Hi

just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for the early signs of dogs going senile, I have a 12 year old cross breed, which has started barking and howling when left on her own. I have had her since a young pup and seperation anxiety doesn't fit. She has been used to been left on her own and never been a problem. If there is one of my other dogs in the house she is fine, doesn't even have to be in same room. I initially put it down to her being jeoulous of my new dog and her selective hearing the same. I actually thought she was losing her hearing but vet seems to think her hearing is fine. She can be looking at me and I call her and she just looks at me with a vacant look on her face as if I am talking to someone else. A friend think she has read somewhere that older dogs can howl when left on their own cause they think they have lost their pack - which seems to fit.
Physically she is in amazing condition and can run for miles.
I looked online last night and if it is the early signs of her going senile there is drug that can slow the progess but not cure it and Hills do a prescribtion diet which claims to slow the process. I would be interested to hear from anyone that has had success with the food to try that before I try drugs

Thanks
Irene

Hi I have 2 friends who has had simalr things, see the vet as the dogs were prescribed medication and i no they sdone some physical checks which helped diganoise it

I no the medication helped to

> A friend think she has read somewhere that older dogs can howl when left on their own cause they think they have lost their pack - which seems to fit.
>

I don't have any personal experience of a senile dog, or a dog howling at night, but I'd have thought the howling is not due to the dog thinking it's lost it's pack, more like the dog wants some company, I'm sure the dogs know thier owners are upstairs and not lost.
As my last dog got older I used to leave a light on for him at night, he used to settle better with the light on, I put it down to his failing hearing/deafness but it may have been just his age that made him a little unsettled with the light off.

>I actually thought she was losing her hearing but vet seems to think her hearing is fine. She can be looking at me and I call her and she just looks at me with a vacant look on her face as if I am talking to someone else

Has the vet done any specific hearing tests? It's quite hard to tell if a dog is deaf by looking at it & talking to it. Tests like clapping are not good enough as the dog can be responding to any shadows caused by the rapid hand movements. Tests like dropping something heavy on the floor/stamping are also no good indicater as the dog can feel the vibrations - stamping turned out to be the best way to get our deaf dogs attention, it even worked in the garden if he wasn't too far away.

I thought my old dog was getting stubborn, he was like that for over a year before we realised he was deaf, they soon learn to lip-read/read hand signals/body language (you'll be suprised at how many visual ques we give to our dogs untill you realise that's how you've been communicating with your deaf dog) feel movements through the floor and react to shadows/light reflections, so for eg. it can appear that the dog has heard you enter a room, when in fact it's felt your footsteps through the floor. Sometimes with my dog, with lip-reading he would not be sure what I had said, so would stare at me trying to figure it out - could easily be mistaken for a 'vacant'/stubborn dog.

My Dandy was like this in is lats couple of years -did not want to be alone, and just canine company wasn't enough. In our case it was fairly easy as we were able to make sure he had company day and night, and then he was happy and stayed quiet. But yes, it is common for older dogs to get a bit confused.

Did these problems start when you got your new dog? as some dogs behaviour changes when you introduce another dog into the house.
I would think you need to have alot more tests done before you decide whats wrong with your dog. it maybe old age but there are plenty of other things that it could be.
I'd go back to the vets if your worried and ask if they can take another look and see what tests they could do to get to the bottom of this.
Hope you get to the bottom of this soon.
 

> She can be looking at me and I call her and she just looks at me with a vacant look on her face as if I am talking to someone else.

Have you had her vision checked ?  She may be upset at losing her vision .

No the problem started about a year ago I have had the other dogs nearly 2 and half years now and they get on great in the house, Emma has regular check up at the vet and she regularly gets her back checked by a chiropracter as i do agility so the guy comes round the show and she get reiki and acupressure. None of these show anything up other than she is in great shape for her age.

Her eyes have been going slowly for sometime but she can still see she can certainly still see well enough to read my facal expression and wags her tail like mad if I smile at her.

Her hearing I am not sure I think a lot of it is she will being stubborn because if I have her on her own and I am out of sight and I open the food tin or biscuit tin she is there is a shot.

I know she will be mentally slower and get confused and I am prepared for all that - a dog going senile is something I never considered until my friend mentioned it that she thought she read it somewhere. So I wont feel such a idiot going to vet and asking about it now I now it does actually happen and tere is foods and treatments that can slow it down if it is

Thanks

I would say that hearing and eyesight problems may be something here also.  My girl was the same when her hearing and sight went around the same time.

I am working at the vets on Monday so will have a word with Amanda the vet, it was her that gave her, her last check up a few months ago so I will take her back to see same wvet

Thanks, I will let you all know how we get on at vets

May be worth asking if vet thinks that 'aktivate' may help, our late Rott (13+) was on it for about 18mth as she would go out 'scratch her head, think what did I come here for' then come in and pee unless you were out there to remind her 'go pee' and would wander about in her own little world. definatly helped. Vet described it as similar to senility and Alzheimers in people.
Chris