Anyone else dealt with a dog with senility issues? I don't know if dogs can even become senile, but I don't see why not. Can they? Winston is only our second ever senior dog... and wow, some days he's worse than a puppy! Ever since his last really bad time with his illness (so, a little over a month ago), he's gradually started exhibiting weird behaviours. He paces a lot, he whines for no reason, and barks constantly.
He used to just relax in the house, but now if anyone even changes position on the couch while watching TV, he thinks he needs to get up and start running around. Anticipating us going somewhere I guess. He's always been a bit of a whiner, but now he whines all the time. Not because of pain, either. It's always due to anticipation and whatnot. He'll be sitting on one couch with my mom, and if I'm on the other couch, he'll stare at me (or whoever else is on the couch) and whine, assuming/hoping I'm going to call him over. Which is odd, considering I don't sit on the couch with him often, and I don't give into his whines... nor does anyone else.
That's ok though. We can deal with that. The barking though... is absolutely ridiculous. He thinks he hears stuff, and gets into a barking frenzy for no reason. All of the other dogs just look at him like "what's your problem? there's nothing going on", and go back to sleep or play (or whatever they were doing at the time). If I so much as walk toward the front door, he barks. I don't have to touch it. I used to be able to open the door, get the mail, and come back inside and he'd think nothing of it. But it doesn't just have to do with the door. Just 15mins ago, we were all sitting in the living room, and he started barking. Either because he thought he heard something for the hundredth time today, or because of the (quiet) noise my glass made when I set it on the table. Either Way, it's unwarranted. He never used to bark very much at all. And he doesn't listen anymore when we tell him to be quiet.... but I know he's not deaf, as he listens to other stuff and still comes when called from far away.
Anyway, I don't know why I posted this. I know this just goes along with old dogs sometimes and there's not much I can do..
He used to just relax in the house, but now if anyone even changes position on the couch while watching TV, he thinks he needs to get up and start running around. Anticipating us going somewhere I guess. He's always been a bit of a whiner, but now he whines all the time. Not because of pain, either. It's always due to anticipation and whatnot. He'll be sitting on one couch with my mom, and if I'm on the other couch, he'll stare at me (or whoever else is on the couch) and whine, assuming/hoping I'm going to call him over. Which is odd, considering I don't sit on the couch with him often, and I don't give into his whines... nor does anyone else.
That's ok though. We can deal with that. The barking though... is absolutely ridiculous. He thinks he hears stuff, and gets into a barking frenzy for no reason. All of the other dogs just look at him like "what's your problem? there's nothing going on", and go back to sleep or play (or whatever they were doing at the time). If I so much as walk toward the front door, he barks. I don't have to touch it. I used to be able to open the door, get the mail, and come back inside and he'd think nothing of it. But it doesn't just have to do with the door. Just 15mins ago, we were all sitting in the living room, and he started barking. Either because he thought he heard something for the hundredth time today, or because of the (quiet) noise my glass made when I set it on the table. Either Way, it's unwarranted. He never used to bark very much at all. And he doesn't listen anymore when we tell him to be quiet.... but I know he's not deaf, as he listens to other stuff and still comes when called from far away.
Anyway, I don't know why I posted this. I know this just goes along with old dogs sometimes and there's not much I can do..