The Power of Social Media

Sniper hiding like snipers do - Sept 2015

In the past four months since learning of Sniper's Autism, I have had this feeling that I didn't really have a real grasp on everything like what to expect, watch for and what to know.  I sat down at the computer  and out of desperation did a search on YouTube for any videos I could find on Autistic Dogs.  Looking through the hundreds of videos of service dogs with Autistic Children I found one video of a training session with an Autistic dog.  Clicking on that video opened a giant door to a network of people I was looking for.

On the page for the video there was a Facebook link to click on.  Low and behold it was a page called Dogs with Autism Characteristics ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/517051411687595/ ).  I was so excited to have a group of people to ask questions to and learn from their journeys in the hopes of making Sniper's journey better.  The first person I talked to was Michelle and bless her heart she took two hours out of her day to chat with me over the messaging service and answer my questions.  The information I gleaned that day gave me so much relief and answered so many questions that were bouncing around in my head.  I thanked Michelle the best I could but she will never truly know how much she helped me that day.

What exactly did she tell me that was so profound?
1.  Rosemary in food or treats is a neuro-stimulant and increases many autistic behaviours.
     Luckily the food I was feeding did not contain any Rosemary but a quick look at the treats I was feeding and there it was.  No more treats with Rosemary.
2.  For working dogs they need a week of dark time both before and after events.
     While I understand the principle behind this and can appreciate the need for it, in the day to day of our lives this just isn't possible for Sniper but we do the best we can.
3.  When Sniper has a panic attack I need to ensure he is safe but not insist on the same level of rational behaviour I expect from my other dogs.  If I attempt to chase him a flight response may occur and if I try to grab him in an attempt to contain him it will likely make things worse.  If he chooses to hide just let him be.
      Wow!  Where was this advice back in the beginning of September?  The whole scary scene is 100% clearer now.  It also explains the panic attack at 6 months old when he ran away, pure flight response.
4.  If Sniper chooses to remove himself to a dark room in the house he is doing this because he needs to, respect his boundaries.
     Every evening when we get home from work, Sniper eats his dinner and goes to his crate in the bedroom away from the family.  I felt bad for him and thought he didn't like us or didn't feel safe in the house.  Now I understand what he was doing and I think how smart he was for figuring that out.
5.  The feeling of wind in their hair is euphoria and provides a calming feeling to them.
     The sight of Sniper running as fast as he can  and as long as he can when playing fetch makes perfect sense.  The windier the day the better for him.  It also explains why he loves dock diving so much.
6.  Routine is key, try not to change anything that provides structure and stability for him.
     Another light bulb moment.  I couldn't change vehicles we traveled in, crates he used or the bedding without Sniper looking like the throws of a panic attack starting.  I am also a compulsive furniture re-arranger, not anymore.  The look on Sniper's face when I re-arrange the furniture is priceless but one of definite confusion and it upsets the whole balance in his life.

From these six statements alone, the light bulb went off and I suddenly had a true look into my dog.  I finally was starting to understand him.

Finding Answers and Trying Something New

When I arrived at work the day of Sniper's meltdown, the first thing on my list of things to do was to get in touch with Dr. Jodie and see what other resources I had.

A quick text message off to Dr. Jodie and she said it sounded like a panic attack.  So seeing as we were choosing to handle sniper "unconventionally" which meant no pharmaceutical medications, she suggested trying CBD (Cannabidiol) which is part of the marijuana plant.  It contains no TSH and would serve a medical purpose to help with his panic attacks.  I was totally responsive to the idea and now I had to figure out where to get it in Canada.  

My search lead me to an awesome company called Canna Companion (www.cannaforpets.com).   With a veterinary prescription I could get product for Sniper and they could ship it to me.  The would also copy any information required to Dr. Jodie for her files.  Fantastic. The website was very informative and the veterinarian I spoke with answered all my questions and even gave me further information that she felt applied to my situation.  Now I just had to wait for the product to arrive.

