Fielding emails from prospective clients, I typically encounter several each week where the owner is absolutely positive that their dog’s problems are 100% behavioral in spite of the fact that they have not ruled out the possibility of a medical problem. Just because their vet gave their dog a few vaccinations, does not mean that their dog is healthy. The annual office visit with a vet is usually a very general, brief exam. Unless an owner specifically tells their vet that the dog has a behavior problem and they want to rule out possible medical causes, the veterinarian will not know that they need to run additional tests. So to give a human analogy, if you go to your general practice doctor and tell him that everything is normal, he may not feel the need to run bloodwork to identify possible problems with your thyroid. Similarly with dogs, thyroid problems are well known to be associated with dog behavior problems but most veterinarians do not routinely run comprehensive thyroid panels as part of the general office visit. Any medical condition can impact a dog’s behavior, I have had clients whose dogs developed behavior problems and were shortly thereafter diagnosed with conditions like cancer, renal failure, lyme disease and even more minor conditions such as urinary tract infections.
So in short, if your dog has a behavior problem, please do take the time to inform your veterinarian. Your dog will thank you for it!
