The head shakes

Hi everyone. I have a three year old Dobergirl named Leila and she has these head tremors. They are referred to as “Idiopathic Head Tremors”. From what research I have conducted, there seems to be no known cause for them, nor does there seem to be a general consensus as to how to effectively treat them. This article is pretty good at explaining the condition ( http://neuropetvet.com/idiopathic-head-tremors/ ), but alas does not provide a “treatment” regime for the condition. I would caution any Doberparent about spending thousands of dollars on ‘scans’, and ‘specialists’, just to have them come back with no concrete evidence, or conclusions based that can be based upon no factual findings from “normal” scans. Our vets (both of them; from separate clinics) have indicated that because no one knows why they occur, or how to effectively treat them, to save your money! Their words, not mine. And at this point I must point out that I am not providing veterinary medical advice, nor am I condoning, or admonishing anything that a certified vet’s advice will tell you. Be your own best advisor! Do your research! I can’t stress this enough! I have read countless articles about this subject and as you will find, there are many opinions and lots of speculation out there about it. Personally, I happen to agree more with the theory of “low blood sugar” as a possible cause of these tremors, as well as the one where it explores the misfiring of nerves in the neck muscles, but I still go back to the low blood sugar aspect. It makes more sense than anything else, as if it was something neurological, then why would giving treats seems to snap them out of an episode moments after ingesting a treat?? Just a Doberdad thinking out loud here! That’s all! If there are any diabetic Doberparents out there, then you know how ‘shaky’ and ‘jittery’ you can feel when your blood sugars are crashing….

As for my personal experience, whenever Leila has one of these “episodes”, she in fact, can be ‘snapped’ out of it by giving her a treat of some kind, usually peanut butter, as it seems to be the most effective at bring an end to the episode. Occasionally, she has a higher grade episode and we have to give her one to two more ‘treatments’ of peanut butter, or dog treat. She is always lucid and alert during these episodes, and never has any lasting effects from them. Yes, they are super scary when they first start occurring with your Doberbaby, but please, above all else, REMAIN CALM! Hard to do, I know, but they are picking up on your body language, tone of voice and even the chemical changes within your body to their episode. Once you get used to these episodes occurring, and can remain calm, you will see that they do not seem to pose a threat to your dog. Use a happy tone and mannerisms with your dog and when giving a treat. Your dog will come to regard this as a special time when they will get your love and a bit of a special treat, and they will not ‘spazz’ out like you, their Doberparent will do.

The amazingly ironic thing about these tremors is the sheer randomness of them. As I was writing this post, Leila actually came into my bedroom to alert me that she was having an episode! Right while I was writing this! Talk about timing. I managed to capture some of it, although with poor quality, so I apologize for it. I will post it shortly, as well as another video shot with our iPhone which is of better quality.

To all of you out there dealing with this issue, stay calm ( I know, it’s really hard! But your Doberbaby needs you to be that way!) as it helps them through it. And since they cannot talk to us, we don’t know if they are scared, or worried, or if they are bothered by these episodes at all. Once we started doing the calm ‘thing’ and making it a special event, instead of a ‘crisis’, we’ve managed to take them in stride. Nowadays, Leila will come and alert us to her tremor episode if we don’t see it happen right away, or if it happens during the night. She knows that it’s nothing to be scared about, but she needs help to snap out of it.

I wish all of you the best of luck with these episodes. Here is our Dobergirl Leila in normal mode!

Dean, the Doberdad

My dobi has head shacks too. When I see it happening I just take him for an walk. He gets excited when he hears his leash and it distracts him and by the time we barely make it out the door the shacking stops.

Thank you so much for posting the question and the answer/explanation. We experienced this Parkinson’s type head wobble and thought it may have had to do with ingesting something or he became cold. It was not a shiver, but trance like and wobbly head, but came out of it when I asked him to follow me. Thank you again for sharing.
We are just now coming out of a very horrific time for our 5 year old male, Quinn. It began in Mid December he came into house with odd head movement & appearing cold. Lethargic and lost appetite following day. Took him to vet following morning and there it all began …2 hospital stays, near death, diarrhea, … Todate it is still unknown as to what diagnosis. (Not hypothyroid, not Addisons). All coming back to normal and then this afternoon, he had the odd head wobble. Asked him to follow me and he came out of it.
So again, whether it is related to the horrific illness I will ask our vet on next check up this week. Thank you again for sharing and asking the question.