While we were competing in Calgary at Ultimate Air Dogs, Dr. Jodie sent me to meet Daphne of Daphne's Healing Hands (https://www.facebook.com/DHHCrystalCreations/?fref=ts).  Dr. Jodie was working on Sniper doing some cranial sacral treatments and animal communication prior to June.  In June, she had an accident which kept her from working, which also meant no treatments for Sniper.  She did her best to help us navigate our learning curve but she knew Sniper needed some more energy work. Cue the meeting with Daphne at Spruce Meadows where Daphne had a booth.  Oddly enough I met her in Calgary but we both lived in Edmonton.  Yippee!  We spoke throughout the weekend and Daphne did some work on Slice as Sniper was way too keyed up with the dock diving to be in for too much of anything.  Slice loved her which was all the approval I needed.

Daphne and I came up with a plan for when we got back to Edmonton and set up an appointment.  I was super excited to carry on with where we left off with Dr. Jodie.

A Weekend of Working

The day after our catastophic day on September 3, 2015, my good friend, Terry Simons, arrived in Edmonton from California to teach a seminar for me.  Uncle Terry, as my dogs know him, means there is agility and good times in store.  Terry is also the reason I have Tollers and he and his wife own a brother to Sniper.

Terry knew of Sniper's diagnosis before he arrived and he had been helping me with some advice from his experience teaching a dog with autism.  When I picked him up from the airport, he noticed the bites on my hand and asked if it happened with a dog at work.  That launched the conversation about what happened and he could clearly tell how upset I was for Sniper.

When we got to the house, I unload the dogs from the car and their is a Uncle Terry reunion in the backyard.  All four dogs are super excited to see Terry including Sniper.  Sniper and Terry have only seen each other a couple of times but there was no doubt that Sniper remembered him and categorized him as one of his "people".  When you are one the "Accepted People" list Sniper throws himself up into your arms whether you are ready to catch him or not.  It his how he expresses his happiness and pure joy.  Sniper stuck to Terry like glue and they shared many quiet moments over the weekend.  A closeness that very few get to experience with Sniper.  He knew he could trust Terry and gave himself over to that place.

Terry wasn't just in town for a visit he was there to teach a three day agility seminar.  I have worked with Terry for seven years and call him my "coach" when it comes to all things agility.  Now that Sniper was old enough for a seminar and doing all the equipment I was super excited for the weekend.  Fingers crossed that the episode the couple days before did not have a lasting effect for the weekend.

Sniper was brilliant at the seminar!  We were outside in the rain but he did not care one bit.  As expected, we came across a few hurdles where we had to stop and reset his brain on a couple of sequences.  This is all a part of our learning process developing our team work.  Finding the key to unlock his vault.

For as brilliant as he was during the day, when we got back home Sniper was quiet and withdrawn and seeking out new places to "hide" in the house where he could be quiet.  For the most part, he chose to sleep in Terry's room where it was dark and quiet.

All in all he seemed to cope okay after his panic attack.

A Reality Check

In the five months since Sniper's diagnosis we have been learning lots and applying our knew knowledge into practice and seeing great results.  Everything was going so well that I almost forgot we were dealing with Autism.  Our new "normal" was trucking along and life was good. On September 3, 2015 a huge reality check hit me smack in the face.  In the big picture it was a minor set back but at the time it was a completely horrible day.

I was getting ready for work and all the dogs were in the bedroom with me.  Pint, my 4 lb Papillon, decided he was going to get off the bed which meant he had to walk by Sniper to get to the stairs.  I am sure Pint has done this 100 times and didn't think twice about navigating past Sniper.  Just as Pint was going past Sniper's head Sniper snapped at Pint and made him yelp.  Lucky for me I happened to be standing there when it happened so I knew exactly what went on.  In my house, the Papillons are not to be touched or trampled, so that was unacceptable behaviour.  I hollered out a "HEY!' and walked over to the bed to pick Sniper up and put him away in his crate, also probably something I had done many times in his 18 month life.  When I went to pick him up Sniper suddenly turned into a snapping crocodile and I got bit quite badly.  He took off running from the bedroom and went to the kitchen.  Well the trainer in me thought there is no way he is getting away with that and I went to get him and put him away.  We played a short game of cat and mouse as he dodged the punishment of going in the crate.  When he finally stopped in his corner of the couch I could see a look in his eyes that was pure panic and I took a huge step back and figured I now needed to approach this completely different. 

