Well, cognitive dysfunction as it's poshly termed!

He's 15 and the love of my life. I cannot tell you how much this man means to me :) Anyway, he's always been an independent "I know my own mind" top dog about the house. A wonderful puppy disciplinarian (I'm sure others know what I mean by this!), full of confidence and gusto.

Not now.

He's become anxious about loud noise. I put this down to him gradually losing his hearing. It feels as though he cannot hear background noise so when a sudden noise comes it scares him more. He frequently whines for no reason. His barking is atrocious but I live with that :).

He is on vivitonin as he's had a couple of vestibular incidents.

My concern is this - he won't go out anymore. I can hardly believe it but it's as though he lacks complete confidence to leave the garden. He is happy to totter about the garden (indeed he sometimes has a canter about!) but he trembles and continually attempts to turn back whenever we leave the gate.

So, do I accept this as part of his aging process or do I go back to basics of reward and treats and try to re-establish enjoyment of short walks?

He also has chronic renal failure :(

I just want to make every day a joy for him and don't know what to do for the best here.

My gut feeling is to let him do what makes him happy - if that means he just totters around the garden and follows me when I go about chopping wood and feeding birds then that's fine. What do others think?

xxx

if he is anxious about something you could try him with a homeopathic remedy half hour before going out. something like bachs flower. this will help him relax and he wont panic as much. once you can break the cycle of worry he will realise that walks are fun again... i agree with what you think about the treat rewards etc... "you cant teach an old dog new tricks" is complete nonsense as many will agree.

another thing that may help to break the cycle... put him in the car and drive a street away or so and walk backto the house... this may just break this new idea he has in his head that everything is out to hurt him.

if he really doesnt like it then there is no point in forcing him, hes got to a lovely age and the fact he can still canter round the garden is wonderful! he may just like the idea of retirement to his garden. maybe if he goes completely deaf he might be better as noises wont make him jump anymore and he may want to go walkies.... either way he'll let you know.

sorry this isnt much help.... just throwing ideas in the air. im sure someone else will be able to give you some better advice

congratulations on getting your boy to this wonderful age, far too many seem to be dying young... only have to look at rainbow bridge page to see this...

xx

> He's 15 and the love of my life. I cannot tell you how much this man means to me :-) Anyway, he's always been an independent "I know my own mind" top dog about the house. A wonderful puppy disciplinarian (I'm sure others know what I mean by this!), full of confidence and gusto.

You dont have to and yes I know excatly what you mean!! ;-)

This happened to my BC at a similar age. I just decided if he did not want to go beyond the garden then he would get what he wanted.
One day he suddenly decided he wanted to get in the car. We drove to his favourite place we sat on a tree stump watching the world go by for half an hour or so, then he got up and headed back to the car. It was his last trip out and I treasure it as something very special he and I shared.

Here come the tears!!!

My best friend is about this age - she was a rescue 15 years ago and we think she was about 6 months then.

Partially deaf, partially sighted and partially daft :) She can barely manage a half hour walk most days and I feel that awful sense of dread that her time is near. Then out of the blue she jumps at the gate when I'm taking Zaska and runs around like a young pup again. I don't think she has long left in her but while she is still happy enough potterring around the garden and lying in her bed then I'm happy to let her.

at 15 thats a heck of a good innings and I think you need to accept that his life is changing, as one would expect it to at that age. Just leave the poor chap to do what he wants and dont start trying to take him out if he doesnt want to go :(

Agree with the others, don't stress him out unduly by making him go for walks. For the past year my 17 year old Goldie hasn't ventured outside the garden, other than the odd check up visit to the vet. He is happy in himself, although barks for no reason at times, but can hear food being prepared from 3 rooms away. I think I will know the time has come to let him go when food no longer interests him, but at the moment he is happy and enjoying just pottering about.

> My gut feeling is to let him do what makes him happy - if that means he just totters around the garden and follows me when I go about chopping wood and feeding birds then that's fine.

Yep, completely agree. If he's happy pottering around the garden, let him potter :)

[url=]at 15 thats a heck of a good innings and I think you need to accept that his life is changing, as one would expect it to at that age. Just leave the poor chap to do what he wants and dont start trying to take him out if he doesnt want to go [/url]

I agree  with the above, why worry yourself and upset him  , over something he does not want to do, he has reached a good old age,  allow him his retirement in the way he feels happy and secure, if its pottering around the garden, leave him be.

Bless the old man!!

Yes agree with others just let him totter into the garden and have a smooch around as it seems he is showing you his limits now.

He will be fine so long as his tummy is kept satisfied ( with some extra old dog treats ;-) ) and he has a warm comfortable bed .

At 15, if the old boy has worries and concerns for me he would do what he feels comfortable with, you don't know what is going on in his head now and praise and reward won't help, if he is confused, he is confused, just make sure that his diet accomodates his lack of energy to go on long walks, with your user name I take it he is a Collie, yes?

The only thing that I would look out for is to keep an eye as one of my brothers BC's (not BC related any dog can go the same way :-) ) had dementia and a loving obediant dog towards the end became unpredictable, he would even snap at my brother, totally out of character but when the mind starts to go anything can happen.

