[SPEAKER_00]: Should you be medicating your dog?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is a hot topic.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a hot topic, that's a store, that's a hot, it's a hot take.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's important for dog owners to understand why medication is being widely overused and likely hurting your dog and hurting your progression of your dog and likely hurting your training and your relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's dive into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So medication, let me just start off by saying is a godsend, it can help people, it can also help dogs tremendously.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am not against medication, however, in the dog space, medication is widely and I mean widely overused.
[SPEAKER_00]: as a professional dog trainer and as a practitioner training with dogs who are reactive, training with dogs who have a bite history, a kill history, going to court, making sure dogs are being treated equally and fairly and as an experienced dog control officer and a canine trainer for over a decade, I can say almost every single dog that I've ever worked with that has had medication didn't need it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is a very big statement to make, but here's the sequence in typically, this happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: And dog owners, you have to advocate for yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to educate yourself on how the process works because it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not, nobody, I don't, I would assume I would hope nobody is doing it maliciously.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, dog owners just don't know the route and they get, in my opinion, kind of duped into doing something that typically doesn't work, doesn't fix, it just band aids and it doesn't actually help the dog overall.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have a dog that's reactive, you have a dog that's anxious, you have a
[SPEAKER_00]: excited even you have a dog that is overly bouncy, etc.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times what happens is dog here's kind of the route that happens is dog owners will go to a veterinarian and they say hey my dog is crazy or they're at the vets and they're getting their annual whatever and the dog is crazy and the owner goes yeah I don't know what to do with this I've you know I've tried training I tried this and nothing's ever worked I don't I don't know and the in the vet might say well
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I have behaviorist on the no bad dog's podcast regularly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've obviously nothing against them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're, again, a God sent if we need them.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, it's important for people to understand that behaviorist, especially about an area in behaviorist, they, their job, God bless him, is to diagnose and to treat, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: So they are not trainers, they are not practitioners, they are not handlers.
[SPEAKER_00]: the average behaviorist will typically not touch your dog, will not handle your dog, will sit from afar and take notes on what they're seeing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, your dog's anxious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's some medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we can zoom all the way out and go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Huh, really, yes, really.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, there is a time in a place for medication which I'm gonna talk about.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when I feel like it's appropriate, again, my subjective opinion on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that is the general path, just so people know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they go to their veterinarian about training or behavior, veterinarians do not do training in behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't go to school for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know nothing about it actually in most cases.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the veterinarians who come in and work with me will admit that their dog is the worst train dog ever.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that, for whatever reason,
[SPEAKER_00]: is a shocker for dog owners?
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, really?
[SPEAKER_00]: I would, no, no, no, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you have a, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just understanding that is really important.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's just get that off the rip.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dog veterinarians, or that's like going to your dentist and expecting them to fix your car as a mechanic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not gonna happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not their wheelhouse, not their lane, don't lean on them for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what they're there for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your dog is a car, if your dog has a cut, your dog needs surgery,
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, of course, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that's like first and foremost the biggest issue that dog owners Need to understand like they they think that because and again, they love their vet they trust their vet, but again, that's don't know anything about behavior They don't go to school for behavior again, so let's just get that into our brains
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, they see a lot of dogs and I'm not saying there's no vet out there that isn't good because I've met a lot of them with dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, some of them are good with dogs, but a lot of vets, they're not, they don't want to work with reactive aggressive dogs and I can't blame them, but just just understand that and then they get referred to a behaviorist and again, just to reiterate.
[SPEAKER_00]: The behavior's job is to diagnose and treat and they're treating typically generally is with medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: the roadmap and how dogs are typically medicated.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, a lot of people are probably going to assume like, well, let me just back up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are definitely also certain trainers.
[SPEAKER_00]: who are tied in with certain behaviorist to then get an early access or a quick routed step to medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've seen this with my own client's dogs regularly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I have a dog that is on my Instagram, can't remember the dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Name is an Australian shepherd.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this dog came in with a literal, a sandwich bag, a ziplock bag of medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: I worked, these are just two examples.
[SPEAKER_00]: I worked with a lady out in England when I was doing a seminar over there, a couple of years ago, and the same thing, the dog was on a medicated bag, and the dog was a puddle.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'll go over the importance of understanding what the medication is actually doing to our dog sustainably in long term, and the effects it has.