                                                             

When I took a quiet step towards him and reached out to pet him he let out this crazy scream and started air snapping at me.  The whole situation reminded me of a scene in Rainman where Dustin Hoffman was having a meltdown over the smoke detector going off.  Its the best way I can explain what I was seeing.  I had to help him but didn't really want to lose a finger and I was already bleeding pretty badly.  I was also worried about the other three dogs getting hurt in the fray of Sniper's meltdown.  So there Sniper and I stood in a bit of a wild west showdown.  I, trying to figure out how to stop his panic and he trying to defend himself from the world with his back in a corner.  In my problem solving efforts, I looked up and saw a blanket on the back of the couch right behind Sniper.  I reached over him which induced more screeaming from him and flipped the blanket over top of him.  Once he was covered I picked him up and held him tight.  He was the tightest ball of dog you could ever imagine.  When I squeezed him he let out a groan and started to relax and at that point I knew we were going to be ok.  I took Sniper covered in a blanket, grabbed a bag of treats and went back to the bedroom, just me and Sniper, and closed the door.  I gently put him down on the bed, he didn't move or even try to fight me.  I took the blanket off of him and sat down beside him with the bag of treats.  He was a little unsure but you could see he was exhausted from the adrenaline high he was just on.  We sat together for about ten miutes and I feed him treats as he let me pet him.  As Sniper came back down to earth, he sniffed at my bloody hand and licked as if to say, "I'm sorry".  I gave him a pat on the head and said  "it's ok buddy, we both learned something today".  I got up and continued on with my morning routine and Sniper put himself away in his crate until we left the house.

Now what was I going to do from here?  Who had the answers to help me?

Training Crazy (I mean that in a good way)

Sniper was already training in agility and had competed in Dock Dogs and doing well despite some of his odd behaviours.  As I mentioned above, in order to further his training I needed to "unlock" the box that would allow us to connect through the learning process.  At the time, we would get through concepts and he would pick them up and remember them but linking things together were hard for him.  They were hard because I didn't understand how to put the equation together for him.  This is now my responsibility to make the learning path make sense in his brain.  I know he is brilliant and functions in a different level.  He is certainly challenging my training knowledge and opening new doors for me which ultimately makes me a better trainer.

Sniper at 6 months

Sniper at 6 months

Sniper loves dock diving!  He seemed to be a natural at it when we started out when he was six months old.  I took him up on the dock the very first time and we went to the edge of the dock and I showed him I had the toy 
to throw in the water.  He suddenly got very serious and assumed a "sit" position with out me asking and was very serious about the job in front him.  Now I am a firm believer in letting instinct play our first and then shaping technique if necessary.  I tossed the toy about 7 feet out and released Sniper.  Out of nowhere this little puppy pops himself into the air and lands right on his toy.  Zero hesitation just pure joy!  At this time i had no idea of Sniper's autism but the joy I saw in his face when he was swimming back to me has left a lifetime memory in my brain.  I said to myself then, that is the joy I want to see in everything he does.  I am so happy that the look of gratitude and happiness I see on his face when we step on the dock has been captured in pictures.  These are the moments that stick in my brain that i want to share with the world.  This is the joy Sniper and I share.

We have played on dock dogs for over a year now and Sniper's technique has never changed  but he is jumping 20 feet now from about the same place on the dock.  It is quite unheard of and many dock competitors can't believe the distance he can get.  Not all of our jumps are pretty or the correct form but Sniper doesn't care.  No matter what happens he always gets to swim and he always gets his toy! How can you not enjoy playing with a dog that just wants to play no matter what the outcome is.  While I have competed with my other dogs at an international level for years, it has never been about the ribbons and the achievements but rather taking home the best dogs, my dogs.  I love them all to pieces and having the ability to play in many different venues allows us to spend more time together meeting new people.  Most importantly, when Sniper is playing people forget about the dog that spins like a top and see him for who he really is, experience his joy and love of life.

Because our "technique" is  little unorthodox it has taken some time to connect the dots from release to toss to catch to the water.  It is all over in a blink of an eye and who knew it would be so precise.  Like any sport it takes practice.  I put a pool up in the back yard three years ago for Arson.  Just a simple 9x18 above ground pool for swimming.  Who knew that it would become and interim jumping practice between the times we got on the dock.  Sniper was lucky and stepped into the yard with the pool and learned to swim in it at six months old.  It didn't take Sniper very long to figure out he could launch himself off the ramp and jump into the pool.  I won't lie, there was one day he almost cleared the pool's 18 feet!  Yes I did scream and fortunately since then we haven't repeated that episode.

