We found out from my 9 month old Boston Terrier's previous owner that he loves beach balls. So of course I got him one and he'll obsessively chase it around the house until he tires himself out. He'd almost rather play with that than go for a walk so he have to be really careful now for how long and often he's allowed this toy. I can see how this behavior can turn into OCD.

Good luck finding something to help your guy. What a difficult thing to deal with.

According to the shows I saw of the Dog whisperer, he helped two dogs with OCD. Firstly OCD is not something you can just catch. As someone else said you are predisposed to this disorder or you are not. It can manifest itself in many ways. To greater or lesser degrees. The two dogs I saw, one was a GSD that obsessively chased his tail EVERYWHERE. The other was a dog that obsessively looked for the laser light everywhere. In both cases the dogs were bored. Plain and simple. Ceasar got both to calm down within minutes.

I don't believe in this whole idea of medicating a dog for psychological problems personally. I think it only masks the behavior as well as potentially bring out other negative behaviors. The best I can say is try to find the episodes of the Dog whisperer that we are talking about.

How long do your dogs stay alone during the day? How often do they go outside and get exercise with you? How often do you walk him? What does he do when he walks? Does he do this whether your in the room or not? There are so many things that need to be answered in my opinion to get to the root of the problem. But honestly I think your dog is bored. And the problem will only get worse unless you help with that boredom. If it were me I would not get the medication. But alas it's not me, and it is your dog. I wish you luck.

hey sue, that was a wonderful idea to leave the room when he does the chasing thing and it works!!!!!!

i was shocked needless to say! i have been leaving the room ever since last night as my dh too and he just stops and follows us out the room.

then this a.m. his usual ritual of spinning as soon as he steps outside to go potty, without even going first, well i let him out and just closed the door on him...he did the usual spinning on the step where he does each day but i was watching him and he could not see me and he only did it a few times then tried to come back in, i opened the door and shooed him down the steps to go potty and he went then came right back up without spinning again!

hmmmm....reeeeealy interesting stuff here! you know he has had seen the laser since winter time as i wont ever buy another one but the behaviour didnt even start till a couple months LATER that is what is so weird.

now i am debating if i should still take him to the behaviourist and i guess i will to see what she says and i will tell her of this enlightening news....right now max is just rolling on the floor in the hallway and a second ago he came in this room with me and there are tons of shadows in here and he is usually in here chasing them and he walked in and looked at one on the wall then walked out!!!!

wow! incredible huh? thanks so much for the help! lol, funny how simple you made it, lol.

what has happened with Max? Our boston toby has developed this OCD over the past 4 days - we have been to the vet exhausted by his behavior and he is currently at the vet -- his desire for the red light has him running from room to room morning noon and night - unless in total darkness - then he sleeps - So how is Max since the summer???

"unless in total darkness" I was wondering about that. If a dog could not see, would the behavior stop? Would there be any use to treatment such as blindfolding for a period of time? Just speculating.

wow, I thought it was just something boarded animals do.
I worked with a livestock Vet in germany for 5 years and we went into a barn with cows in stantions waiting for their feed and one cow was 'tongue playing'. I had never seen this before and was watching her, it looked funny and I thought how cute. Tongue playing is when the cow whips their tongue around and watches it, over and over again.
I pointed to the cow. showing the farmer and Vet what she was soing and asked them if cows always do this and both men paniced and ran over to her and pulled her from her stantion and put her in a stall, tied a bucket with the bottom gone to her halter and isolated her.
I was confused and when they came back, I asked them was that a bad thing she was doing and they told me that cows often get bord and start that game.
Then they do not stop, ever. They do not eat, drink, sleep, nothing, just watch their tongues whiping around their nose and cheeks, they have very long tongues.
Then the other cows see it going on and mimic the play with their tongues and the farmers whole herd soon start to starve themselves, because they all start tongue playing.
Now in Germany, many cows do nor pasture, they stay in a barn or in stantions they entire lives, so tongue play is a serious O/C behavior.