Nicholas Dodman - Pets on the Couch

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Advance Praise for Pets on the Couch

Dr. Dodman presents a captivating look at the world of animals, who are more like ourselves than we know. Nick tells priceless stories of pets and the psychological and biological causes of their problems, which are all too human. Fun, informative, and surprising.

JOHN J. RATEY, MD, author of Spark and coauthor of Driven to Distraction

How many of us have wished that our veterinarian was our doctor? To know Dr. Nicholas Dodman is to wish he was your therapist. Dr. Dodman teaches us that when we underestimate animals, we underestimate all that can be done for themand we most definitely underestimate ourselves. Dr. Dodman has never accepted the limits of what is known and has again and again discovered what is possible.

TRACEY STEWART, author of Do Unto Animals and editor-in-chief of the website Moomah

Havent all animal lovers wished at least once to be given Dr. Dolittles power to converse with our four-footed friends? Dr. Dodmans delightful book, Pets on the Couch , might be the next best thing. His engaging and thoughtful observations, based both on neuroscience and a lifetime of experience, captivate the reader and open up a new window of understanding into our beloved equine and other animal companions.

ELIZABETH LETTS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse

Dr. Dodman cleverly utilizes his vast clinical experience to deliver a fascinating collection of insightful and essential behavioral tales. The delineation between human emotions and those of the animals in our lives has never been finer.

NICHOLAS TROUT, DVM, author of Tell Me Where It Hurts

Nick Dodman has the best of both worldsa brilliant mind and a kind heart. Pets on the Couch is a wonderful, heartbreaking, and inspiring journey through the animal mind. Follow Dodman as he tracks down the source of seemingly quirky behavior, the root of suffering, and the sometimes convoluted path to recovery. A must read for anyone who has a pet, who loves animals, or is interested in the mysterious workings of the brain. Its no wonder that Dodman is Americas most beloved veterinarian.

BRIAN HARE, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Duke University and author of the New York Times bestseller The Genius of Dogs

By Nicholas H. Dodman

The Dog Who Loved Too Much

Dogs Behaving Badly

The Cat Who Cried for Help

If Only They Could Speak

The Well-Adjusted Dog

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Copyright 2016 by Nicholas Dodman

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First Atria Books hardcover edition August 2016

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Interior design by Amy Trombat

Jacket Design by Janet Perr

Jacket Photographs: Dog and Couch by Getty images; Ball, Bird and Cat by Shutterstock

Author Photograph by Kevin Ma/Tufts University

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dodman, Nicholas H., author.

Title: Pets on the couch : neurotic dogs, compulsive cats, anxious birds, and the new science of animal psychiatry / by: Nicholas H. Dodman, BVMS, DACVB.

Description: First Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York : Atria Books, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016019145 (print) | LCCN 2016025496 (ebook) | ISBN 9781476749020 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781476749037 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781476749044 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Pets--Psychology. | Pets--Behavior. | Animal psychopathology.

Classification: LCC SF412.5 .D63 2016 (print) | LCC SF412.5 (ebook) | DDC 636.088/7--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019145

ISBN 978-1-4767-4902-0

ISBN 978-1-4767-4904-4 (ebook)

For my mother, Gwen Dodman, who showed me how to love and care for all animals

Empiricism takes no account of the soul.

OLIVER SACKS

Behavior: thats what its all about, really.

MARGARET THATCHER, in personal conversation

Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. Thats the problem.

A. A. MILNE

I sat in my office and watched a video of a male Golden retriever going insane.

The footage was murky because it was shot in a darkened house at night. The animal was sleeping peacefully on his blanket, the picture of domestic peace, until his muzzle began to twitch. In a gradual transformation reminiscent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the twitching became more rapid, and suddenly, the beast jumped up and attacked his own bed.

The Goldens name was Comet, and the speed of his abrupt assault was worthy of his name. His targets varied, according to his owner. On the video, Comet attacked a blanket, snarling, snapping, and ripping the thing to shreds, but his owner told me that he also occasionally tore into his canine housemate, an English setter, sending the poor thing yowling in retreat. Somehow the violence appeared just as vicious when Comets prey was an innocent patch of fabric.

I looked from the monitor to the dog who lay placidly at my feet. This was the monster I had just witnessed going berserk? During the day Comet was a gentle dog who would happily play-wrestle with the English setter and always lose, content to end up on his back on the ground with the setter lording it over him. At night, though, he became aggressive. Even though the attacks were over in a few seconds, they were scary to watch.

In my practice as a professor of veterinary science specializing in animal behavior, I had encountered such episodes before. A bull terrier would wake abruptly in a rage and attack a door. Another bull terrier would try to attack his master, though I had advised her to attach him to a metal leash that was long enough for him to move around but not so long that he could reach her while she was sleeping. More than once she woke up with the dog snarling and snapping inches from her face. She was extremely grateful for that metal leash!

The cause behind each unusual behavior in pets is a puzzle to be solved. Sometimes theyre multiple. Sometimes theyre biological. But sometimes biological causes create psychological problems. Comet the loving, playful sweetie pie became Comet the snarling nighttime werewolf. Bully the loving pet and Bully the berserker. Every owner of every dog has a secret knowledge, at times relished, at times feared, that there is an animal in the house who back in the mists of time was once a wild beast. But when a dog inexplicably reverts to its wolflike nature, can anything be done?