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Behavior

by barbdeter - May 4, 2009

Hi Steve - You may not remember me but I did some of my internship hours at your practice in 2002 for the AVAC intro course. I have recently attended an intro herb course with Cindy Wallis with the Chi institute. I would really like to purchase the herbs from a Canadian source, but I'm a real rookie at this and am wondering about 2 separate clients both with behaviorl issues and both of whom have tried amitriptyline and had no success.

The first is an 8 year old sheltie who is great at the clinic but at home barks at everything, both inside her own home and outside. She is not aggressive but is very anxious, startles easily and if pushed away from something may retaliate by nipping at the pusher. Cindy was talking about a Shen Calmer formula which is a combination of many different herbs - I wondered if this is something that you think may benefit this dog or if not, what do you suggest?

The second client rescues Jack Russells and I'm sure you can imagine why most of these dogs are given up. Two in particular(she has 5 altogether) are very aggressive and difficult to handle. They will attack other dogs while out on walks. They are also quite tenacious in the clinic and are difficult to do much with. Would a Shen Calming formula be enough for them?

Thanks in advance for your help. Please let me know if you need more info about either case.

Barb Deter

by naturevet

May 5, 2009

Hi Barb,

I think it's fine to try herbs on both of these dogs. We've had excellent success over the years with behavioural problems - if nothing else, then just taking the 'edge' off them and making the animal less intense in their reactions to stimuli.

I don't know what specifically is in Shen Calmer. I guess I would say if it doesn't work to a satisfactory degree, use your Chinese medical evaluation skills to decide why you think the animal has behavioural problems. I would suspect the two animals described above are different, and may not respond to the same thing. If their issues were persistent, you could bring your clinical data to the forum here and I could try to help you out more specifically.

Of course, I'm quite happy to do that now, if you'd like to provide more data on each...? For example, pulse, tongue, and point findings; details on any concurrent problems and any problems they've had in the past; and laboratory changes. In short, the same kind of information discussed in the AVAC course, or cited by other people on this forum.

The last generic comment I have is that behaviour problems take a while to normalize, and may even need a diet change to really move along. So they're not always the best cases for providing immediate feedback to a budding herbalist about how they're doing. But they can be very rewarding, so I'd give it a try.

Cheers!

Steve

Steve

by barbdeter

May 5, 2009

Thanks for your help.

Barb

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