We reckon Beattie's developing doggie-Alzheimers. Although most of the time she's as bright as a button, if a little clumsy, she's starting to behave really oddly at night. For a while she's been refusing to sleep in the kitchen where she's slept all her life and would only sleep in the sitting-room. Although it's not ideal, we could live with that. Then she started waking at about 1am and thumping about from sofa to chair, then into the corner behind a chair, where she gets stuck and needs rescuing.

Her latest is to start random barking - just a woof or two - every couple of hours, just enough to wake everyone. When I go down to see what she wants she's pleased to see me, but she doesn't want to go out, she just seems to want a cuddle. We don't know if she's cold (doubtful with the snug fleece blanket on the sofa) or just lonely. We don't want her upstairs with us - we've tried that and it's impossibly uncomfortable and we wake up with aching backs from sleeping in awkward positions around her, and then she has trouble going back downstairs again.

So we don't know whether to let Harry and Piglet sleep in the kitchen too to keep her company or whether they'll be too much of a nuisance, because they tend to join her in licking the granulomas on her legs and making them worse.

I just don't know what to do about it so that we all get a good night's sleep.

My Lydia who is 14 is doing exactly the same.  She's been at my mum's for 2 months since she was in season and my mum's none to happy that she's still there as she's waking them up at 5.30 every morning and my mum's ending up on the settee with Lydia then diving on my dads chair and going fast to sleep.

I have mentioned this on here before, I think. I have found with the oldies, it can sometimes help with this problem if you leave a light on for them- a fairly dim one will usually suffice.

Best wishes
Linda

Vivitonin appears to help with these kinds of senile symptoms increasing the blood flow to the brain.

We have a nearly 13 yr old Rott who started similar, insisting on going for p at 2/3am and getting to door but forgeting she hadn't gone thru it to garden, sitting/standing looking totally blank, quote vet 'lights are on but no-one at home'etc, vet suggested trying 'Aktivait' -from vetmedic, cheaper ! -and touch wood they have worked well. They are for canine senility and I think are less than vivitonin.
Chris

Hi you don't say if Beattie is old or not but i think all the time you go down to her she will request you do so by barking etc, if she sleeps upstairs with you why does she have to sleep on the bed ?, can't she have a nice comfy bed on the floor next to the bed ? so that she has the reassurance of you close by but not invading human space which as pack leader you shouldn't allow anyway not ever for any dog, i was told when i bought my first Rottie that he shouldn't sleep where i sleep, sit where i sit or eat where i eat, harsh but it stood me in good stead for over 20 yrs, i know Beattie is probably not a Rott but the pack leader rules should always apply with whatever you have, if they know their place they don't question it, Beattie somewhere along the line has got confused and needs some guidance and reassurance, hope this helps, its only my opinion, others may say different, hope Beattie soon gets back to normal.

My mum had the very same with her old Buhund that she lost last year. She found that putting a radio on low really helped.

Yes that can work, or leaving a night light on, i think when they start to lose their senses they get scared as we would if we started to go deaf or blind.

>i think all the time you go down to her she will request you do so by barking etc

How else is she to let us know if there's something wrong?

>why does she have to sleep on the bed ?, can't she have a nice comfy bed on the floor next to the bed ?

Because she won't sleep in a mere dogbed if there's an alternative! Doolally she might be, but she ain't daft! :-D

>pack leader rules should always apply with whatever you have

Sorry, and no offence meant, but I don't 'do' that outmoded 'pack leader' thing. I know I'm not a dog and my dogs know I'm not a dog (not enough legs, too many clothes, no tail etc)! We're not a 'pack', but a social group with a symbiotic relationship. We're a team, not "me boss, you slave". ;-)

Beattie's 13, by the way.

How about you go downstairs and sleep with her... ;-) :-D :-D

Fair enough comment but why should something always be wrong with her ? you already said she didn't want the loo so if all she wants is comfort you will have to get up and give it to her, if she doesn't sleep in a mere dog bed then what does she sleep in in the kitchen ?no offence taken but if you owned a Rottie in youre social way of life and hadn't established pack leader( i don't see it as boss/ slave) then you would have had trouble way before your dog was 13yrs old, its not out moded watch the dog whisperer Ceser Milan on telly, he may give you some tips.you may have to come to terms with the fact that poor Beattie does have senile dementia of sorts, i know my friends 16 yr old jack russell has, he barks in the night as well and doesn't want to go out just thinks its time to get up, my friend thinks its because he sleeps all day that he is not tired at night, he is also deaf, sad when they get old isn't it .

