Our 8-year-old labs behavior changes

Question
We bought our yellow lab from a reputable local lab breeder. He has been a wonderful pet and is a huge part of our family. We used a crate to house train him and he learned quickly. He fetches and brings the ball back and is very obedient and loving. Recently, however, he has started getting into the kitchen trash can when we're at work. There have been no changes in our life at all. About a year ago, though, our vet prescribed Phenobarbital for him because he started having seizures. We noticed he drinks a lot more and sleeps a little more often, but that's it.
Could this behavior change be due to the medicine? He knows getting into the trash is wrong, because we always discover him hiding in the bathroom when we come home; then sure enough, we walk into the kitchen and the trash is all over the kitchen floor.
Any ideas?
Thank you.

Answer
Hi April, Certainly Phenobarbital will make him drink and sleep more. It causes a sedative effect as you probably know. Which could make him do things that are out of character for him. I would speak with your vet about possibly putting him on a different drug. My young doberman recently ate a huge rock and I had to pay thousands of dollars to get him back to normal after a bowel resection. So please do not take any chances of him eating something bad out of the trash which could possibly kill him. Better safe than sorry. There are good medications, such as prosac (sp), seiz
ures medications...that could help him. He could also be just confused and making making mistakes. I wish you the best. Please follow up with me to let me know how it goes, and leave me some feedback as it is the only way I can tell if you are happy with my advice. Thanks for writing. Regards, Susan