# Spinning and Spinning and Spinning



## mooseymax (Jan 26, 2013)

My husband and I adopted a 3 year old German Shepherd from a Rescue. We quickly figured out why his former owners gave up.
He just spins and spins and spins. 
We've only had him for 2 months, an the spinning, is out of control. I don't know what to do. 
We live on a acreage, and we put him outside with the other dogs and he will spin for 8 or 9 hours. He will spin all day until we bring him in the house. He just stands in the same spot and spins. If I bring him in the house, he spins in the house as well, sometimes bashing his head into the wall, knocking over furniture.....
Of course he stops spinning when we take him for walks or play with him, and he sleeps very well at night. But who has time to play with a dog all day or correct him all day?
We will probably take him to the vet this week. If there is nothing medically wrong with him, I don't know what to do.


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

Melatonin


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Spinning is a symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. There have been a lot of threads on here about it if you use the search feature.

Tufts University is doing a study on it. Tufts Animal Behavior Research Studies : Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine


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## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

I'm sure your vet will have advice on how to handle this. It does sound like the behavior is obsessive-compulsive. There are ways to handle this. 

You have not had the dog for very long. Anxiety, due to a major change in life, can exacerbate behaviors like this in the short term. Talk to your vet.


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## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

Also, I think you need to work on building a bond with the dog. You have to interrupt the behavior and replace it with something constructive. I know you can't spend 24/7 monitoring the dog. 

But, to me this sounds like an anxiety-driven problem, you need to step up your involvement and provide a productive routine for this dog. Letting him out to run with the other dogs is obviously not enough. He needs to interact with you and build trust with you before he will be comfortable. Engage him in training and mentally stimulating games. 

The vet will likely suggest some medications. Those will help him be less anxious, but to truly get the benefit you have to use that time constructively from a bonding and training perspective.

If you are already doing these things, continue to do so. Two months is not enough time.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

Welcome to the board. I'm sorry to hear this about your boy. This is a behavior that can be managed in most cases. 


Help for OCD Dogs - Whole Dog Journal Article


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## mooseymax (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks for all the advice. It helps because some days I get so frustrated with him. It helps me to vent to others.
I've tried to be more understanding of his spinning problem and try to spend more time with him. I guess he's not like the other dogs, who are happy to sit in the sun all day and bark when cars drive by. 
I know he needs to go to the vet because his spinning is so bad, he is going to hurt his hips or tear his feet. Yesterday he spun until he was exhausted and panting.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

You will need medication. Melatonin is fairly short acting and thus quite ineffective for OCDs. There's some question of safety as well, for our pets. 

However, your vet will have a number of suggestions (behavioral mod and medications), and be sure to discuss each medication with your vet thoroughly to find one that'll work and have the fewest side effects.
A "Thunder shirt" may also help although personally I've never noticed a difference when I've used them and we've tried them on a number of dogs.

I'm sad the rescue didn't disclose this beforehand. It's tough enough to deal with a dog that develops OCDs when it's lived with you it's whole life, but it sounds like you're having a difficult time even getting to know this one 
Good luck.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

I never seen this spinning in the flesh. I wonder can you train a dog out of that. Like give him something to do that really uses his mental energy

Do you try to do some tug or throwing a ball for the dog or is it beyond that?


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## LifeofRiley (Oct 20, 2011)

To the OP, yes, he absolutely needs to go to the vet! 

OCD is an anxiety-disorder. As I mentioned in my earlier post, you will need to work on reducing the anxiety through medication, routine, exercise and positive interaction. 

Wishing you all the best. Please do keep us updated!


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

Was he a spinner when you got him? Gotten worse over 2 months, or just the same, cannot fix...triggers? Have you thought about video taping, this can catch all the things you miss while doing life stuff...

Def. have a check up - but to reduce anxiety to use while conditioning, then you could try melatonin before going to prozac/valium (or xanax) extremes...as well, some amino acids, medium change triglycerides ~ coconut oil for brain, thyroid, blood sugar are mentioned in this link (Merck), it suggests common drugs  as well... mentions all kinds of "disorders" so you can scroll to compulsive (more about cognitive changes in seniors so some good supplimental)

Interesting read
Behavioral Problems of Dogs: Normal Social Behavior and Behavioral Problems of Domestic Animals: Merck Veterinary Manual


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

I read something a long while ago that dogs can have high cholesterol and spinning an OCD behaviour is a result of that . Adding LECITHIN to diet changed that . The Dog Daily

Dog Tail-Chasing Linked to High Cholesterol

link "dogs high cholesterol and OCD spinning" and you will get pages of information.

Lecithin available in caplet or as a "pellet" which any health food or bulk food outlet will have , or found in egg yolks is good to add to diet --- as is SAMe S Adenosyl (SAMe) for Dogs and Cats by Vitality Systems

Since liver function is involved in cholesterol , I would provide a liver cleanse -- stinging nettles , dandelion, burdock, beet powder, milk thistle .


