Sometimes, a dog is just a dog?

Jack was a rescue - we got him when he was almost a year old - rumor had it that he had run loose on the streets of Ann Arbor for months, and nobody had been able to catch him.

*IF* "doggy dementia" is like Alzheimer's - and one goes back to their childhood? - it might explain the new aggression towards dogs and food and being "grabbed"? He does NOT want to be touched - not even brushed against. I'll be muzzling him before he ever leaves the car, to keep my Vet and her technicians safe.

Thank you for posting about your dog.

I am going thru my very first dog that has ever lived past 10 and it is all new to me all what he is going thru now at 14.

He exhibits the same behavior as your dog. So I'm guessing it's just part of the aging process.

He was an abused rescue also and the day I rescued him he chewed me up one arm and down the other! We came a long way since that day and he became my best buddy and we turned him around to the sweetest dog without incidence. But lately you can't just reach for him and pick him up or he will bite, "exactly the same thing he did when he was rescued".

Reading your post I too see a lot of his behavior now is duplicating what he was like when he was in that abused home. Which we were so proud to have completely reversed.

So maybe just like people with dementia who digress back to their younger years I am beginning to think dogs do too, also.

The saddest thing just like your dog is he no longer wants to be around his best buddy. She just doesn't understand that at all.

BUT, I now give him his space. He has given me 12 wonderful years.
And I am still needed when dinner time comes around and of course THEN he wants to be by me. So I will savor this time just as I survived his first year teaching him that people really can be trusted.

BTW. For us a half pill of Previcox every so often does WONDERFUL things for him. Sometimes it does way too much as he runs and bounces off the back of the couch.

Just saying for us this pill eliminates all of his dementia frustrations and he is more comfortable and so for now we will run with that.

thanks again for your post it's helped me understand that some of his behavior is just like other senior dogs aging. Your guy looks to be in very good condition for his age also. You must be doing something right with his food! :C

Jack was a rescue - we got him when he was almost a year old - rumor had it that he had run loose on the streets of Ann Arbor for months, and nobody had been able to catch him.

*IF* "doggy dementia" is like Alzheimer's - and one goes back to their childhood? - it might explain the new aggression towards dogs and food and being "grabbed"? He does NOT want to be touched - not even brushed against. I'll be muzzling him before he ever leaves the car, to keep my Vet and her technicians safe.

You gave him a great life and it is obvious that he no longer had quality of life but lived in frustration. I think you made a good decision for him and for you

Barb and the 3 chocolates

AZPops wrote:
Yeah, especially when they had a great life! When it's time, it's time, but it's still hard!

Pops

He was a good camper - every single mile of the 50k or so on the motorhome, Jack was with us. I have a lovely picture of he and Ike (and Ed) at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign, and Jack is "claiming it for his own" ;-)

I had two that lasted as long as they could, but when it was time they seemed to know it and it made it easier to make that final decision.

Our thoughts are with you. You gave him a good life and will give him a loving end.

Yeah, especially when they had a great life! When it's time, it's time, but it's still hard!

Pops