[SPEAKER_00]: But just
[SPEAKER_00]: that are referring their clients to behaviorist to get medication instead of stopping behaviors, which you guys will continue to see It's gonna be it's we're gonna wake up and keep waking up and keep waking up to really understand what is actually going on I know that there's been some breaking news and pharmaceuticals with vaccines for dogs recently that is
[SPEAKER_00]: causing a gigantic ruckus because they've basically just been exploited to be doing really bad stuff that are killing dogs unnecessarily and the rate will get into that in another podcast make sure you subscribe bombshell stuff that is now people are like oh my god all these veterinarians are doing this and it's causing all the
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, 100%, this is what's happening, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So dog trainers are also, we call them limited dog trainers, and so you can call them what you want, but in the sake of just being honest and transparent, limited dog trainers are dog trainers who are only operating and using, and they're not bad, and they just are only operating using positive reinforcement.
[SPEAKER_00]: So positive reinforcement by definition is to,
[SPEAKER_00]: Reward a dog for a behavior to we want to encourage a behavior to happen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to see it more frequently right so if you're working on Now check this if you have a dog that's doing things we don't like they're anxious they're barking they're reactive they're biting they're spinning they're jumping etc
[SPEAKER_00]: When you bring a dog like that to a dog trainer who only practices positive reinforcement, of course, they can't help with that because the only thing that they do is develop teach mold and shape and reward behaviors, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing wrong with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do that most of my career, but it's not the only, I'm an unlimited dog trainer, which means I don't have any
[SPEAKER_00]: boundaries, rules, regulations, or restraints to how I train, I am able to fully use all four quadrants of how animals learn in the proximity of the dog that's in front of me instead of being limited to a unlimited dog training philosophy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of for a lot of people don't know that or realize that, so making sure that you understand what those are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now moving forward to, you know, the real question is, okay, well, if I bring a dog that has all these behavioral issues that we don't like into an environment earned to a situation that requires discouragement or even corrections will that go so that either goes against that particular dog trainers ideology, which is a personal issue, not a realistic issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: or the trainer may say this is something I don't specialize in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not comfortable with this, and this is out of my realm, which is totally okay and respectable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they refer either one of those trainers will then refer the dog to a behaviorist for, again, a consult that the behaviorist will come in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, your dog is crazy, excited, anxious, fearful, reactive,
[SPEAKER_00]: The owner start to medicate the dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: The dog can become calmer and in some cases some of my clients have said sedated or turning to a puddle.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so here's where I have a problem with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just generally speaking, using my critical thinking skills here, this is not going to the core of the issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you have an anxious dog or an insecure dog, medicating them just makes them just sometimes sleepy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they don't act a certain way.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we think, like, oh, this is working.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the reality is, they're just medicated, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just like a person.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I have people that I know very well that deal with anxiety and they've been given medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: So instead of dealing with maybe what they're eating, what they're thinking about going to therapy, how much exercise they're getting, how much time they're spending outside, doing alternative things to help their mental health and understand what anxiety is and help them with your caffeine intake or maybe alcohol intake or what they're doing,
[SPEAKER_00]: we are medicating, so now that person is just kind of out of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like a shell.
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, I'm not a doctor, but I'm just using, again, my general ideologies here to just use critical thinking skills to say, you know what, instead of medicating my dog, I actually want them to get better.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want the trigger associated with the behavior
[SPEAKER_00]: to be identified.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to isolate why they're reactive.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know and understand why they're anxious.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know if my relationship is causing the reactivity, which is very common.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what the heck is going on so I can help my dog overcome these things in a much more natural way, but also get to the root cause of the problem instead of just putting lipstick on a pig and ignoring it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so again, guys, that's my subjective opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to know your opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know in the comments how you feel about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But every single person that I've ever met, obviously my clientele base of doing this with thousands of dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I say thousands of dogs, I ran a daycare for a very, very long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do a board and trained program.
[SPEAKER_00]: In my board and trained program, we'll have 15 dogs in a day.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just one day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've been doing this for 13 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I consult with a lot of people all over the world internationally.
[SPEAKER_00]: And consult with a lot of different dogs and the reason why I'm not tuning my own horn the reason why I'm saying this is because Anybody who's not familiar with me or maybe has never seen me before understood my stuff I don't want you to think I'm on this soap box just explaining my ideologies in my personal
[SPEAKER_00]: uh, vendetta towards behaviors because that's not it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, behaviors have their time in their place, medication has their time in the place, but it is widely over prescribed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really, I get frustrated, I get extremely sad and I just get angry when I see a dog, especially a young dog that comes in that's medicated.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the owners are like, yeah, the behaviors put the dog on medication, whether it's, you know, I've seen Gabba pet in or even Trasodone to really knock a dog out at eight months old.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, what are we doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that to me is extremely inhumane.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you have a dog that it's just like having a little kid that maybe is a little, I mean, again, we've seen this in the human world.
