Thread: Another dog question

They sure do. Like people their bodies start to let them down when they get older. he wont be liking the fact that he can't crap in the right place, since most dogs have learnt when they were being trained not to crap in the wrong place. make sure you let him know it's ok if he goes in front of you, since he might be thinking he is going to be punished for crapping in the wrong spot.
The criteria I use to decide if it's "time", is if they no longer get excited about going for a walk or doing their favourite thing.

I had a dog dumped on me by her owner. he said he was going to Aussie for 2 months but never came back. I later found out he had the franchise for farmers steam cleaning in Palmy and had ripped them off for thousands. It was quite hard case actually, she was a 65kg rottie and the owner said "don't say this, don't do that she doesn't like it and will get real agro". When I visited her in his home she was growling and all twitchy most of the time so I was a bit worried about her eating one of my flatmates. When she got to my place it was like someone had flipped a switch. She was the friendliest dog and wanted to lick you to death. I realized that the owner was a paranoid wanker and so of course the dog was mirroring that.
Good luck with your boy and give him lots of good times in his final days.

Originally Posted by northdude

even tho he wasn't my dog some of them really grow on you

Prefacing this with the background that I've looked after a lot of different breeds over a long time in addition to having my own, so have gotten to raise and train everything from teacup breeds through to show/work dogs from puppy through to old age, and it's a very neat experience to see the differences in personality and breed, as well as how they interact with their owners.

Dogs are like people - they're unique and age differently, so hard to say exactly what's going on, but sounds a lot like your dog's old and a tiny bit sore, so trying to slow you down a bit so he can go at his pace. In general (there are exceptions) dogs are pretty stoic and don't show pain that would have most humans whinging and crying and refusing to walk any further. Plus they get a bit geriatric - you know how your grandad was in his old age; he still enjoyed life, but he went at a slower pace and didn't care/notice as much. As others have said, as they get older and more uncertain, they also start to stay closer for support and comfort. They're less confident and more scared, so being physically in contact with you makes life a bit less scary for them. Just like we get endorphins from patting dogs, dogs get endorphins from physical contact with us, and we're the most important person in their life, so it makes sense.

Quite a lot of the older dogs I've looked after had joint pain, and glocosamine in their food had them back to acting 5 years younger. I was skeptical of it, but after a few dogs were put onto it by their owners and quickly livened up and got a new lease on life I started to have some trust in it. They went from being slow, sleeping a lot, mildly irritable with other dogs and basically at the end of the line, to perky and excited and wanting to play and living several more years.

Another thing is quality of hard dog food kibble. The cheap stuff is pretty universally utter cr-p. It's amazing what what some companies will put in dry dog food, so if you're buying the cheap kibble, try the expensive senior dog food for a month, or switch to raw food for a bit, you'll see a significant improvement in behavior and condition (skin, fur, eye, ear, personality). Combined with glucosamine and you'll probably have a much improved dog.
The switch in diet will probably upset their stomach initially - most dogs are fed the same thing every meal for their entire life, so it's wise to add a little bit of the new food to the old stuff over time or they'll get sick.

End of the day I tend to think the majority of dogs are significantly better than many people, so I'm happy to make their lives a bit more comfortable and put up with their quirks in old age, they're lovely animals that are utterly devoted to us.

Originally Posted by rugerman

They sure do. Like people their bodies start to let them down when they get older. he wont be liking the fact that he can't crap in the right place, since most dogs have learnt when they were being trained not to crap in the wrong place. make sure you let him know it's ok if he goes in front of you, since he might be thinking he is going to be punished for crapping in the wrong spot.
The criteria I use to decide if it's "time", is if they no longer get excited about going for a walk or doing their favourite thing.

I had a dog dumped on me by her owner. he said he was going to Aussie for 2 months but never came back. I later found out he had the franchise for farmers steam cleaning in Palmy and had ripped them off for thousands. It was quite hard case actually, she was a 65kg rottie and the owner said "don't say this, don't do that she doesn't like it and will get real agro". When I visited her in his home she was growling and all twitchy most of the time so I was a bit worried about her eating one of my flatmates. When she got to my place it was like someone had flipped a switch. She was the friendliest dog and wanted to lick you to death. I realized that the owner was a paranoid wanker and so of course the dog was mirroring that.
Good luck with your boy and give him lots of good times in his final days.

You're dead on with the owner being a significant influence on dog behavior. It was quite interesting to look after dogs that had all sorts of weird behaviors with their owners that didn't happen at all when someone else was looking after them. One had a broken leg as a young dog so was convinced the only way in and out of a vehicle was to be lifted in and out, and had trained his owners that this was the case.... but when he was with other people who told him to jump in and out, he would. Other dogs that totally ignored commands or misbehaved with their owners but were perfectly behaved with others, or were protective or fearful etc.

Some dogs can get irreparably screwed up, but they're surprisingly rare... though it can take a ton of work to get them back on track in some cases.