Be sure to report all changes you see to your dog’s veterinarian. Don’t assume that your dog is “just getting old” and nothing can be done to help him. Many changes in behavior can be signs of treatable medical disorders (please see Ruling Out Specific Medical Problems on Page 2), and there are a variety of therapies that can comfort your dog and manage his symptoms, including any pain he might be experiencing.
In addition to seeking professional help from your veterinarian and an animal behavior expert (such as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, CAAB or ACAAB) for the age-related behavior issues covered in this article, a key contributing factor to keeping your older dog healthy is to continue to play with him, exercise him and train him throughout his life. You will likely need to adapt play and exercise to his slower movements, reduced energy level, declining eyesight and hearing, and any medical conditions he may have. Talk to a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in your area (CPDT) for fun ways to teach your old dog new tricks. Patiently keeping in mind his slower learning curve, you can have fun sharpening up rusty behaviors he once learned and teaching him some new behaviors and tricks. A CPDT can also help you change your verbal cues to hand signals if your dog has lost his hearing and help you adjust your training for any physical impairments your dog may have developed. There are many ways to keep your older dog’s life interesting and stimulating that don’t require vigorous physical effort. Please see our article, Enriching Your Dog’s Life, for many fun ideas. Just as with humans, dogs need to use their brains and bodies to maintain their mental and physical fitness. As the saying goes, use it or lose it!
Checklist for Cognitive Dysfunction
Following is a list of possible changes and symptoms in your senior dog that could indicate cognitive dysfunction1.
Confusion/Spatial Disorientation
- Gets lost in familiar locations
- Goes to the wrong side of the door (where the hinge is)
- Gets stuck and can’t navigate around or over obstacles
Relationships/Social Behavior
- Less interested in petting, interactions, greeting people or other dogs, etc.
- Needs constant contact, becomes overdependent and clingy
Activity-Increased or Repetitive
- Stares, fixates on or snaps at objects
- Paces or wanders about aimlessly
- Licks you, family members or objects a lot
- Vocalizes more
- Eats more food or eats more quickly
Activity-Decreased, Apathetic
- Explores less and responds less to things going on around him
- Grooms himself less
- Eats less
Anxiety/Increased Irritability
- Seems restless or agitated
- Is anxious about being separated from family members
- Behaves more irritably in general
Sleep-Wake Cycles/Reversed Day-Night Schedule
- Sleeps restlessly, awakens at night
- Sleeps more during the day
Learning and Memory-House Soiling
- Eliminates indoors in random locations or in view of you or family members
- Eliminates indoors after returning from outside
- Eliminates in sleeping areas (for example, in his crate or on the couch or floor)
- Uses body language less (body postures and signals associated with feelings)
- Develops incontinence (accidental release of bladder)
Learning and Memory-Work, Tasks, Cues
- Demonstrates an impaired ability to work or perform tasks
- Sometimes seems unable to recognize familiar people and pets
- Shows decreased responsiveness to known cues for obedience, tricks, sports and games
- Seems unable or slower to learn new tasks or cues
Ruling Out Other Causes for Your Dog’s Behavior
If your dog shows any of the symptoms or changes listed above, your first step is to take him to his veterinarian to determine whether there is a specific medical cause for his behavior. Any medical or degenerative illness that causes pain, discomfort or decreased mobility-such as arthritis, dental disease, hypothyroidism, cancer, impaired sight or hearing, urinary tract disease or Cushing’s disease-can lead to increased sensitivity and irritability, increased anxiety about being touched or approached, increased aggression (since your dog may choose to threaten and bite rather than move away), decreased responsiveness to your voice, reduced ability to adapt to change, and reduced ability to get to usual elimination areas.
If medical problems are ruled out, and if primary behavior problems unrelated to aging are ruled out (for example, problems that started years before your dog began aging or those that started in response to recent changes in his environment or family), then these behavioral signs are presumed to be due to the effects of aging on the brain and are diagnosed as “cognitive dysfunction syndrome.”
Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction
The primary signs of cognitive dysfunction syndrome can be summarized with the acronym CRASH, which stands for:
- Confusion/disorientation
- Responsiveness/recognition decreases
- Activity changes
- Sleep-wake cycle disturbances
- House training lapses
Cognitive dysfunction syndrome can be treated by your dog’s veterinarian with the drug selegiline hydrochloride (brand name Anipryl®). There are a number of other medications and supplements that you and your vet may consider as well. It’s most effective to combine drug therapy with behavioral treatment that’s based on the specific problems your dog is having.
Specific Geriatric Behavior Problems and Their Behavioral Treatment
Anxiety-Including Separation Anxiety
Some common concerns reported by guardians of aging dogs are increased sensitivity and irritability, increased fear of unfamiliar pets and people (sometimes accompanied by aggression), decreased tolerance of touch and restraint, increased following and desire for contact, and increased anxiety when left alone. Noise sensitivity from hearing loss can also make some dogs more anxious and vocal. Your own frustration and distress over your dog’s behavior can add to your dog’s anxiety as well.
If house soiling has become a problem, some guardians opt to crate their dogs when they’re not home. Unfortunately, confining a senior dog to a crate can raise his anxiety level if he’s never been crated or is no longer accustomed to it. To make things worse, if he can’t get comfortable in the crate, or if he can’t control his bowels or bladder, he’ll be even more anxious and may attempt to escape. In these cases, it may be the confinement, not the guardian’s departure, that causes anxiety.
If it’s the guardian’s departure and absence that causes a dog’s anxiety, it’s called separation anxiety. The cardinal indicators of separation anxiety are:
- Predeparture anxiety: pacing, panting, salivating, hiding, trembling or depression as you prepare to leave
- House soiling (or soiling the crate), destructiveness or vocalizing that occur soon after you leave the house
- Destructiveness directed at exit points, like windows and doors, and house soiling while you’re gone
- Refusal to eat when left alone (even if you leave your dog food, treats or a food-stuffed KONG® toy, he doesn’t eat at all when you’re gone, but does after you return)
The most important factor in diagnosing these behaviors as separation anxiety is that they occur only during your absence. If these behaviors occur while you or your family members are home, other issues may be causing them instead. For example, if your dog soils in the house both when you're gone and when you're home, you probably have a house training problem. The same is true of destructiveness. If destructive chewing happens when you're home, it's a training issue, not separation anxiety.
A distinct feature of geriatric (late-onset) separation anxiety is that it can manifest as nighttime anxiety, almost as if your dog views your sleeping as a form of separation. Your dog may keep you awake by pacing, panting and pawing at you, and demanding attention. This type of separation anxiety may indicate undiagnosed disease, and it can be relieved by treating the disease or, at minimum, relieving your dog’s pain or discomfort. A thorough examination by your dog’s veterinarian is crucial to determine whether there’s a medical basis for your dog’s anxiety.
Treatment for separation anxiety involves controlling any underlying medical problems and using a behavioral treatment called desensitization and counterconditioning (DSCC). Please see our article, Desensitization and Counterconditioning, for more information about the effective use of these treatments. Identifying and changing any of your own responses that might be aggravating your dog’s behavior is also helpful. In conjunction with behavioral treatment, pheromones and drugs can be used to reduce anxiety and improve your dog’s cognitive function. Please see our article, Separation Anxiety, for more detailed information on this disorder and its treatment.
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