As a behaviourist, I am trained to recognise the behavioural symptoms of border collies in pain or discomfort, and I can work with owners and vets to get better outcomes for any animal that could be in pain. But so often, when I can see signs of pain or discomfort in a collie I am working with, the owners struggle to believe that their collie is hurting, especially when their pet is full of life, running, jumping and playing.
And I would have been just the same – I used to roll my eyes when I heard behaviourists suggest that dogs that seemed absolutely fine were in pain. But I had no idea back then, before I qualified as a behaviourist, of the extent to which pain can affect a dog’s behaviour, and how much resolving that pain can improve the quality of life for these dogs and their owners.
So, I realised that I needed to write about some of the border collies that I have worked with, all of whom were eventually diagnosed with pain, despite not showing any of the classical symptoms people associate with pain.
The following cases are just five examples, from many collies I have helped, of how pain was affecting these dogs’ behaviour:
Bo
Bo was a 3 year old female collie when her owner contacted me, needing help with the following problem behaviours:
- Obsession with water
- Fixating on, and pouncing in puddles
- Noise sensitivity – reacted to people sneezing or coughing, the noise a tape measure made, margarine lids being lifted, opening the car sun roof etc
Bo’s water fixation was severe – if her owner tried to bath her, she would be so intensely focused on biting the water that he was at risk of being accidentally bitten. She would also want to pace backwards and forwards repetitively and pounce in every puddle she found on walks.
Sound sensitivity is often a sign of pain (see Fagundes et. al., 2018) and Bo would jump up at and push hard on her owner when she heard various sounds including the owner sneezing or coughing, opening margarine lids, and the sound of gas safety lighters. Her owner used one to light the fire, and her anticipation of this had caused her to start barking and jumping at him whenever he went near the fire and touched the fire guard. She would bark vigorously when her owner touched sun visors or the handle for the sun roof in the car.
Bo had a very slight front right limp that was difficult to detect and only occurred every couple of months. Other than that there were no physical symptoms of pain.
Getting a diagnosis
Bo’s owner was extremely persistent in finding out if there was a medical issue causing her behaviour, as we suspected. A pain trial (putting the dog onto medication to see if her symptoms eased) made no difference. He then pushed for x-rays, which also showed nothing unusual.
Next, Bo was referred to Fitzpatrick’s veterinary hospital for MRI scans which also showed nothing. However, the vet detected discomfort during a physio examination.
Further CT scans showed nothing, but Bo’s owner insisted something was wrong (what a star!) and eventually Bo had her shoulder joint examined with an internal camera. They found a small tear in her medial ligament – only 2mm long – that is likely to have been caused by a sideways leg movement (doing the splits).
Treatment
The owner opted for a non-surgical recovery first to see if this would heal naturally. Surgery is possible but has considerable risks, so is a last resort. Bo spent 6 weeks with a shoulder and leg support straps, and minimal exercise, which led to a considerable loss of muscle strength. Her owner and vet have been carefully increasing her exercise, including hydrotherapy, to re build up her strength again. She is now approaching full fitness again.
Quote from Bo’s owner “I have now also noticed some of her reactivity issues reducing slightly. They are still there, but less extreme, hopefully now I can resume the training to further improve this side of things.
I would like to thank you for your help that led us to this diagnosis, and hopefully now she is free from pain”.
Gloria
Gloria was 2 years old when I first started working with her and she was clearly a very anxious girl. Gloria suffered from the following problem behaviours:
- Circling and spinning
- Watching and pouncing on shadows
- Barking and lunging vigorously at cats
- Anxious in the garden
- Repetitive rituals in the home (biting carpet and curtains)
- Aggression towards owner when she tried to stop her (occasional)
Gloria would have a series of rituals that she would carry out in each room. For instance the ritual in the lounge would include running in, biting at the carpet, then attacking the curtains before circling the room and spinning. When her owner asked her to stop and settle or tried to physically restrain her, Gloria had growled and bitten. The following video shows Gloria spinning.
She was so conflicted about going into the garden that if her owner went to open the back door, there was a chance that she would get bitten because Gloria would jump up and mouth her quite hard. She took Gloria on several walks a day instead so that she didn’t have the stress of using the back door.
Gloria had an occasional limp, and after we had been working together for a few months, she would occasionally scuff her paws while walking. Over time we also started to see a head tilt. We already knew that Gloria had what we thought was mild hip dysplasia.
Getting a diagnosis
We knew that Gloria had hip dysplasia. However, no-one that had already seen her had been aware that her behaviour problems could be caused by pain.
