Will Medication Change My Dogs Personality?

This is hands down the most common question I will receive during consultations. And, I completely understand why. Our dogs are like little, hairy people, each of them have their unique personality traits that make them special. The short answer is No. Behaviour medication will not change your dogs personality.

What is personality?

The word ‘personality’ stems from the Latin word persona meaning ‘mask’, as used in theatre by actors.

There are many different descriptions and definitions of personality and most are focused on the patterns of thoughts, emotional and behaviours that make a person unique. The personality traits are something that provide some ability to predict behaviour.

Behaviour medication is designed to alter the chemistry in your dogs brain. These changes are specific for pathways that create a feeling of anxiety and disconnection between emotional and cognitive parts of the brain. They won’t disrupt personality traits that we may describe such as silly, playful, loving, affectionate and smart. What we aim to achieve is more opportunity for your dog to display these desirable personality traits because less time is spent in a negative emotional state. Where it can become a bit ‘grey’ is when we describe anxious behaviours as part of the personality. Dogs that are ‘skittish’, ‘worried’, ‘hyper attached’ or ‘shy’ may certainly have changes in these personality traits with the use of behaviour medication. However, these behavioural traits are representative of stress, low resilience and unhealthy mental state and therefore change in these areas is highly desirable (in my opinion).

If we do see changes to ‘personality’ such as being withdrawn, less interactive, less playful and social then it is likely that the medication is not achieving the desired effect and may be making your dog feel unwell. If this is the case it means that particular medication is not the right fit for your dog, not that medication isn’t a good option.

A change in personality should not be a reason to with hold behaviour medication. If anything, behaviour medication will help your dogs personality shine.