Statement of the ProblemA dog was examined because of an inability to remain calm despite adequate exercise and extensive training and because of fear of sudden, loud, short noises.
SignalmentThe dog was a 2-year-old neutered male German Shorthaired Pointer that weighed 28.1 kg (61.8 lb).
HistoryThe owners had acquired the dog from a breeder at 9 weeks of age. Controlling the dog' s play biting, jumping, and barking was extremely difficult even at this age, despite skill and experience of the owners in training dogs. The dog was unable to relax and was easily distracted, and the owners had made no progress in teaching it to be calm. When not crated, it paced constantly, picking up or knocking over objects in reach, and frequently sought attention. The owners consistently ignored these behaviors; however, the behaviors failed to extinguish. Over a 5-hour period, the dog would take only short rests totaling approximately 30 minutes. The dog panted continuously and was highly reactive to noise and movement, barking frequently. If given a bone, the dog would chew it for a few minutes, get up and pace, return to chewing, and repeat this behavior for about an hour. The dog settled in the crate when the owners left the house; however, if crated or restrained in the presence of the owners, it became anxious, whining and pacing continuously. The only other times it would settle were when it was totally exhausted after exercise or the weather was extremely hot. The owners had attempted various strategies, unsuccessfully, to control its behavior. These included response substitution (teaching and rewarding incompatible alternative behaviors), ignoring attention-seeking behavior, structuring social interactions by giving a command before all interactions and rewarding its compliance (command-responsereward protocol), teaching and reinforcing calm behaviors, general training, and increasing daily exercise. The dog had attended clicker, obedience, rally, and agility training classes and currently received search-and-rescue training for 6 h/wk. Despite this extensive training, the dog often failed to respond to commands and to learn new or alternative behaviors. In addition to train-