[MnBry]

My Mother-in-Law is always concerned about our dog drinking water. She will ask him if he thirsty, tell him to drink, if he is standing on our beach facing the water looking around she figures he is thirsty. Years ago when she took care of my wife's previous dog, she would regularly take the bowl of water to the dog, hold it at the frontof the dogs mouth and tell it to drink.
Our dog is fine. He drinks when he is thirsty. I have told her that just because he will breath with his mouth open does not mean he is starving for water and that he knows where his water bowl is located.

My mother-in-law is a sweet gal but has a history of OSD issues. Whatever she sees or hears she always has to come up with a meaning to what or why.

We tried to get her some help a few years back but she bailed out of the counseling thinking she was just fine. She has been on anti-depressant meds since that time. Once stopping them on her own because she felt fine... not realizing that it was the meds that helped her feel well. That incident resulted in a trip to the ER because of a panic attack.

She will keep only a couple things in her kitchen to eat, mostly bread, because she is over-whelmed if there is food in her apt... (too many choices to make) she does not eat well, that being good foods, lots of micowave stuff. She is also overly concerned about someone's feelings being hurt over the simplest things, even if someone tries to tell a joke she will try to soften effect of that. She also laughs and giggles a lot, when nothing funny has been said or done. Someone can be talking and she will be giggleing.

Any thoughts? Advice? It would be great for her to have a better quality of life without OSD being the controlling element. She is in her mid-70's.

Thank you.

[spoilsport]

You can ask a doc if there is any thearapy and can suggest it to her. Try and increase your patience and tolerance limit as she is 70years old. Usually if dogs are bothered too much they growl or something. Just be careful to ensure that she does not get bitten or something..
Am not sure if pranayama (breathing techniques) and yoga thai chi will help you might want to check it out. Try alternative medicine. Saw the following on the web
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/ocd.htm