If the confusion and fear gets too bad, I would let him go with dignity, it's not fun for the dog or us to watch a wonderful companion fall to pieces infront of our eyes.

But whilst he is still quite lucid, leave him be to do what makes him best at ease. :-)

Let him do what makes him happy at 15 (or whatever that is in dog years) I would not fancy a walk, home is best!

And mine!!!

Thank you guys :)

You have confirmed my gut feeling which is to accept what he's telling me is his new limitations.

He still holds top dog ranking in the house funnily enough! Nobody dares even try a challenge.

His confidence is certainly an issue. He needs to be by my side no matter what else is going on in the house. It's as though he needs me for that sense of "everything will be ok as long as Mum is here".

I am just so thankful that I live on a farm as his barking is so atrocious I am sure I would have ended up at war with any neighbours! He was always what I would call a vocal dog though lol.

Thanks again xxx

Yes we have Jake and he talks, Colin & he have conversations with him tilting his head side to side and "answering" the OH.

Have you found any improvement with the Vivitonin?  My cocker spaniel Rosie is suffering with canine dementia, she is currently on Aktivait which I have seen a slight improvement with, my vet said it takes about 4-5 weeks before we see any improvement, she's been on them now 5 weeks.  My vet did say the next drug to try is Vivitonin, which is prescription only and just wondered what your views were on this drug?

My 13 year old springer, Hoaby,  has dementia & has been on vivitonin for about 3 months now & its made a tremendous diference to him. All he would do before he started taking them , was sleep all day & now he's up & running & playing with his daxie 'brother'! However, I took him to the vet in the first place as he wouldn't go out for walks so I took him for a check up as I thought his arthritis might be troubling him but the vet immediately came up with dementia. The tablets have made no difference to going out for walks & I still struggle to get him to go anywhere. This is proving to be a problem as when I walk Reggie on his own, I  can hear Hoaby complaining that he's been left behind, so its a bit of a no win situation for me. He does love to go walkies in the car though! Providing its an exciting walk when we get there, he still runs round like a lunatic!

One of my SPanish went like this when she went deaf and blind almost at the same time.  In the end she wouldn't even go out of the house she would just throw herself on the floor and it was then that I decided that she wasn't enjoying life and had her PTS.  My friend had her son who also became deaf as well as blind, she asked my advice and again when it came to the point where he was literally throwing himself to the ground and not wanting to go out we decided that it was unfair for him also.

So sad and I know it's so hard but having a dog that loved going out on walks who then went to this point and her son was a fantastic working dog we knew that it would be cruel to keep them going even though their heart and other organs were strong.

Jaff was put on Vivitonin because he suffered two vestibular incidents within a short space of time. Whether it's down to the medication or not, I don't know but (touch wood) he's not had another incident.

With respects to the dementia, I would say that the one difference would be he whines less than he did. He used to permanently whimper, even when lying down and appearing settled. He has his "moaning moments" but they tend to be when he's feeling hungry.

The majority of the time, Jaff is quite a happy old man. In fact, we enjoyed a game with the football earlier :) Much less energetic play than it once was but he still enjoyed our "pass it back" game :)

As my vet says, we've nothing to lose trying the Vivitonin. It's relatively inexpensive and does not appear to have any undesirable side effects.

HTH

xxxx

A GSD I rehomed five years ago has now developed dementia and is on Vivitone, it remains to be seen whether or not it will help.

My own dog Sally who lived to the riped old age of 17 was a GSD x RW developed dementia later on in life and she started barking etc in the middle of the night. A DAP plugin was a lifesaver in her case, it worked wonders.

All my boys life he never stole food. I could leave a cooked chicken on the work top and not even have to think he would touch it. He never touched the cats food or anything. But almost at the end of his days, when he could no longer run or go and meet the children from school, suddenly he started helping him self. Always puzzled me why that should happen. Often wondered  if it was boredom or because he had to be able do something?

My eldest is 14,  in her fifteenth year. Which is old for a RR.
I've had oldies before, but not this old.

She's totally deaf, but her eyesight is fine. Her sense of smell is going, though. Takes her ages to finnish with an interesting spot.
She still likes to come for a walk, allways first in line :-) But we only walk around the block, with her off the lead, happily
doing what she wants, as I can't call her other than with hand signals, and I cant tell her "no". (obviously no cars about where we walk)
For some time a couple of years ago, she got up at night, planlessly wandering about the house. All our dogs sleep in our bed, so she wasn't feeling lonely.
We solved this with a baby-lamp in the hallway, which obviously helped her feel secure at night.

I think, for an old dog, however confident in it's earlier life, old age makes them feel insecure.
They know they can't run off, or defend themselves anymore.
I think it's best to go with what the dog tells you. If he doesn't want to go outside the garden, to him there is a valid reason, and
I'd respect that. Why make an old dog do something it isn't comfortable with? They've given us company and protecion all
their lifes.  In their old age they need us to do the same for them.
I just love old dogs!