Gloria was referred back for more tests, and they showed that she had very severe hip dysplasia with arthritis, and the head tilt and paw scuffing were caused by vestibular disease.
Treatment
Once we knew how severe the pain in her hips was, Gloria was prescribed different pain relief medications. Unfortunately, she was unable to tolerate many of these: they caused gastrointestinal issues and gave her diarrhoea and sickness.
She did well for a while on librela and various other medications, and her problem behaviours almost completely stopped just after each librela injection, but would then start to return a few days before her next injection (monthly). She also attended physiotherapy and hydrotherapy sessions.
Her spinning became the indicator of how much pain she was in. On days when her hips were really hurting, she would spend a high proportion of her day spinning. This helped her to cope, but was unfortunately not helping her hips.
Very sadly, Gloria’s pain was severe, and difficult to manage with the pain relief that she could tolerate. And with the prognosis of inevitable further decline, it was eventually decided that she would be put to sleep.
This was a heartbreaking decision for all of us, and I will never forget Gloria.
Couper
Couper, a male entire border collie, was just over a year when we started working together.
Couper’s owners first approached me with the following issues:
- Fixation with sand
- Fear of traffic
- Very high prey drive
Couper’s owner had been taking him to Hoopers classes (a low impact dog sport similar to agility) and he had been doing well. The classes were held in a horse arena with a sand floor and Couper had suddenly started to become more interested in fixating and pouncing on the sand that moved when he ran, instead of concentrating on the hoopers class. This generalised to the beach, and made walking Couper on the beach no fun because he was constantly pouncing at the sand his owners were disturbing as they walked, and he was a nightmare on dry sand on windy days. The following video shows Couper on a beach with wet sand – he was MUCH worse on dry sand.
He was also very scared of traffic – he would pull away from it, and cringe and try to hide if it came too close.
And finally he had a very high prey drive, that was almost frantic. He would behave in the way that male dogs behave when they pick up the scent of a female on heat (frothing at the mouth, salivating excessively) whenever he picked up wildlife smells on the ground on walks and he could not be distracted from following scents. This is unusual and indicated, along with his other behaviours, that something wasn’t quite right.
Couper had a very slight “bunny hop” while running, just for a couple of strides as he started to run, which his owners had noticed but didn’t initially realise could be indicative of an issue. He also and occasional nibbled around the base of his tail. Couper’s owners had often felt that something wasn’t quite right with the way he was moving, but didn’t think it was anything to worry about because he was so agile and lively.
Getting a diagnosis
Couper’s owners took him to the vet, who carried out x-rays on his hips, which came back clear. However, the vet could also see that things weren’t right and sent Couper on to a pain clinic.
The clinic diagnosed the following:
- Myofascial pain, due to altered posture and gait.
- A neurophysiological process called ‘central sensitisation’ where, after long-standing pain, the central nervous system amplifies and distorts pain signals.
- A decrease in Couper’s own pain-dampening pathways.
Treatment
Couper has now started a program of treatment which includes pain medication, physiotherapy, regular short walks and potentially acupuncture depending on how well he improves. The prognosis for Couper is good.
Isla
Isla was a 3 year old neutered border collie at the time that we worked together.
Her owner came to me very upset because she couldn’t understand why Isla had started to be aggressive towards her immediate family. Isla’s problem behaviours included:
- Occasional aggression in relation to putting on her harness or lead
- Severe noise phobia (fireworks, gunshots, any other loud bangs)
- Occasional aggression when petting
- Terrified and very aggressive at the vet’s
After our first consultation, I was convinced that Isla was in pain somewhere because her aggressive behaviour did not make behavioural sense. She loved her owners, they had a close bond, and they were not doing anything wrong. Despite Isla being absolutely fine most of the time with her owners, we deciphered that all the aggressive incidents occurred when her owners touched her anywhere near her shoulders – mostly her right shoulder. She would become distressed and bite her owners when they tried to do up her harness near her right shoulder and she had also occasionally bitten when her owners were turning her collar round trying to find the D ring on her collar to which to attach the lead. She would also very occasionally snap if they stroked her near her shoulders while she relaxed on the settee with them.
Weirdly, she was completely fine with everyone at doggy daycare, but that may well have been because she was more anxious there and felt less able to use aggression to ask people to move away, and also because they may not have caught her in the wrong place, making her feel safer there.
She was very sound sensitive and would shut down and refuse to move if she heard sounds that scared her on a walk. I saw a video taken on one walk where she heard distant gunshots and she sat under a bench and trembled, unable to move. She would occasionally refuse to get in or out of the car, but there were no other symptoms of pain.