[SPEAKER_00]: right where you have a little excited kid that you know just can't sit still and then we give him you know a medication to chill them out and it's like they probably just need something else like they need a different system right we don't want to sedate these young kids we don't want to
[SPEAKER_00]: we don't want to sedate these young dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to figure out what their outlets are.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to figure out how to stimulate them in a way that puts them into a positive direction that helps them understand how to be the dog that we want them to be through play and through positive reinforcement and food and drive and discipline and structure and outletting and like really try to figure out how this works.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what's really happening out here in a sequence
[SPEAKER_00]: is dogs are getting medicated because owners aren't educated.
[SPEAKER_00]: So some people will say owners aren't caring, owners aren't trying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they just simply are trusting a veterinarian or trusting a veterinarian behaviorist, or trusting a board side, but a veterinarian behaviorist.
[SPEAKER_00]: when they come in and again, generally speaking, behaviors do not train.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not practitioners.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not trainers.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know how to examine a dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've had behavior some of my podcasts before and we've talked about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know how to examine the dog and go, yes, this dog is anxious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them, of course, will say what's the exercise like?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the training like?
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my suggestions, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: But a lot of them will just say, oh, and by the way, here are some trasodone for your overly excited and stimulated dog, because we want to see results as owners.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, it's just really sad that this is happening, and the more I put content out about things like this, the more I realize people don't realize this is what's happening, like right before our eyes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and, you know, I prefer a more holistic approach of actually trying to solve the dog's issues internally, instead of just medicate them, so it looks like they're changing and they're not.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I had this perfect example that, um, I don't know if I can find it, but that Australian shepherd that had come in to my training facility, this dog,
[SPEAKER_00]: was extremely reactive, especially reactive on the leash towards other dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, it was bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, for sure, the dog was jumping up in the air and flopping down, and you know, really having a hard time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The stress level of the dog was immense.
[SPEAKER_00]: The stress level of the owner was immense, and the dog came in with the sandwich bag of medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just looked at them and I said, and I have a video of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I find this after all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll put it in here, but I typically just like the 70s things out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Naturally, baby.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is kind of an uncut version of all the, some of the, the media that I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, you know, I asked them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, guys, I understand, we're on medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand how stressful this is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand how stressful it is for your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: How dangerous it is for your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: This dog was jumping up near and smashing his head on the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: have you ever like thought about correcting the dog for this they said no we were told we shouldn't it'll make it worse so we were gave medication instead I corrected this dog three times and then put in I put the dog into group class and their mouth was on the floor that like that happens all the time and so that's why I'm passionate about making
[SPEAKER_00]: I think just dog owners need to realize that, you know, just because you go to a behaviorist and they have, um, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I fancy office in a bunch of certificates on the wall, which is really important and chat out to them, but just because they medicate your dog, it's not the only thing that you should be doing and it may be and most likely be.
[SPEAKER_00]: the thing you shouldn't be doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I'm no doctor, but if you bring your dog into me, that's eight to 18 months and is reactive and anxious.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to get into when I think dogs should be medicated in the moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reactive anxious and insecure.
[SPEAKER_00]: These dogs need, they need confidence building exercise.
[SPEAKER_00]: They need to understand, like, dog owners need to understand how to be better leaders.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dog owners need to understand how to create a better relationship with a dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like most often times a dog that's on the leash.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like every single dog that is coming to my facility that has been medicated has also been dragging their own around town.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're out there and your dog is on medication, you're thinking about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody asked about it or in the future you were prescribed medication for your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think about your relationship with your dog first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is your dog dragging you around town?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is your dog engaged with you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Will your dog sit when you ask the dog to sit?
[SPEAKER_00]: Will your dog come back?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, all these things are really important to understand that if you don't have a good relationship with your dog and your dog is anxious and nervous and reactive and fearful and all these things,
[SPEAKER_00]: and you bring your dog to a behavior, and they say, here's some medication, that is the saddest thing you could do for your dog, because your dog is desperately needing leadership, boundaries, structure, and guidance, and it comes from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And instead, when the dog is, it's like, it's like taking a kid, allowing them to do whatever they want to a point where the biggest brat in the world that don't listen to everybody, they're getting into trouble, they're staying out at late, they're mixing in with the wrong crowd.
