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Head tremor videos


This is my male Thor, he was put to sleep 1½ month ago, i found out that this Head Bobbing Syndrome is Neurologic, and i have a good vet friend in Germany who making a lot of work with this, she is colleting bloodsamples, and have found out that this is from some old dober blood lines.

You can read more here.
http://www.med.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de/forschung/stud_neuro/headbobbing/index.html

She does not recommend breeding dogs with this syndrome.
WHY was he euthanized?
 
I know I am extremely late post about these but that video of Thor has to be one of the most heartwarming things I have ever seen. Even though it's late, I want to offer true condolences to what seems to be just an amazing Doberman. Even through the tremors your was still following commands to the letter! I want to applaud you for being one of those owners who really cares. Rest In Peace, Thor.
 
Huh. I noticed Bridget (my older, now deceased Dobe) doing this on a handful of occasions, the first one I noticed was when she was around 9. She was usually staring at me and I figured she was just being shivery and excited I was looking at her. Things like dropping her name in a phone conversation or just looking her direction always made her excited, and the tremor always seemed to be related to those particular contexts when she didn't just get up out of her dog bed/chair & come on over to get petted. I interpreted it as a side effect of suppressing a strong urge.

I guess I'm kind of glad I was ignorant at the time and that it never got worse, otherwise I would've been a worrywart about it.

What this looks like to me is a couple of opposing muscles groups in a reflexive feedback loop, and not so much a seizure in the cerebral cortex. It's very similar to the beginning of the shake-drying reflex, just without the reflex completing itself down the back. It's definitely isolated to the same muscles that initiate the shaking reflex, just a shorter range of motion that never gets intense enough to complete its course. That it's possible for some dogs to consciously stop them when presented with a treat or attention makes it seem like just that, although poor Thor's condition looked pretty severe and he could barely interrupt it, and only for a few moments.

It'd be great to get an EEG from a dog suffering from a bout of this, to isolate whether it's a spinal reflex going haywire or a cerebral seizure, though a cursory web search indicates that medications that almost always suppress epilepsy are useless with "idiopathic head bobbing syndrome" in dogs, which seems to point towards a spinal reflex issue. I guess the good news in that is that it's generally not as serious, debilitating, or terrifying to the dog as epileptic seizures.

I would be particularly interested in knowing if dumping just enough water (no need for it to be cold or anything) on the back of a dog suffering a bout of tremors would trigger a full shake-drying reflex, allow the cycle to complete (or at least overpower the tremor issue), and maybe stop the tremor episode.
 
Interesting thoughts kaloric! Unfortunately we lost Boris (the one in the videos) to a car accident a little over a year ago, and luckily neither one of our Dobes have the issue now, but it's extremely common with certain larger breeds.
 
Ace had head tremors. Scariest thing ever. That's how I found this site actually. His turned out to be a food allergy.

Acε'ѕ Mσмму ツ

Sαмѕυиg Sтяαтσѕρнєяє
 
Someone left this comment on Boris' video and it is an interesting concept.

"It's called the D.Ts ( Doberman tremours) iv had two Dobeys and they both did it. It's down to the breeds very low body fat. When become a little hungry or relax for a while they cool down internally very quickly because of the lack of body fat. Usually a smalll treat or activity will get rid of it but they can get it when they are tired aswel. It's nothing to worry about asking as they arnt in any pain."
 
Someone left this comment on Boris' video and it is an interesting concept.

"It's called the D.Ts ( Doberman tremours) iv had two Dobeys and they both did it. It's down to the breeds very low body fat. When become a little hungry or relax for a while they cool down internally very quickly because of the lack of body fat. Usually a smalll treat or activity will get rid of it but they can get it when they are tired aswel. It's nothing to worry about asking as they arnt in any pain."


Were do you have that info from? It can not be called "another board" (Doberman tremors) Because it is not only Dobermann's who has it, other breeds do to.
Maybe that is why it is known as Head Bobbing Syndrome ;)
Also if it is neuralgic as some vets says, I can not see what it has to do with low bodyfat?????
Yes it is correct we can stop it with a treat or play of some kind, but to say it has anything to do with what you say, that i don't believe!!
When Thor was about 7½ years old, he hurt his leg and was put on painkiller for dogs, I had to take the painkiller from him again, because he got up to 8 attacks of HB a day, and as we know, pain killers "paralyzes" the nervous system.......
My video with Thor is used by a vet in Germany for her study and her student's, and I talk/email with her sometimes to hear what is new? She is collecting blood samples for her studies......
 
