Older Dog and Night time

I have had 5 dogs that I raised from puppyhood since I became an adult. Every single one of them would come to me when something was wrong with them. My first would come to me acting worried about a minute before he had a seizure (he outgrew them). Another all but drug herself up the stairs when she was losing the feeling in her rear legs (no hint that anything was wrong before that moment....and I REALLY watch my dogs' health). So while it may be something else, she may be coming to the Pack Leader for comfort. Be sure she gets it in spades.

TugCE, I'm so sorry. We had all the same symptoms in our beautiful Lab, Maggie. We just chalked it up to old age, but not "the end". To this day, and it's only been 2 1/2 months since she passed, we wish she was still with us and ageless. Please keep us posted. We're here for you.

I will be getting Macy into see our Vet this week to have her checked out. After reading what Dr. Doug suggested, I've been doing some research and she seems to fit a lot of what is described. Lately, I've noticed her stopping and just standing as if she's lost and doesn't know where she is. When this happens, even calling her name does not get her to even look your way. Usually, she has no problem with hearing and can hear me open "Their Cabinet" and comes out looking for a treat. :-)

Another thing that has been happening is when I start to let them out, she will stand in our Dinning Room, it's almost like she's not sure what to do. I'll stand there and call her sometimes she'll come out on her own but other times I have to go in and help her along. Whatever this is has been slowly coming on for sometime but we have not put it all together until now.

Hopefully our Vet can shed some light on what is going on and help her be more comfortable. We rescued her shortly after I had back surgery in 2005 but I always say, she's the one that rescued me!

Thanks again for all of your caring replies, I'll post again once we see the Vet.

rightlaneonly wrote:

gbopp wrote:

1995brave wrote:
She could be sensing something wrong with you, like the start of cancer from smoking or some other issue starting up.

Excellent point!

Don't ignore that. Been seeing just that on "Animal Miracles" where animals sense illnesses in humans.

While I'm not discounting any ideas, I do not think this is it.

I'm a 5.5 year cancer survivor and see my Oncologist every 6 months for extensive blood work.

Dogs defintely shows the signs of aging mentally. They can get disoriented at night, especially if they do not see very well. Don't be surprised by it.

I took my last Border Collie backpacking when she was 16. She had some aging issues for sure.

Yes, unfortunately we experienced that with our 14 year old Lab who passed in early April. She started this, then not sleeping at night, which was rough on us. After a couple of weeks of this, we got meds from our vet, which helped, but she was back to this night time behavior in a few days. Switched meds, helped, then back to the same. After an increase in this behavior and increased difficulty in walking we made that tough decision. In spite of it, she was ready. I don't know how to explain how we knew, but she was. It was peaceful for her. Oh how we miss her.

Moose-dog has developed "old man dog syndrome". He no longer feels it necessary to be "the good boy" that he has always been.

For years, when he got scared, he would crawl behind me on the bed. Now he does it for a variety of reasons - mostly because he has decided he prefers my spot on the bed - and he literally shoves me off the bed. He ignores me completely whenever he doesn't want to do what I want him to do. He has to be reminded to go outside before bed (he will go if I insist, but otherwise will wake up in the night and need to go immediately). He prefers to sleep as late as possible.

Nothing abnormal, no illnesses, etc. He has just decided that he deserves whatever he wants because he's been so good for years. I can't really argue with that logic. His hips are going and he's old for his breed mi, so I just put up with it and tell folks "he's got old man dog syndrome".

rightlaneonly wrote:

gbopp wrote:

1995brave wrote:
She could be sensing something wrong with you, like the start of cancer from smoking or some other issue starting up.

Excellent point!

Don't ignore that. Been seeing just that on "Animal Miracles" where animals sense illnesses in humans.

Absolutely! Years ago DW had a mark that started to appear on her leg near the ankle. Didn't look like much, just one of those spots you get as you get older. Out dog Eddie, however, would not leave it alone and kept trying to lick the spot. Trip to the dermatologist and sure enough turned out to be cancerous. Once it was removed Eddie had no interest in it anymore. Somehow he knew that it wasn't supposed to be there and he let us know.

gbopp wrote:

1995brave wrote:
She could be sensing something wrong with you, like the start of cancer from smoking or some other issue starting up.

Excellent point!

Don't ignore that. Been seeing just that on "Animal Miracles" where animals sense illnesses in humans.

dturm wrote:
This is Wikipedia's description of CCD (canine cognitive disorder) and it's pretty accurate.

There are medicines and OTC supplements that can be helpful.

Doug, DVM

Thanks for giving me this link, some of it hits home but others not so much. This gives us someplace to start before we got into our Vet so we can have our questions on hand.