>why should something always be wrong with her ?

We've been burgled once - she might be warning us of another break-in. I'm not prepared to take the chance. If she just needs comfort then that's what she needs - she's not manipulative.

>its not out moded watch the dog whisperer Ceser Milan on telly, he may give you some tips

Ah yes, the chap who asphyxiates dogs till they collapse. I'll give his advice a miss. ;-) Beattie's the most subservient dog you could ever meet.

>if she doesn't sleep in a mere dog bed then what does she sleep in in the kitchen?

Don't forget I added 'if there's an alternative'! ;-)

Yes, all her symptoms point to the start of dementia, poor love. It's a pity but it's not her fault so I must try to alleviate it. I'll certainly try opening the curtains a bit so that the street light outside shines in and see if that helps.

My Dandy did exactly the same. He'd bark every hour and wake us all up. He just didn't want to sleep away from people any longer, even though he had slept with only dogs and NEVER in a bedroom, all his life. He will be 12 in a couple of weeks. We sent him in to live in MIL's part of the house (she has two rooms turned into a granny flat), and now he never makes a sound during the night, and in fact doesn't even get up until 9 or 9.30 am! He still has company of one dog, but also of two humans, and he's so much happier. I honestly don't know what we'd have done had we not lived in a bungalow though.......

I've caught my old girl trying to climb into the washing machine on several occasions, or just with her head inside it staring!!  (That's her on my avatar, and she's 14ish)

She too has those 'lights on but noones home' moments and appears deaf on occasion.

Surprising how well she can hear the 'W' word tho :-D

Well, I tried opening the curtains so she had more light but it didn't make any difference. :-( She was still awake and barking in the small hours. I'll certainly look into Vivitonin and Aktivait and if there's time this afternoon I'll see what the vet suggests.

My 17 yr old took to howling in the middle of the night a few months before I had her pts, she was more or less deaf and blind, she never needed to go out, so don't know if she woke up in a panic coz no one was around.:-(

Have no advice to offer JG but I hope you get someting sorted soon for Beattie.  My two aren't elderly but I certainly get up to investigate any 'woofs' in the night as they don't generally bark for no reason at all.  Sometimes they need out to pee, others it has been an unusual noise that set them off (on one occasion intruders in next door's garden when building work prevented them from securing their gate) so I never ignore them...it could be intruders on my property next time!

Hi JG,

I hope you can get to the bottom of things for Beattie - it's so horrible to watch them become distressed or less on the ball but it sounds as though she's otherwise in good health and bless her, she wont know if she's gone a bit doo-lally anyway ;)

Can't you have her in a large crate in your bedroom overnight if her joining you on/in the bed is a problem?

regards, Teri

Hi JG,

We are going through the same with Oscar the GR who is rising 12, he barks for no reason and when I go down to him at night he looks completely baffled as to why I have come down and woken him up. If I lethim out anytime for a pee he will bark immediately and doesn't know what he is doing out there. My vet prescribed 'activate' for him and this has helped him somewhat, we leave the radio on very low in the kitchen and also put a childs nightlite in the plug.
I think his problem during the night is that although he has access to all of the carpeted downstairs he prefers to lie on the laminate in the kitchen, his old bones aren't as strong as they once were and he sometimes cannot get up on the slippy surface, I tried putting a gate across to stop him going in but he barked and upset himself all the more.
Hope you can sort out your oldie too

My oldest girl will soon celebrate her thirteenth birthday. She's more or less deaf, and her eyesight is going. Apart from that, and sleeping a lot, there's nothing actually wrong with her.
Some months ago she started to get up in the middle of the night, and walked about in the house, seemingly without any real aim. She, like the other two, sleeps in our bed (huge bed) so no need for feeling lonely. I found getting her back to bed, and gently stroking her, calmed her down, and she fell asleep again. At first we tried a childrens night light in our bedroom, but it seemed to work better when we moved it out into the hallway.