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

MadLab said:


> I never seen this spinning in the flesh. I wonder can you train a dog out of that. Like give him something to do that really uses his mental energy
> 
> Do you try to do some tug or throwing a ball for the dog or is it beyond that?


Having rescued and owned a number of anxiety-ridden dogs, I'd say exercise may help a bit, but even when physically tired, these dogs manage to work themselves up into a frenzy. 
You can't reach many of these dogs, once in their OCD behavior. 
Separation anxiety is similar. You'd say "give them a kong toy" or some such but when they are in anxiety mode, they can't _think_ about chewing on something or being distracted.


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## mooseymax (Jan 26, 2013)

His spinning is starting to get slightly better, after 5 months. 
From what I can figure out, his spinning, seems to be when he is too stimulated. For example, he will spin when I'm around, or if he see's a person. He also spins when he is put outside with the other dogs. He also spins if he is in the open yard with no fence.
I discovered he doesn't spin if I put him, by himself, in the garage, with his dog bed, with little or no stimulation. He seems to relax in the garage, when he is alone. We made his own little yard for him so he can go out when he wants, and he doesn't spin in his little yard. However, as soon as he sees another dog, or me, he will start spinning.
So, of course, it would be cruel to leave him in the garage all the time, so we take him out for walks, and, he spin-walks. walk spin walk spin walk spin.


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## Ecurt (Mar 12, 2013)

I do not know if this will help but, there is an episode of Ceasar Millan where he deals with a spinning German Shepherd A Possessive Maltese and a Spinning German Shepherd | Cesar Millan

We have Netflix and this show is on it, I dont know if you can find it online somewhere. Good luck!


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## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

There was a show about this recently on TV, there is some breed that almost always gets this OCD. There are medications that help control it and should not be too expensive.


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## Mojo220 (Mar 21, 2013)

I adopted a 2 year old from the shelter last month with the same problem. He would spin and try to bite his tail every time he got excited. I've had some luck stopping the behavior by interrupting it as soon as it starts, and redirecting him to another activity. At first, I wasn't able to stop him, so I left a light leash on him all day. Every time he started to spin, I'd grab the leash, stop him, and reward him when he stepped out of it. I'd then work on sit, down, or high five until he stopped spinning. He's gone from starting to spin 10-12 times a day, down to 1-2 times a day. He's also become less intense about; I don't need the leash any more, just a grab of the collar or a touch on his back, and he'll come out and focus on me.
I don't know if this will work with your dog, but I thought I'd let you know what worked for me.


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

My Malinois is the spinning queen. It's become part of our communication. If I ask her if she needs to go potty, and she spins faster, that's a yes. She spins when she's excited and when she wants my interaction. But if I'm inside she turns into a normal dog and explores the back yard. 

Seeing that your dog spins 8 hours a day, I realize something needs to be done. Before you try medication, try some structured training. As an experiment, next time you are home all day, once an hour (set a timer so you don't forget), go outside and spend 10 minutes doing a combination of obedience and play. Tug is a favorite of many GSD. See if doing that for a couple of days makes any change. Maybe your dog needs some structure and is not sure what he is supposed to be doing.


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

Mojo220 said:


> Every time he started to spin, I'd grab the leash, stop him, and reward him when he stepped out of it. I'd then work on sit, down, or high five until he stopped spinning. He's gone from starting to spin 10-12 times a day, down to 1-2 times a day.


I have also been successful with training a "stop" command. And putting a leash on my girl seems to calm her. I used to put a leash on her in the house when I was on the sofa watching TV and she would lay at my feet. 

Like I said, now that she's older, she's much calmer and spins much less.


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## vsdreamon (Nov 27, 2018)

*I Agree, Leash Helps Calm Her*



FlyAway said:


> I have also been successful with training a "stop" command. And putting a leash on my girl seems to calm her. I used to put a leash on her in the house when I was on the sofa watching TV and she would lay at my feet.
> 
> Like I said, now that she's older, she's much calmer and spins much less.



The leash on her while I am home with her, while in the kitchen doing dishes, watching tv in the livingroom or reading a book, seems to snap her out of this compulsive behavior. Mine acts like she is watching something , head down, then sometimes snaps or yelps at air and starts running the room in circles. Off and on she will be looking to see if I am watching her. If I say anything, she just goes faster. She even does this around the pool.
I recently moved and this started at that time.


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## DizzyDog (Feb 18, 2021)

I came across this post while looking for the Cesar Millan video on German Shepherd spinning (which I can't find). It's been a long time since the original post, but I wanted to add that Cesar said the dog needed a job to help with the OCD, he had the shepherd wear a doggie backpack and loaded it with water bottles. The dog, who had been spinning every day for hours, would get tired out because of the weight. They kept the backpack on 24/7, as the dog stopped spinning, they'd take out water bottles until he just had 2, but kept the backpack on. I guess the dog felt he was doing a job and focused more on that. Hope this helps. (PS. We also use 3mg melatonin for our dog, who is afraid of thunder, guns, or fireworks. It really helps.)


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