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Dog Depression - A Story About Dekker

evaluation and to see if we routines, lots of play, After 4 months we finally
F could remedy the situa- same dogs to play with, concluded that Dekker
O tion. our loving attention, and was not going to find his

R so on. There was nothing way back to what he was.
G Upon picking Dekker up different at our home and His weight was alarmingly

E at the airport, we opened kennel, except Dekker. low, and we couldn’t help
R his dog crate to let him out Months of coaxing and him anymore. He was fi-
Y and he just sat there with trying desperately to have nally euthanized. That was

his head lowered and big just one happy moment the day we said, “That’s it,
D sad eyes. We inspected was breaking our hearts. no more.” We quit training

E him and could see that He moped, slunk around, police dogs.
C he had lost weight, his no eye contact, heavy
E posture was submissive, sighs, lying in the cor- Conclusion

P his coat was dull, and he ner while the other dogs
T did not want to make eye played, no interest in his Back then, we referred to

I contact. The word anxiety surroundings, eating only this behavior as broken,
O seems the best word to de- enough food to keep go- sour, or lazy. We really
N scribe the body language ing, and then eventually didn’t associate Dekker’s

of tail wagging because skipping days of eating. behavior with depression,
L he was happy see us, but We gave him special at- but in hindsight that is

I weaving around our legs tention, enticing food, exactly what it was. A dog
E and whining indicated he more of our time and so far in the dark zone that
S was apprehensive, wor- basically put him in our he couldn’t fight his way

ried, and had mixed feel- back pocket, taking him back to the light and hap-
ings about what was go- everywhere we went. We piness.

ing to happen next. We spent hours analyzing his
brought him home, having behavior, both past and We will never know what
confidence that we could present, to try to come up actually happened to him

help him past this behav- with more ideas or a solu- during his career as a K-9
ior which was far from his tion to the whole mess. Police Officer. People tend

normal self. We brought in other Dog not to reveal every detail
Trainers to observe and of a spiraling situation
We set out to do every- evaluate him for some if it is their fault, so we

thing that was familiar to clue to work with. Noth- can’t pinpoint the cause.
him; same kennel, same ing. We can only guess that he

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