervigilance, avoidance of anything associated with the event (including police cars, police officers, sirens, and flashing lights), chronic nightmares and sleep disturbances, and severe anxiety. Although medication helped, her mind never completely recovered from that traumatic experience.
This episode convinced Dr. Dodman that PTSD was a bona fide canine condition, and he went on to treat many PTSD-like cases in his clinic at Tufts University and to teach his veterinary students about the reality of Canine PTSD.
Identifying PTSD in Dogs
The clinical signs of C-PTSD are quite similar to many of those experienced by humans. As with humans, dogs can suffer from some or all in combination: chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance of certain people, places, or situations, sleep disturbances, fear of being alone, decreased interest in a favorite activity, or aggression.
In his book, Pets on the Couch, Dr. Nicolas Dodman relates the story of Elsa, a dog who was accidentally shot in the head by a Boston police officer. While Elsa miraculously survived, her mind didn’t heal as well as her body. She developed all the classic signs of PTSD: hypervigilance, avoidance of anything associated with the event (including police cars, police officers, sirens, and flashing lights), chronic nightmares and sleep disturbances, and severe anxiety. Although medication helped, her mind never completely recovered from that traumatic experience.
This episode convinced Dr. Dodman that PTSD was a bona fide canine condition, and he went on to treat many PTSD-like cases in his clinic at Tufts University and to teach his veterinary students about the reality of Canine PTSD.
Specific Symptoms of Canine PTSD
Apart from the general behavioral indicators of PTSD in dogs, the disorder can have a whole host of symptoms and ramifications, many of which can appear alone or in concert with others. Behavioral signs include drastic personality or temperament changes, the sudden development of phobias and fears, aggression, fearful behavior in response to anything reminiscent of the trauma (such as loud noises, the sound of rushing water, doorbell ringing), decreased work performance, extreme timidity, avoidance of people, and excessive clinginess to their caregiver.
Physical symptoms can include chronic chewing or paw licking, trembling, excessive drooling, pacing, loose stools and involuntary urination, vomiting, lack of appetite, and extreme twitching during sleep.
The Role of Genetics in Canine PTSD
As is true with humans, numerous studies have shown that not all dogs develop PTSD in response to a traumatic or fearful event. This has led researchers to posit that there may be something in the dog’s individual genetic makeup that predisposes them to developing C-PTSD. Over the last ten years, researchers have been studying the effects of genetic changes related to this disorder, and have uncovered numerous genes and epigentic influences that may make both humans and dogs susceptible to developing PTSD. Some genes have emerged as possible candidates in the pathophysiology of PTSD in dogs, but the results of studies have been inconclusive.
Science has proven that individual genes and genetic variants contribute to behavioral disorders like C-PTSD, and that canine response to traumatic events is the result of an interaction between both genes and environment. The question remains as to which of these has the greatest influence on a dog’s behavior, since most of the data are only correlations—and correlations can suggest potential causality, but are not synonymous with “cause” itself.
Treatments for PTSD in Dogs
A decade of work with working military dogs has shown that the key to successful treatment for C-PTSD is early intervention, and that both caregivers and veterinarians need to be educated on how to recognize the symptoms that dogs with C-PTSD tend to exhibit.
Part of the problem is that many of the symptoms of PTSD in dogs can be associated with other conditions such as separation and social anxiety, as well as medical issues. It’s for that reason that the first step should be a thorough veterinary workup to rule out any underlying disease or other pathology. According to experts, veterinarians find a contributing medical cause for the symptoms fifteen percent of the time.
Veterinarians and behaviorists have long been treating behavioral issues like generalized canine anxiety, compulsive disorder, separation anxiety, and noise and other phobias. In recent years, C-PTSD has been added to that group of issues, although treatment success has been more limited for the simple reason that, unlike other disorders, trauma actually disables normal brain functioning in both humans and dogs.
Treatment for all types of behavioral disorders, including PTSD in dogs, usually demands the help of a certified animal behaviorist. Most often, they are heavily focused on helping the dog feel safe in their environment, using a combination of desensitization and counterconditioning. Desensitization involves exposing the dog to very low levels of the feared stimulus, then increasing the exposure very gradually over time until the dog learns that the fearful thing no longer has any negative consequences. Going hand-in-hand with desensitization is counterconditioning, which focuses on changing the association of something fearful from negative to positive. For instance, if the dog is fearful of the sound of the doorbell, the caretaker gives the dog a high-value treat whenever the doorbell rings, helping him associate the sound with something desirable.
In the case of C-PTSD, experts often recommend that these behavioral treatments be supplemented with medication. Currently, Reconcile, and Sileo are the only FDA-approved anti-anxiety medications for use in dogs. Other medications that may be recommended for PTSD in dogs are all human medications, used off-label in dogs. They include Alprazolam, Trazadone, Clomipramine.
In the end, one thing is for certain: Canine PTSD, like its human equivalent, affects every aspect of a dog’s life. Researchers continue to search for an effective treatment, with an eye toward finding a cure to this debilitating, agonizing condition that has its roots in trauma, abuse, entrapment, and torture.