I work nights as a nurse, have done for the last 16 years. From experience I know that old people can be as lucid as anyone of us during the day, and as soon as it gets dark, silent and quiet they'll totally loose grip on reality. This happens because they don't get the stimuli they require. As long as the lights are on, there's someone to talk to and other things to relate to, they are alright. It's the silence and darkness that confuses them.
Old dogs seem to be the same as old people, I've heard of other oldies behaving the same way. Best way to help seems to be a  light left on, and reassurance and cuddles. They act this way because they are frightened and insecure in the dark, not because they lack "leadership".
We'll all get old one day, hopefully someone will comfort me when I need it.
Karen

I have similar problems here with two of mine. One was 14 in November and the other one will be 14 in June. My old man (Dylan,14) has spells of waking during the night and barking and I find that a bit of comany and a wander around the garden setttles him. My old lady(Pebbles,13) has decided that, after years of preferring the hall, she wants to steal someone elses bed and if she does they then start to cry. She takes spells of wandering back and forward aimlessly and has recently started the wanders during the night.

The joys of the oldies :-)

Hi JG,

was your vet able to offer some guidance for Beattie?  How was she last night?  Hopefully if not yet improved you've got something to work with which will ease her anxiety soon (and your own!)

Teri

Well, the vet said that as she's fine and active and aware during the the daytime it's not 'typical' doggie dementia, so medication probably isn't the way to go. It seems to be loneliness - when Clover was alive they slept in the same room, and pottered about the house with the rest of the gang. When Clover died we took Beattie out and about more with us which is brilliant - when we get her lead at unexpected times she bounces with joy and is thrilled at going to different places. But it seems that the more interesting life has the side-effect of making her less tolerant of being alone.

We did an experiment and moved a third bed (never got around to mioving Clover's out) into the kitchen and had the boys sleep in there too. Beattie was happy and as quiet as a mouse. :-) The boys grumbled and squabbled over who was going to sleep where. :rolleyes: It was quite funny really - every time I opened the door there was silence, but as soon as I shut it they started barking at each other again! After 5 minutes opening and shutting the door I retired to bed and put a pillow over my head.

The sore places on her legs have certainly been licked overnight, but whether that's her or the boys I don't know. We'll see what happens tonight.

Aw - that sounds better doesn't it (Ok, apart from the boys LOL).  Sometimes it is just a simple adjustment to get things back to an even keel.  I hope that's all that your golden oldie needs too :)  My elder girl (RIP) definitely seemed to go a bit doo-lally around 13 years onwards and it wasn't always easy to work out what made her behave in certain ways but we worked through it and came to the conclusion it was more old age beligerance than anything else :-D  Just gotta love 'em!

Fingers crossed the boys shut up now and peaceful nights are restored to all.

Teri

Do dogs dream? My dog is only one but the other night he was crying so i rushed downstairs (as he never cries in the night so i was panicking) when i walked into the kitchen he was just looking into space and barking (at nothing). I spoke to him very quietly but he didnt react so i gently ushered him back to his basket where he layed down and was fast asleep. I likened it to sleepwalking/talking. Any ideas?

They certainly dream Fred Mum - mine, of all ages, are often to be heard making weird and wonderful noises from excited "yips", meaningful grumbles and full blown howls plus their tails wag and feet twitch etc :)  I don't like them to be having "bad dreams" so unless they're happy, waggy tailed ones I wake them up LOL.

I have to say none of them have ever appeared spaced out or semi-conscious though as you've described.

Think Freddie chases in his dreams becuase hes often seen "running" in his sleep, but this was like sleepwalking, he was stood up and barking but wasnt conscious. Very peculiar and unsettling. Funny though when he went back to his basket and flooped down and was fast asleep again :-)

> hes often seen "running" in his sleep

really really common, all our dogs have always done it. chasing naughty poachers in their dreams :)

never heard of the sleep walking though, might be worth looking into to see if theres a way to prevent it if it happens alot. you might find he injurs himself or starts weeing in the night. i know human sleep walkers often walk into a lot of things so get hurt, also they can wee themselves as they think there on the loo. just in case so he doesn't get in trouble if he does widdle :)