Just old age grumpiness?

My mom has a bichon mix and lately he's become...very grouchy. He is about 11 now but pretty healthy other than a little bit of vision problems. He enjoys walking, takes 2 walks a day and prances.

Well, he bit two of us in the last month (no blood or anything but still ouch) and has been growling. Just for little things like trying to get his leash on when he isn't in the mood for walking or waking him up.

Now this isn't a HUGE problem because he is a old easy dog who lives with my mom who doesn't expect much from him and he is fine as long as nobody tries to get him to do something he doesn't want to do...

now first off we took him to the vet and he is all clear other than typical old man stuff.

Now, the issue right now is do we..
A) live with it (which wouldn't be that hard to do) just kind of deal with him and work around his moods and keep him as healthy as we can

or..
B) Pursue this issue further..meds? behaviorist?

I don't feel like he's unhappy but we've never had an aging dog and don't know what to do really. Can he be happy even though he seems more grouchy??

MOST OF THE TIME, he is fine. Sleeps, eats, asks for treats, prances around, sits in the sun whatever.
I just hope this is normal for a small aging dog

Sudden attitude changes is never a normal thing. A lot of things people call "old dog things" are really... Not normal old dog things. But enough people ignore them and shrug them off that they become the norm.

That said, if he's having vision (and possibly hearing?) problems, that could very well be the problem. Especially if he's gone to the vet and has tested fine.

What were the circumstances of the bites? Especially since he didn't break skin, seems as though being startled may be the culprit.

You said he has vision problems, could that be a contributor? More easily startled? Maybe his hearing isn't that great either?

Happy has her grumpy moments and I'm told by family that she will bite/snap (I've never been on the receiving end of anything, and have never witnessed it), however the disadvantage of adopting a senior dog is that I have no clue if this is a "new" thing for her, or if she's been a mean grump her whole life. But she IS deaf and appears to have horrible eyesight as well, so I assume this is a huge factor.

I think probably the easiest/most practical is to just be aware of the problem and live with it.

Could be sore? Mia will snap and bite at certain manipulation and I realized that it is some soreness in her knees. Just a thought.

His vision has been getting worse, I didn't really think about it being him just being startled..
His hearing isn't that great but it never has been but I think with combination with his eyes it may just be disorienting

First bite was when my mom was making the bed, he was on it asleep and she went to jostle him as she always does, and he snapped then growled with his lips up until she yelled and he got up and left

second time I was going to walk him and calling him over, I put the collar on him and he took it off (which he does often when he doesn't want to walk) but I went to go put his collar back on and he bit my hand.

The thing with the collar was really a big uh oh for us because he saw me coming with his leash and it really was just like a NO DONT DO THAT thing, which isn't like him. I mean he slips his collar off and is a grouch sometimes but it's NEVER escalated to biting/growling.

I think we are going to maybe go back to the vet and check for pain, he does enjoy his walks once he's out and about but maybe something is bothering him....

He has never been an overtly SWEET tolerant dog by any means, I mean, he is charming and for food will do tricks and he has a big personality but part of that has always been his grumpiness (slipping off collars, hiding under the desk when the groomer arrives, sitting on the back of the couch to ignore us, scratching at legs to get food from the table) we've loved him for it and just dealt with it..
but it has never been this bad.

If we have to deal with his moods then that's fine I just worry it's something more...

I think you're right to take him to the vet.

Having said that, my Shih Tzu is 11 years old, and she's definitely slightly grumpy at times. Not to the point of growling or biting, but just not as tolerant of stuff.

My friend just had to put her 13 year old bichon mix down after he bit her twice within 6 months, both serious enough that she ended up in hospital with IV antibiotics. She's lucky she doesn't have long term damage to her hands

Her bichon was never tolerant, and while he could be sweet 80% of the time, he could always be sort of a jerk. As he got older he just got more unpredictable, and both times he bit her she didn't see it coming, and it was rather serious.

I would guess pain. Is he currently on any meds/supplements?

Maybe pain, but could be low thyroid too. Dogs can get aggressive as a symptom, and it can go low as they age. I think of lot of the "old age" grumpiness is actually more like age related illness grumpiness.

I have a 15-16 y/o yorkie/pom I tell people he has the grumps. But in reality, it's just a lot of medical problems that come with the age that are the cause. It's just easier than explaining he has a heart murmur, bad teeth that cause infections, big cyst on his toosh, water retention, sight/hearing fading [and yes this causes him to startle and nip, where before he never did] and just not feeling as limber as he once did. We get pretty grumpy too when not feeling well, it's just we can express it better and get ourselves to a doctor without waiting for someone to notice.

As others stated, it's def worth having checked out by vet.