Jessee is now almost 21 months a Tripawd and is a ten year old great dane. She is on her third battle with cancer, all different types. We are currently taking an oral chemo that she is tolerating very well and seem to have the lung nodule under control. However, we have a behavioral issue we are not able to resolve yet. It’s now happening every night after she has had dinner. Everything is calm, no strange noises (sometimes a text alert on TV will start it, sometimes not). All of a sudden she will start panting, shaking and become very aggressive with her from foot. She attempts to “hit” my husband or myself. Nothing calms her down. She has had Xanax, Gabapaten and combination 0f the two. Neither works consistently. We try taking a walk, going outside, holding her, brushing her, attempting to distract her. Makes no difference. Recently we decided to try a “knock out” pill Acepromazine 25 mg. It works. One night we felt she needed two and it was too much. One 25 mg seems very effective for the time being. Fingers crossed. After taking the pill within about ten minutes panting, shaking stops. The episode is over and she will go get in one of her two beds and sleep for several hours. I’m trying to understand what is this. Our fabulous vet is reaching out within her community of behavior vets to see if they have seen similar behaviors and encouraged me to reach out here to Tripawds forum. No one else seems to have seen this in Danes before. Other than these nightly episodes she appears to be doing very well. Gained another pound. Eats almost every meal, more picky about lunch. 
This was Jessee last night with “dad” in recovery mode from an episode
Would really, really appreciate any feedback from anyone … thanks so much
This blows my mind! Gonna throw out a couple of off the wll odea, but nothing from a point of knowledge or experience.
First of all….loooove that picture! The beautiful head of her covers her Dad’s lap. . Defin the cutest “lap dog” ever!
Secondly, or maybe firstly, so glad Jessee is doing so well. And YAY for keeping her from dropping anymore weoght. I know she’s enjoying getting some extra yummies.
Soooo….this episode seems to just happen at night?
It usually is triggered by the alert sound on the tv?
I know you hate using the ACE, but the lower dose seems to eliminate the issue?? So somehow it’s breaking the cycle.
Pain comes to mind…sorta. Seems like she’s hitting you with her paw to say it hurts??? Maybe???
Truly just throwing stuff out there….
Does the paw thing seem sort of “uncontrollable” Just wondering if it’s some sort of seizure or something similar?? The shaking and panting coud I dictate the start of it??
Is it possible it’s sudden and severe leg cramps??
Throwing more stuff out there….and I hope Rene can fill I the blanke here. It seems that a member had a dog with a “reaction” that was due to some sort of electrical current, 9r device putting off current…..geez….can’t remember enough to make sense. Seems that the
Farabloc blanket (sp)
Okay, let’s see what others have to say because I’m fairly clueless….
I DO know that I love our Jesse!!!!!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Jesse does love her daddy! That is an interesting theory about the electrical device. This started years ago with the shaking and panting when we would travel in our airstream. Peter would get up in the morning to make coffee and she would have a similar meltdown minus the whacking. maybe??? I thought it was phone related here, but no phones the last two nights and no TV programs where the phone dings. I miss so many calls cause my ringer has to be off on any type of alarm. The hitting is not uncontrollable. It’s definitely a calculated swat. Don’t think it’s pain related. As she starts to calm down the whacking continues. Really bad if she is in bed with us. Actually brutal. I don’t think it’s seizure, her eyes are normal. I’m going to try and upload a video I took of her without the whacking. thanks!!!!
Did some searching on the site on farabloc blanket blocking EMF’s. Has the electric company installed any new meter boxes on w or around your home?
Nope! All our electrical stuff here is underground and nothing has changed But she just had another episode The 1 25 mg pill stopped it within 15 min She likes to lay outside in the porch after her pill Seems to help???
Woaaaaah! I have no clue. Did she do any of this when she was younger? Like a puppy? Our Wyatt used to “punch” us when he was being a brat. But this sounds different.
Sally asked excellent questions to try to pinpoint her behavior. I wouldn’t even know where to begin other than maybe a board-certified veterinary behaviorist if it seemed to cause more anxiety for her. Sorry I’m no help! I’d love to know when you do figure it out!
Hmmmm…………..Interesting that she had the shaking and panting episodes in the past in the Airsteeam . Was it only when Peter would get up to make the coffee during that time?? How .long ago was that??
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Hi there- This is just speculation, but it is possible due to her age, she has developed some anxiety or fears. I had a chocolate lab who was never faxed by anything, then all of a sudden when he was about 10, he was terrified of storms and fireworks. Any kind of distant boom would set him off. I have a tripawd, Winston, who developed sensitivity to beeps. Our fan being turned on, the smoke detector battery going out, the buttons being pushed on the microwave. Sounds on the TV do it, too. Vibrating also freaks him out now, so I can’t have my phone next to him in case a notification comes in. He pants severely, trembles, and licks his remaining front paw. This started when he was about 5 (prior to surgery).
No clue what set off either of these sudden issues for my boys. For Colby, I just had to be near him or give him a little Benedryl. But Winston has Trazodone for bad episodes. Seems like once something gets to him, nothing will soothe him. We just try to be patient and keep our energy positive and calm (& wait for the Trazodone to kick in).
I wonder if your sweet girl is possibly having some pain or anxiety that is harder for her to ignore when things start to wind down at night. The only thing I can recommend is to keep a diary each night to attempt to identify patterns.
Good luck to you! Keep us posted!
Jesse is beautiful! You are much further in this process than we are with our dog Layla. We think that Layla may be part boxer because she used to throw a good one, two punch. As an amputee of her front leg, she still throws a single good punch with just one leg. I do think about my daughter’s two great Danes of which one always paws at you when she wants attention. It does sometimes come across as though she is hitting. In my research with others that have had an amputee, they’ve often talked about the ghost pain or even ghost nerves on the site where the leg was amputated. Our neighbors said that their dog would get major twitching right in the area where the leg was amputated. I was wondering if maybe a weighted blanket would help Jesse feel better. I have used them for other anxious animals for various reasons. I have worked with children and adults that have used a weighted blanket as well. It is amazing how comforting and consoling it can be. Target actually was selling them for a while. There are different weights that you can try, but with a great Dane I would assume her weight is enough that you could buy a regular blanket made for humans. Thunder vests are similar comfort, but I think they are sometimes priced higher making pet owners think that they have to spend the extra money for their pet. Do you possibly have a fire detector in your house that is chirping occasionally but not consistently all the time? Our older dog really freaks out for hours if she hears just one small chirp. A fire fighter friend told me that when the house gets too cool overnight the batteries shrink and that will set the alarm off. That is why fire detectors often go off at all hours of the night. I hope you find some releif for Jesse!