Angus. His story.

Angus is a bull terrier. He is almost three years old and his life has been a rollercoaster ride. Born in September 2011, he came to us at eight weeks. Our elderly male bull terrier, Digby, had died aged twelve and Daisy, our old girl had arrhythmia. As grumpy as Daisy was, she mothered little Angus who was strangely quiet and unaffectionate as a puppy. Sadly Daisy died of heart failure when Angus was about five months old. Angus had been going to puppy classes to ensure socialisation and to learn the usual commands which he did very well. He loved to play with a little bully girl named Lola and seemed very happy. Suddenly he began behaving rather strangely. He became aggressive toward other dogs and would bite whatever was in front of him, including us. This happened more and more frequently and so we had him neutered. Puppy classes had to be stopped. Neutering had made no difference. At six months, Angus began to chase his tail. Not the happy spinning that bull terriers are known for, vicious growling and snapping accompanied his frantic spinning which could not be stopped by anything. The first time I witnessed it I will admit I was afraid of Angus. We consulted the vet who was keen to put him down, we consulted a behaviourist who told us to redirect his attention. We contacted the breeder who assured us that he was the only problem dog in the litter. As things escalated, Angus began to bite his tail. He would spin in an out-of-control manner, bite his tail to the bone and then growl and growl and the blood would splatter everywhere. The house looked like a murder scene. Angus would go for us if we went anywhere near his tail to try and stem the bleeding. This happened several times a day. The vet did not seem interested in what I had to say about all the research I had done. I was pretty convinced at this stage that Angus was autistic and perhaps suffering from focal seizures as well. I looked at this aspect because when he started to spin, he had a faraway look in his eyes and often spinning accompanied a stressor of some type. I interrogated the breeder. Eventually it came out that Angus' mother had to have a C-section due to enclampsia and all the puppies had to be resuscitated. Here was a possible reason, lack of oxygen to his brain at birth. I was furious that this information had not been disclosed. As far as I am concerned, this is an example of unscrupulous breeding. The spinning problems became so bad and I was so stressed that I did not want to go home to Angus. The vet was still unco-operative and pushing euthanasia. We decided to give Angus another chance and changed vets. Thank goodness we did. At the first appointment, I was armed with information. I probably also came across as rude and a know-it-all mom because I was expecting another stone wall. For those who know their animals, I knew if we found the right person, we could help Angus. We lived with him and we saw the sweet, clever, funny personality in between spinning episodes. I showed the vet a video I had taken of Angus spinning and put forward my thoughts. The first thing that struck me was how Angus, usually muzzled at the vet, allowed this vet to check him over without a whimper or a muzzle. He listened and asked questions. I was silently elated, he was hearing me and taking me seriously. He put Angus on an anti-depressant to see if it would control the spinning brought on by possible anxiousness. He expressed Angus' anal glands because any pain in his rear could cause a focus for spinning. We concocted a long term plan for Angus' treatment which, we were warned, may or may not end up with his tail having to be docked to stop self-mutilation. We decided to try all other options first. Over the next few months, Angus calmed quite a lot, the spinning still happened, but not as frequently. His tail began to heal. We are not sure what happened to trigger it again, but something did, this time even worse. The vet put him on an anti-epileptic drug and we had an emergency stock of tranquiliser if things got out of hand. They did and we had a choice. Either have Angus put to sleep or dock his tail. We opted to dock his tail. This move was our last hope to give Angus a life worth living. The vet seemed relieved when we told him of our decision and Angus was booked in immediately. The vet docked his tail leaving a rottweiler-type stump and Angus came home to heal. He had to wear a big puffy collar, but he didn't seem to mind. Now, six months down the line Angus is a different dog. He still spins, but cannot hurt himself. We are relaxed and that helps him. He has been weaned off his anti-epileptic meds and we plan to try and wean him off the anti-depressant drugs in the not too distant future as well. Angus will always be a special needs dog, but he is a special dog who lights up our lives with his funny antics, his un-bull terrier-like perchant for swimming and his very sensitive nature which picks up on sadness and causes heavy duty snuggling. All I can say is thank goodness for the people who are really there for the well-being of our animals, thank goodness. . . . . .