Hyperkinesis In Dogs

If you have spent any time around dogs, you may have run into an over-active, sometimes raging, vicious kind of dog.  These kind of dogs usually require handling using a heavy duty tranquilizer and several helpers.  In many of these cases, such behavior cannot be explained by improper handling, cruelty, or neglect by their owners.  When the dog is branded as untrainable, they are usually written off as "just plain vicious".   Too many of these dogs are relegated to the end of a chain or destroyed as a menace to the neighborhood. 

Surprisingly, research has been ongoing in this area and since the early 1970s, such mean and excitable behavior has been identified in some dogs as hyperkinesis.

Hyperkinesis is a behavioral condition that is described as a hyper-behavior that is treatable with stimulants.   Most dog owners are unaware of this condition, and to add to the confusion, it has recently been given a new name which is “attention deficit disorder.”  While ADD, as it is termed, may describe certain aspects of the hyperkinetic dog's behavior, it lacks the proper physical symptoms.  

The signs and symptoms associated with hyperkinesis in dogs usually are more pronounced when the dog is stressed by a close confinement situation.  Signs that are noticeable include a rapid heart rate, excessive salivation, a high metabolic rate, and reduced urine output.  The major difficulty in identifying the syndrome, however, is that there is no apparent cause.  Clinical signs may be evident in dogs that are normal in all other ways.  In addition, dogs identified as hyperkinetic do not display consistent behavior patterns or physical symptoms.

Symptoms of hyperkinesis may include some, but not all, of these behaviors: 

• The dog cannot sit still, even for a minute;
• The dog never becomes accustomed to everyday situations;
• he cannot be taught anything (often an obedience school failure); 
• he salivates constantly,
• and he always seems very excited or very nervous. 

In studies designed to evaluate dogs' responses to stress, some dogs did not respond to positive reinforcement, while tranquilization had no effect.  Eventually the researchers decided they were dealing with the equivalent of hyperkinetic children.

The risk with dogs with hyperkinesis is that many an experienced dog handler or dog owner has been bitten by these animals.  These dogs may even attack other dogs viciously without provocation or hesitation - even docile and friendly animals.