Were do you have that info from? It can not be called "another board" (Doberman tremors) Because it is not only Dobermann's who has it, other breeds do to.
I don't know who it was, but it was just something they posted as a comment on the video. I honestly don't think anyone has figured it out for sure, so there are a lot of assumptions.
 
Sorry for the loss of your family members :(

I have a couple of questions. I'm fairly new to the breed, so some of this is new to me. I've never heard of this disorder or condition. If it has to do with inbreeding too much or line breeding too tight, I might have an assumption of why. The breed started off of two dogs, of course the dogs were bred back to their offspring and so forth, or at least so I've read. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Is this something that I should be concerned about when searching for a breeder? Is there a test that can detect it? Which lines carry it,working or showing? What are some dogs to look for that might have/carry it?
 
Our gus has them. We break off small bits of a meat treat and give him ten or so and it's gone by the time he's finished. Anything that gets his strong attention (someone at the door, etc.) usually works too.
 
It just means your dog is low on sugar.
Whenever it happens just give your dog some sugar or something with sugar in it.
 
Aslan has had head tremors off and on for the last three years. Our vet did every procedure possible and collected blood several times for testing and all results came back with no answers. The head tremors stopped and the seizures started. He had a grand mal seizure in the summer which was horrible to witness. The vet ran more tests and nothing. No seizures for six months until three days ago. He woke up and started his seizure which wasn't as bad as the first and lasted for a minute. I may have to put him on meds and we have to decide if that's best for him image.jpg
 
Sorry for the loss of your family members :(

I have a couple of questions. I'm fairly new to the breed, so some of this is new to me. I've never heard of this disorder or condition. If it has to do with inbreeding too much or line breeding too tight, I might have an assumption of why. The breed started off of two dogs, of course the dogs were bred back to their offspring and so forth, or at least so I've read. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Is this something that I should be concerned about when searching for a breeder? Is there a test that can detect it? Which lines carry it,working or showing? What are some dogs to look for that might have/carry it?

Head tremors and line breeding too tight?? Where did you get that information? Idiopathic head tremors are commen in several breeds of dogs and one of them is the Doberman. Having a dog line bred has nothing to do with it. It's idiopathic which means there is no answer why it happens.
 
Head tremors and line breeding too tight?? Where did you get that information? Idiopathic head tremors are commen in several breeds of dogs and one of them is the Doberman. Having a dog line bred has nothing to do with it. It's idiopathic which means there is no answer why it happens.
EVERYTHING happens for a reason. don't eat anything with sugar in it for a couple of days & your hands will shake. i got that assumption from reading this thread. obviously people have the wrong theories and ideas of why it happens.
 
I know nothing about these head tremors and have never experienced it with any dog, but I'm wondering is low sugar makes sense? Isn't feeding a treat or something what you do to stop it? Didn't someone say they used honey once before? Could there be something to this theory?

I actually have times myself when I have a shaky feeling in my hands and now wonder if its related to low sugar. I know when it happens I always feel the need to eat something to help it and it seems to work.

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Sorry I have not taken time to introduce myself yet but I was in such a hurry to get some info on the head tremors my dog just experienced that I went right to this thread. I just woke up to my 3 yr old dobermans head shaking on my chest. We had been asleep for about 2 hours when I woke to discover this unsettling behavior. I have heard of this before but never actually saw it and all I can say is it is scary. It was only his head and his eyes seemed to be able to follow me but he was not interested in moving at all. The whole episode lasted several minutes and he seems ok now. I went for a treat to see if he was interested in it and was happy to see he was . I will say that the theory of low body fat and chills could apply in this case as I had the AC unit on high and it was chilly in the room, plus he was very tired. I am also very familiar with tremors from low blood sugar in humans as I am hypoglycemic myself. Sugar will stop them and I have even been injected with sugar in the ER when it was severe enough to put me in a coma. I don't know about dogs, but when I am suffering from hypoglycemia my whole body can shake like a seizure.
I am relieved to hear that it is usually nothing serious but I will be taking him to the vets tomorrow to make sure.
I am very sorry to hear about the dogs that have been lost .My heart breaks for their owners. Been there many times.
 

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