[SPEAKER_00]: And at night they come home and costs and slam doors and scream and throw food across the floor and it's very rude and disruptive and we put them on medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't we why don't we try to do something else like why don't we try to really resurrect this relationship and have real conversations with making sure that we are being good leaders here if we're leading we're loving right my friend will
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you really love your dog, you need to leave them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to guide them, not medicate them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that that's, again, a travesty that's happening right now in the dog space.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I would say 99% of dogs were a medicated, shouldn't be medicated.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it's a loophole.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it gives people the results that they want without actually doing the work.
[SPEAKER_00]: and the dog lives a life of blurry vision of what life actually is, even when you bring your dog out to play, they don't want to play because they're so medicated.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not to mention what some of these medications do to the dog's organs and other parts of the body and what it plays a role on.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, there's always a way to make a buck.
[SPEAKER_00]: and behaviorist are there to prescribe your dog and there are certain trainers out there that are referring to the behaviorist and it's this whole system that is in place.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're again, for me call me crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to actually figure out why my dog is doing the thing that they're doing and actually try to fix it without turning my dog into a sedated puddle, personally.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, again, I want to go over really quick that, well, first of all, let me just say, you know, obviously, I do this podcast and other things and I would love for you guys to check out some of my courses because, let me explain.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, a lot of people like Tom, okay, great.
[SPEAKER_00]: This sounds good.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I create a better relationship with my dog?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I create better leadership with my dog?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do I create better engagement with my dog?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well,
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a ton of free stuff here on YouTube.
[SPEAKER_00]: On my first YouTube channel, Tom Davis, Doug Churning, my podcast, I put content out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also have my courses.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're really serious about understanding your dog and understanding what they're supposed to be doing and how to create a better relationship, I've literally developed courses for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're $50 to a couple hundred bucks to really take home everything I've ever learned about reactivity, walking in the leash properly, boundaries, resetting your relationship, off leash, e-collar stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: you can find that in the description.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dogs who are supposed to be medicated or dogs who do good with medication are dogs who are seriously, you know, they're genetics, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So the dog was born with anxiety because they were born on the streets with dogs who were scavenging for food and they were constantly looking for the next meal and they were constantly looking over their shoulders because they didn't want to get killed by another dog or even a person.
[SPEAKER_00]: who do well with medication or who I would say like medication would be a good option, are typically dogs who are just on the verge of being euthanized, not dogs who are acting out because they're bored, which is what most dogs are medicated for, and especially here in the states, which is, again, it's criminal, in my opinion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, it's like giving a five-year-old who has a lot of
[SPEAKER_00]: bringing him outside to do kids stuff, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So dogs, you know, that are, again, like their quality of life, or, and I think that's like the bottom line is your dog's quality of life if it's, if it's not great because they're anxious or they're nervous, then medications are good route.
[SPEAKER_00]: And these dogs are the dogs who are literally spinning like this all day long or they're pacing all day long, like a wild animal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't settle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't focus.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're lip-like.
[SPEAKER_00]: They literally look like a zoo creature.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are dogs who need medication.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are dogs who do well with medications.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are dogs who have a better quality of life with some medication on board for them to be less anxious because, again, they were born that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything was baked into them to be anxious, nervous, anxious, maybe even aggressive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggression really medication doesn't,
[SPEAKER_00]: medicating an truly aggressive dog, excuse me that actually wants to hurt other people is a huge liability and a huge, it's like putting a muffler on a rattlesnake.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where that just came from that just popped into my head.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start saying that hopefully I don't forget if I do comment on my Instagram at Tom Davis muffler on a rattlesnake because that's a good one.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's what it's like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's really dangerous to do because now you don't
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, just awful stuff in my opinion, but dogs who are seriously seriously anxious, dogs who can't sit still, their quality of life is off or they're peeing, their pooping on themselves because they're nervous, they're anxious, they can't be alone, like these are dogs who probably should have some medication on board to make their quality of life better.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I always agree with that, but everyone else, for the most part, is just being
[SPEAKER_00]: like you haven't you got a border call a or an Australian shepherd that requires a certain amount of exercise per day we're not giving it to him so we just medicate him like that should be illegal in my opinion like I don't know so this is my so you know this is just my professional opinion on medication for dogs something I just wanted to hop on here off the cuff obviously none of this is cut or edited it's just
[SPEAKER_00]: me talking how I feel.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you like this podcast, if you like what I have to say, make sure you hit subscribe, because I put videos, multiple videos that like this every day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, my podcast has several different guests on every month, veterinarians, to specialists, to scientists, to all the cool people in the dog space.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one dog podcast in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for watching here on YouTube and on Spotify.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will talk to you guys next time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.