Male Miniature Schnauzer obsessed over tennis ball

Question
Help!!! Lucas is will be 2yrs.old in DEC.and over the past few months he's become obsessed over tennis balls. It started with us throwing the ball (he loved that)and he runs like a bullet to either jump and catch it or pick it up off the ground. During the summer something new started....we through the ball 2-3 times then he stops catching it. Instead he tracks around the whole yard where the ball has been or at least that what we think. Now he's tracking in the house. When we're home he will push the ball under a couch or a place he can't get it and then cry until we get it. The funny thing is until recently he'd have the ball during the day and he would always have it when we get home. We have now been taking the ball away from him when he pulls that hiding trick but guess what....he knows where we put it (we use different places) and sits there and cryst, we ignore him but it drives us crazy. It seems that he gets over stimulated doing all this and he's had 2 petite seizures in 40 days which we wonder if his over stimulation has caused them. Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated. Martha

Answer
It seems to me that you have two options... let Lucas have his tennis balls or remove them altogether and try to get him interested in other toys. Personally, I would let him have the tennis balls since he loves them so much. My husband plays tennis, so we usually have a supply of them around here. Chasing after tennis balls is great exercise for the dog.

I really doubt that the seizures are related to Lucas's love of his tennis balls, although some feel that there may be a link between OCD and seizures in people. I have seen nothing similar written about this in dogs, but anything is possible, I suppose, particularly if there really is a link in people. http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/mood_obsessivecompulsivedisorder

Lucas should be examined by a veterinarian as soon as possible after a seizure to see if the vet can determine what is causing the seizures, and I would definitely have him/her run a thyroid test on the dog to see if that could be the problem.

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/site_map.htm
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Graves.html
http://www.purelypets.com/articles/epilepsyarticle.htm

Finally, "Dogtor J" feels that many seizures are caused by gluten-intolerance, and other things we might feed our dogs. http://dogtorj.tripod.com/index.html There is SO MUCH fascinating reading on this veterinarian's site that I will now probably spend a few hours reading both of his sites since I see that he has added a few more things since I was last there. Some of his articles will truly get one thinking!