In the summer we are able to make some trips up north to play with Xtreme Air Dogs and Aaron Grant.  A quick two hour drive and the boys get to practice jumping and compete about once a month over the summer.  Aaron has been great in helping Sniper and I perfect our technique and getting the most we can out of our jumps.  What I feel on the dock and what is actually happening are two different things so it was great to have a watchful eye on the sidelines to give us pointers.  

In September 2015, we took our skills to a new venue of competition, Ultimate Air Dogs at Spruce Meadows in Calgary.  All the disciplines are similar but have different games and sometimes, slightly different rules.  Sniper loved jumping inside and quite enjoyed the crowd cheering. 

Our routine when he gets on the dock starts and the bottom of the stairs.  I take the leash off and let him run up the stairs ahead of me.  When Sniper gets to the top of the stairs he starts spinning in circles which gets the crowd laughing at his enthusiasm.  Little do they know that the spinning is part of his autism not a trained cue.  Unfortunately, being indoors and far away from our vehicle there was no quiet place for Sniper to get away.  He was functioning in the red zone all day.  Over the top crazy.  The only part that brought him back was jumping in the pool.  The shot below says it all...low jump and the tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.  Once I join him on the dock we walk all the way out to the edge of the dock and then Sniper performs one last spin and assumes a perfect sit.  He puts his game face on and waits for my cue to jump.  It really is the cutest thing.  I knock the bumper on the dock and throw it out in the water.  Sniper leaps out to 20 feet from a stand still!  No running just sitting to 20 feet out in the pool!  It's crazy!  The crowd cheers and Sniper is so happy as he gets his bumper and heads back to the ramp.  Never a happier moment than watching your dog do something they love so completely.

Surprise to me both of the boys made it to the finals and low and behold Sniper won a division called Chase-It.  It is a timed event of jumping in and chasing a bumper to stop the time.  He thought the game was fantastic!  His win also brought home $150!  Good boy Sniper.  He was pretty proud of himself at the end of the day especially knowing that there was new toys coming with his winnings.

A New Journey Begins

Now that we had a diagnosis it was time to start changing our day to day lives to help "unlock" Sniper and discover all his potential.  I needed to figure out his triggers and embrace some of the quirky behaviours that make him who he is.  From the beginning I decided I wanted to take a holistic approach in helping him.  That may not be understandable to many as holistic/homepathic remedies are doubted by the masses but I believe in the power of it and I wanted to see how it would benefit Sniper.  In reality, it was either going to work or it wasn't and the things we were going to try wasn't going to kill him.  I started to keep a journal of things that I observed or changed with Sniper as we navigated his treatment/life adjustment plan.

So where to start...

In May of 2015, under the guidance of one Sniper's treatment team, Dr. Jodie Santarossa, we started to implement a few things at a time to see what was going to work for Sniper.  First things first, we got a Thunder Shirt, not sure why I hadn't thought of it before as I have used them on many dogs and recommend them often to students and customers.  Almost instantly you could see Sniper's demeanor change.  I also added a few drops of lavendar essential oil to the patch on the side of the Thunder Shirt for such a purpose.  During a typically high stress time in the day where he would bark and spin as customers picked up their dogs, Sniper was considerably more settled and was barking less.  Instant success is somewhat gratifying but at the same time you feel like you failed your dog not taking that step sooner.

A few days later we addedd digestive enzymes to his diet to see if that made any difference in his behaviour.  Not so sure they made a difference but I was continuing to see positive changes and seeing he had more focus when learning.  Most of the changes seemed to coinside with the Thundershirt.

Always on the search for ways to help Sniper, we added a Shuzi Pet Tag to his collar.  The Shuzi tag vibrates at a cellular level and amongst many of its health benefits one of them was to help with anxiety issues.  I had had success with Shuzi for two of my other dogs with inflammation so I knew the product worked it was just a question of whether it would work for Sniper.  Within about two weeks of adding the Shuzi pet tag, Sniper was refusing to put on his Thunder Shirt.  It was an interesting observation and when discussing with Dr. Jodie during a cranial sacral session, she confirmed that he probably viewed it as a security blanket now and if he didn't want to put it on then Sniper felt he didn't need it.  And from that point on we just proceeded with the collar and essential oils.

