We "rescued" our German Shepherd two years ago. Since then we've discovered she has myelopathy. Our issue/s with her are this ( not all myelopathy related ) and I need help dealing with her: 1) she is completely incontinent so needs to be outside 2) during storms/fireworks she becomes "superdog" and jumps 5 foot fences then pries siding off the garage door so she'll be safe ( I do put her inside when I'm home but ....)- we have done everything to secure our backyard but she always comes up with a new escape route 3) when she escapes there is always the fear that she will attack the neighborhood dogs ( she goes after small animals/dogs so having her "escape" is a major problem - our vet suggests behavior modification but I think we may need more help than that and I'd appreciate any expert advice I can get

 Quote: helen houk

We "rescued" our German Shepherd two years ago. Since then we've discovered she has myelopathy. Our issue/s with her are this ( not all myelopathy related ) and I need help dealing with her: 1) she is completely incontinent so needs to be outside 2) during storms/fireworks she becomes "superdog" and jumps 5 foot fences then pries siding off the garage door so she'll be safe ( I do put her inside when I'm home but ....)- we have done everything to secure our backyard but she always comes up with a new escape route 3) when she escapes there is always the fear that she will attack the neighborhood dogs ( she goes after small animals/dogs so having her "escape" is a major problem - our vet suggests behavior modification but I think we may need more help than that and I'd appreciate any expert advice I can get

Posting the same message, duplicated all over the board, is not OK; it's spamming.

I had a reply typed in response to your second post; did you delete the post about the infant, hips, vet trips, etc.???

Anyway, here's my response:
OK. More questions:

Hips? Does she have OA? What kind of vitamins did you mean?

Does she have bowel incontinence or just bladder? (You know that urine is fairly sterile, right? I don't mean you want it all over the house, but I hope you're not worrying unnecessarily that it has the bacteria of fecal matter; it does not.)

Meds for incontinence due to nerve damage: Most meds for urinary incontinence involve lessening bladder contractions. What did the vet say about meds?

Do you know if she has overflow incontinence (the bladder fills without emptying to its capacity and then the animal leaks urine pretty much continuously)?

Other types are stress incontinence (meaning that coughing, running, and so on, cause leakage). Urge incontinence is caused by contractions that happen when the animal is not trying to pee.

Do you know that there are dog-diapers that would make trips to the vet much easier?

Is she getting any urine-scalding? (Does she urinate in her sleep and lie in it?)

I didn't delete anything. I'm not sure what kind of incontinence she has she just seems to go whenever. She definitely pees when she is stressed or thinks she's in trouble but I've noticed lately that she just goes whenever so it may be a bladder issue. The bowel movements are the same way. She just goes whenever and of course its worse when she's stressed or nervous. The vet only recommended behavior modification as he doesn't believe in using meds. He does home visits which is very helpful but I think I will need to take her elsewhere. Will try the doggie diapers. She doesn't have any scalding. The meds for her hips are Chondro-flex and really help her alot as does exercise. She swims in our pool once a week also. Is OA osteoarthritis ? If so, no, she used to hop on her back legs but doesn't do this anymore. We have wood floors and once she started staying outdoors I believe the soft terrain, increased exercise and meds made it better. She can get up and sit down well and is able to jump / climb over fences.

 Quote: helen houk

... I'm not sure what kind of incontinence she has she just seems to go whenever. She definitely pees when she is stressed or thinks she's in trouble but I've noticed lately that she just goes whenever so it may be a bladder issue. The bowel movements are the same way. She just goes whenever and of course its worse when she's stressed or nervous. The vet only recommended behavior modification as he doesn't believe in using meds. He does home visits which is very helpful but I think I will need to take her elsewhere. Will try the doggie diapers. She doesn't have any scalding. The meds for her hips are Chondro-flex and really help her alot as does exercise. She swims in our pool once a week also. Is OA osteoarthritis ? If so, no, she used to hop on her back legs but doesn't do this anymore. We have wood floors and once she started staying outdoors I believe the soft terrain, increased exercise and meds made it better. She can get up and sit down well and is able to jump / climb over fences.

OK, gotcha.

I don't get the behavior modification with regard to the incontinence. Maybe -- is it what he recommended for the storm and noise panic? That makes more sense.

The incontinence, related to degenerative myelopathy, isn't a behavior thing, in my mind.... ? It's not controllable to her, so what behavior can be modified?

Incontinence is (I think) generally a final-stages thing with DM, when the hindquarters start to lose function, which doesn't sound like it's happening yet with this dog.

Would it help if I gave you some links to info about the disease?

The panic (storms and fireworks) -- this is something separate, I would assume. Did your vet think they were connected somehow?

I have worked with dogs who had noise-phobias, but I have to tell you that it's not a quick fix if the dog is so bad that she's escaping from "escape-proof" areas, and added to that you have the animal-aggression.

This is a complex bunch of problems. What are you seeing as the most urgent problem right now? The escaping? Are you prepared to build something like Mike described?

Or is a solid prognosis more what you need? DM is the equivalent of MS for humans, I think, insofar as it's an autoimmune disease, and although I have not read recent research, I don't think the prognosis is good.

I guess my main concern is her escaping and how to control it. Mainly for fear that she'll hurt an animal in the neighborhood. I know her incontinence is due to the disease so my question for that is if there are meds she can take to help with that part. I'm just surprised that at this point in the disease she still has so much strength in her hips and legs. I think I'll try noise desensitizing which I just read about. We may have to build her a kennel which I'll look into. My main concern with that is her injuring herself so I guess I need to do a combination of both. I've also contacted a dog trainer in our area to see what they can do to help. I guess I'll just keep her inside for now and deal with the mess. The main thing is getting the fear of thunder under control if possible. Thank you for all your responses.

I also had a reply posted to the thread Connie posted in that got removed by someone. No biggie. My advice was:

Pour concrete slab, put up a nice 6x10 or 10x10 kennel run or whatever space you wish to dedicate to this, with a roof and a nice insulated dog house in the back of it. Go to tractor supply co and buy big rubber stall mats so when she panics she doesn't hurt herself digging on concrete floor. Voila, no more escaping dog.

 Quote: Helen Houk

I guess my main concern is her escaping and how to control it. Mainly for fear that she'll hurt an animal in the neighborhood. I know her incontinence is due to the disease so my question for that is if there are meds she can take to help with that part. I'm just surprised that at this point in the disease she still has so much strength in her hips and legs. I think I'll try noise desensitizing which I just read about. We may have to build her a kennel which I'll look into. My main concern with that is her injuring herself so I guess I need to do a combination of both. I've also contacted a dog trainer in our area to see what they can do to help. I guess I'll just keep her inside for now and deal with the mess. The main thing is getting the fear of thunder under control if possible. Thank you for all your responses.

If you are getting in a trainer or behaviorist about the thunder and the animal aggression, I'll read up on the possibility of meds for the incontinence.

Some reading:
http://dogs.about.com/cs/behaviorissues/a/anxiety_noise.htm

There are many threads here about noise phobias, too.

Mike's suggestion about containment sounds really good. I'm glad you are fully aware of the importance of containing her 100%.

She has been in the laundry room with the doggie door propped open the last few days and seems to be doing alright. I'm sure there is some separation anxiety there along with all the other issues. Thank you again for your help and guidance. I will let you know what I hear from the trainer. My husband is going to build her a kennel/run so at least she can spend some time outdoors since the exercise is so good for her. She will stay in the laundry room if we don't make her go outside once in a while but its better that than terrorizing the neighborhood. Thanks again

Thank you Mike