Isla had already been on fluoxetine, an anxiety medication, which hadn’t helped, which is very unusual if anxiety is the only emotion causing the behaviour.
Getting a diagnosis
Because Isla was so terrified of the vet, they were unable to examine her. They therefore opted to put Isla onto a pain trial to see if this improved her behaviour. Vet behaviourists advise that pain trials ideally need to last up to 12 weeks because if a dog is operating on an expectation of certain things (such as touching or stroking) causing them pain, it can take up to 12 weeks for them to learn that these things no longer hurt. About halfway into her pain trial, Isla developed another condition which caused a large and very painful abscess to develop behind her eye. This required emergency treatment and while she was under anaesthetic, the vet also carried out CT scans.
The scans showed that Isla has severe bilateral chronic bicipital tendinopathy and also chronic bilateral degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis). This is undoubtedly what had been causing Isla intense pain whenever she was touched around that area.
Treatment
She is now undergoing treatment and doing much better. We will be meeting up again once her pain is under control to continue her training, although she may well not need any further help if they are able to get her pain under control. She is now happy to get in and out of the car using her ramp.
Meg
Meg and her brother Rocky first came to me as 10 month old pups. Their owners were concerned about Meg’s following problem behaviours
- Anxiety, on walks, and at home.
- Fear of traffic – she would bark and lunge at passing vehicles.
- Refusing to leave the house
- Fear of unfamiliar noises, at home and on walks.
- Fighting, on walks and at home.
- Tail chasing, only at home.
When I first met Meg, there had been road works up the road and she had been absolutely terrified. She was so scared that she would not even go out in the garden to toilet. She absolutely refused to go on walks as well.
Whenever anyone made unusual noises, such as a blow a raspberry, she would either swing round and chase her tail, or attack her brother Rocky, if he was nearby. This went on to also be an issue whenever military aircraft flew over, which was often. As they both grew older, Rocky would start to retaliate, resulting in nasty fights. This wasn’t Meg meaning to be aggressive, it had simply become a coping mechanism when the noise caused her to tense up, causing pain.
Meg never limped and there were no physical signs that anything was wrong. However, her extreme fear of noises was a big concern regarding pain, and, similarly, many of the collies I have seen who have been scared of traffic have gone on to be diagnosed with a painful condition.
Getting a diagnosis
I mentioned the possibility of Meg being in pain to the vet, but also asked their thoughts about anxiety medication. The vet prescribed fluoxetine (Reconcile) and imepitoin (Pexion), which helped a little, alongside the training and behaviour plan. Meg started to be able to go outside to toilet again, and even started to want to go for short walks.
However, her fear of noises continued to escalate and after a particularly difficult walk in which Meg constantly attacked Rocky, which seemed related to the noise of people playing football nearby and jet planes above, her owners took her to the vet’s for further investigations.
Meg was x-rayed which showed that she has severe bilateral (both sides) hip dysplasia. The vets have suggested that a hip replacement for the worst side may be needed, but they are seeing how she gets on, on pain relief and building up muscle in the affected hip. Meg was only a year old when she was diagnosed.
Treatment
She is now on pain relief and doing much better. When I next heard from her owners, she was sleeping as jets flew over. This would never have happened before! Lickimats also helped her to cope with the noise of aircraft once on pain relief.
Conclusion
Hopefully this highlights how well collies can hide very painful conditions and shows that just because they can run and jump, it doesn’t mean that there is no discomfort present. Collies are born to work, run, jump and play, and they become so aroused while carrying out these activities that their brains just switch off from any pain or discomfort that they might be feeling.
I am seeing many more dogs with similar stories – I just had to limit this article for fear that people would get bored if I included too many! I might do a sequel with a few more cases!
If you are concerned about your dog, and have suspicions that they might be feeling pain or discomfort, but you’re not sure how to go about getting help, please get in touch. As a behaviourist, if your dog is referred to me, I can contact your vet directly and discuss various options that could help you to get a diagnosis.
If you have niggling feelings that something is wrong with your dog then it’s always worth getting them checked over with a vet. Often owners can tell when something isn’t right and just need someone to listen and fin
References
Lopes Fagundes, A.L., Hewison, L., McPeake, K.J., Zulch, H. and Mills, D.S. (2018) Noise Sensitivities in Dogs: An Exploration of Signs in Dogs with and without Musculoskeletal Pain Using Qualitative Content Analysis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 5.