In June, I progressed the essential oils from just lavendar on his Thunder Shirt to adding diffusers to my office and house. At home, I put one in the living room and another in the bedroom.  I continued using mostly lavender but was able to purchase a Tranquility Blend from Saje Wellness that seemed to really work well.  As soon as I got home from work the diffusers were turned on.  Sniper would eat his dinner and take himself to the bedroom where his crate is and hide himself away.  He was clearly sending a message that he needed down time in a quiet place.  With my very quick education into Canine Autism, this was a key component to the dogs finding balance,  Sniper naturally removed himself from any stimuli so he could rest.  Quite smart if you really think about it.  These quiet moments happen on a daily basis now.  He doesn't always go in the crate now, sometimes he chooses the bed.  If I happen to go in the bedroom before I go to bed, it is very clear that Sniper was in a deep deep sleep.  Before I knew what I was dealign with I just thought Sniper hated his family as he never chose to be in the same room as us but now I know different and do the best I can to find him a quiet space wherever we are.  If he has had a chance to rest or it is the weekend, Sniper will come and hang with us while we watch TV but he chooses a spot on a seperate couch by himself.  There is no cuddling or touching allowed in Sniper's world.  It's a very sad reality for me because he is just so cute not to cuddle.  

The Diagnosis

In April of 2015, at the age of 16 months, with a list of odd behaviors I started doing some research and seeking advice from a variety of sources.  I spoke to the breeder regularly as we are good friends, I contacted a behaviorist that I had used with Porter and had great success with, I contacted different friends around the world that may have some ideas, I spoke to a few veterinarians and I spoke to experts in the holistic field.  The general consensus was that Sniper was indeed different but nobody could quite put their finger on what exactly made him different.  I got lots of advice on how to fix specific issues from the list of things but nothing that would help the big picture.

Along my journey of talking to people, I get referred to a veterinarian with Slice to help deal with a concussion issue as well as some "athlete" rehab needed before heading away to Europe to compete.  The day Jodie and I reconnected will go down in history as a life changing moment for my whole family.  She worked on Slice and during our visit we started talking about how her veterinarian practice was now including holistic alternatives to conventional treatments the majority of us are familiar with.  Making a long story much shorter, we started to talk about Sniper and some of the "issues" was looking for help with.  Jodie thought she might be able to help and we scheduled a time for her to work on him.  I knew I would have to have my whole list of issues in hand at our appointment to get the most benefit of our time together so rather than remember everything down it went on paper.

THE LIST

1. Sniper avoids new experiences or situations

2. Sniper has a drastic flight/panic response

3. Sniper chooses not to interact with people/dogs

4. Sniper enjoys being with and entertaining himself

5. Sniper displays many OCD behaviors

6. Sniper recoils from human touch as if it burns him

7. Sniper randomly fear barks when nothing appears to be going on

8.  Sniper wakes from a dead sleep in a panic

9. Sniper trances 

10. Sniper avoids eye contact

11.  Sniper does not like any changes out of the norm, it causes anxiety

12.  Sniper has panic attacks

13.  Sniper starting to display separation anxiety
14.  Sniper continues to have accidents in the house or crate

The list was thorough and I had many examples for each point on the list to identify that they weren't just one time occurrences.  Jodie did a full overall exam of Sniper and brought up the possibility of Sniper having Canine Autism.  At first I think she thought I wouldn't believe her or think the idea was so far fetched but as soon as she said the words I thought, "well that makes sense".  I had never heard of a dog being autistic but it didn't mean it wasn't possible.  So I sat on the information for a week and started doing some research.  I spoke to a few of my closest dog friends and they all gave me a list of agility people they knew or had heard of whose dogs where autistic.  Who knew?  The names I heard amazed me.  These are trainers and dogs I compete with at an international level and the dogs are brilliant.  I was even more encouraged now that with proper protocol going forward Sniper was going to flourish.  Once I had a better grasp and what all this meant, I started to refine our routines and figure out all the things I could do to help Sniper.

Everything was going to be ok.