Geriatric Dogs And Behaviour Changes

[Kavik]

Zoe is now 13 years old. Still healthy and active and likes to go for walks, chase a ball, tug and do training. However I have noticed some behaviour changes. She is barking more now, and randomly growls when in her crate for no reason I can tell. She was always rather vocal but it is getting worse, and she used to be quiet in the house but now barks inside as well as outside. Last night she paced around the house in the middle of the night and only settled down when she was allowed into our room to sleep under the bed. Any ideas on how to manage this behaviour? My OH is not as tolerant of the noise.

[Blackdogs]

Could be early dementia. I recommend trialing a drug called Vivitonin, which increases the blood flow to the brain and reduces the symptoms of dementia.

[SchnauzerMax]

Possible dementia could also be complicated by worsening eyesight (especially in twilight and darkness) and / or worsening hearing, which means modifying her environment to help (as well as drugs).

ETA

Have you read the following thread ?

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/213566-doggie-dementiaccd/

Edited December 4, 2012 by SchnauzerMax

[CHA]

Poor you. They're special when they're old aren't they. My old dog has started barking, just a loud, constant bark at seemingly nothing. I'm sure his hearing is going and his eyes are cloudy. He spends a lot of time sleeping these days and when I'm home he wants to be constantly near me and on my lap.

The pacing your dog does seems like she is worried about something. If her hearing is going things won't sound the same to her as they used to so she could be quite confused. The pacing could also be that she is in pain or something, so a vet check would probably be good.

You need to tell OH that she's old and needs extra special care now :)

[Sheridan]

Kavik, get the vet to do a geriatric assessment and certainly trial Vivitonin. There's some other suggestions in the dementia thread that SchnauzerMax has linked to.

[Podengo]

I read today about people using night lights with dogs with vision problems and that has helped them settle down at night time - thought that was a pretty neat idea :)

[Sheridan]

I read today about people using night lights with dogs with vision problems and that has helped them settle down at night time - thought that was a pretty neat idea :)

I have a series of sensor lights around the house.

[westiemum]

I read today about people using night lights with dogs with vision problems and that has helped them settle down at night time - thought that was a pretty neat idea :)

I have a series of sensor lights around the house.

That's such a clever idea S! Where did you get them please? :)

[Sheridan]

I read today about people using night lights with dogs with vision problems and that has helped them settle down at night time - thought that was a pretty neat idea :)

I have a series of sensor lights around the house.

That's such a clever idea S! Where did you get them please? :)

Bunnings. They're battery operated and stick to the wall via a magnet.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Sounds like early dementia. My 16 yr old Iggy got to the point where he was keeping me up most of the night - barking and demanding food. I'd already got 2 other dogs with dementia - a night barker (when she got lost in the corner of the room) and a prolific piddler if anything was on the ground plus forgetting how to come in the doggie door.

For the Iggy, I got Chinese herbs - they were brilliant - after 2 days he was sleeping through the night again, I had him for another 8 months. Herbs were from the All Natural Vet at Russell Lea - it wasn't cheap but it saved his life and my sanity.

For the night barker I got a plug in child's light for the lounge which I think helped a little.

My old Malt boy now has dementia, getting up in the night and piddling inside instead of going out, forgeetting how to get in and out of the house ...