As our canine companions gracefully enter their senior years, it’s natural for them to undergo a series of changes, both physically and behaviorally. While some of these shifts might seem like simple signs of aging, they can often point to underlying issues that require attention and understanding. This article delves into the common behavioral transformations seen in older dogs, offering insights into their causes and effective management strategies, ensuring your beloved pet enjoys a comfortable and fulfilling golden age.
The aging process can impact a dog’s cognitive functions, leading to a decline in memory, learning abilities, awareness, and even their senses of sight and hearing. These changes can also subtly alter their social interactions with you and other pets in the household. Recognizing and understanding these age-related changes is crucial for compassionately addressing any behavioral challenges that may emerge. It’s vital to remember that many of these behavioral shifts can be indicators of treatable medical conditions. Therefore, always consult your veterinarian to rule out specific medical problems and explore available therapies that can alleviate discomfort and manage symptoms, including pain.
Beyond veterinary care, maintaining your older dog’s overall well-being involves continued engagement through play, exercise, and training throughout their life. Adaptations to these activities will likely be necessary, considering their reduced mobility, energy levels, declining senses, and any existing medical conditions. Engaging a Certified Professional Dog Trainer can introduce fun, adapted training methods, helping to reinforce existing behaviors and teach new tricks, even with a slower learning curve. Patience is key, and trainers can also assist in transitioning verbal cues to hand signals for dogs with hearing loss or adjusting training for physical impairments. Keeping an older dog’s life mentally and physically stimulating doesn’t always require strenuous activity; the principle of “use it or lose it” applies just as much to our canine friends as it does to us.
Checklist for Cognitive Dysfunction in Senior Dogs
Senior dogs exhibiting cognitive dysfunction may display a range of changes. These can be broadly categorized to help identify potential issues:
Confusion and Spatial Disorientation
- Getting lost: Your dog may become disoriented even in familiar surroundings.
- Doorway difficulties: They might go to the wrong side of a door, such as the hinge side, unable to navigate.
- Obstacle navigation: Difficulty moving around or over objects that were previously not an issue.
Altered Social Behavior and Relationships
- Reduced interaction: Less interest in petting, greetings, or engagement with people and other pets.
- Increased dependency: Conversely, some dogs become clingy, requiring constant contact and reassurance.
Changes in Activity Levels
- Increased or repetitive actions:
- Staring or fixating on objects.
- Pacing or wandering aimlessly.
- Excessive licking of themselves, people, or objects.
- Increased vocalization.
- Eating more food or at a faster pace.
- Decreased activity:
- Reduced exploration and responsiveness to their environment.
- Less self-grooming.
- Decreased food intake.
Increased Anxiety and Irritability
- Restlessness: Appearing agitated or unable to settle.
- Separation anxiety: Becoming anxious when separated from family members.
- General irritability: Exhibiting a more easily annoyed demeanor.
Sleep-Wake Cycle Disturbances
- Restless sleep: Difficulty settling down for sleep.
- Nocturnal awakenings: Waking frequently during the night.
- Reversed schedule: Sleeping more during the day and being active at night.
House Soiling and Learning Deficits
- Inappropriate elimination: Urinating or defecating in random indoor locations, sometimes in view of family members or after returning from outside.
- Elimination in sleeping areas: Soiling their crate, bed, or the floor.
- Reduced signaling: Less use of body language to indicate the need to go outside.
- Incontinence: Accidental release of bladder or bowel control.
Impaired Learning and Memory
- Task performance: Demonstrating a diminished ability to perform learned tasks or work.
- Recognition issues: Sometimes failing to recognize familiar people or pets.
- Decreased responsiveness: Showing less reaction to known obedience cues, tricks, or game commands.
- Slower learning: Taking longer to learn new tasks or cues.
Ruling Out Other Causes for Behavioral Changes
Before diagnosing cognitive dysfunction, it is imperative to consult your veterinarian. Many medical conditions can mimic the signs of aging-related cognitive decline. These include:
- Arthritis and other pain-inducing conditions: Can lead to increased irritability and a reluctance to be touched.
- Dental disease: Can cause discomfort and affect eating habits.
- Hypothyroidism: Can impact metabolism and energy levels.
- Cancer: Various forms can cause pain, discomfort, and behavioral changes.
- Impaired sight or hearing: Directly affects a dog’s awareness and ability to respond.
- Urinary tract disease: Can lead to increased frequency of elimination and incontinence.
- Cushing’s disease: Affects hormone levels and can cause a range of symptoms.
These medical issues can result in heightened sensitivity, anxiety, aggression (as a dog may threaten to avoid moving), decreased responsiveness to commands, and difficulty adapting to changes or reaching elimination areas. If medical problems are ruled out, and primary behavioral issues unrelated to aging are also excluded, then the observed changes are likely due to the effects of aging on the brain, diagnosed as cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction: The CRASH Acronym
Cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) in dogs presents with key signs that can be remembered using the acronym CRASH:
- Confusion/Disorientation
- Responsiveness/Recognition decreases
- Activity changes
- Sleep-wake cycle disturbances
- House training lapses
Veterinary treatment for CDS often involves the drug selegiline hydrochloride (Anipryl®), alongside other potential medications and supplements recommended by your vet. Combining drug therapy with behavioral modifications tailored to your dog’s specific issues is typically the most effective approach.
Managing Specific Geriatric Behavior Problems
Anxiety, Including Separation Anxiety
Senior dogs may exhibit increased sensitivity, fear of unfamiliar individuals or pets, decreased tolerance for touch, a heightened need for contact, and anxiety when left alone. Hearing loss can also exacerbate noise sensitivity, leading to more anxiety and vocalization. Your own frustration can unintentionally add to your dog’s distress.
Crating a senior dog can sometimes increase anxiety, especially if they are unaccustomed to it or find it uncomfortable, particularly if they experience incontinence. If a dog’s anxiety is triggered by your departure, it is classified as separation anxiety. Key indicators include pre-departure anxiety (pacing, panting), house soiling, destructiveness, or vocalization occurring shortly after you leave. A crucial diagnostic factor is that these behaviors manifest only in your absence. If they occur when you are home, other issues are likely at play.
A unique manifestation in geriatric separation anxiety can be nighttime anxiety, where the dog perceives your sleep as a form of separation. This can lead to restlessness and demands for attention, and it may signal an underlying medical issue requiring veterinary attention. Treatment involves addressing any underlying medical conditions and implementing a behavioral approach called desensitization and counterconditioning (DSCC). Modifying your own responses that might exacerbate your dog’s behavior is also beneficial. Pheromones and medications can aid in reducing anxiety and improving cognitive function. For more in-depth information, refer to resources on Separation Anxiety.
Excessive Vocalization
Excessive barking, howling, or whining in senior dogs can be problematic, especially if it occurs at inappropriate times. Anxious vocalizations might indicate separation anxiety if they happen only when you’re absent. If vocalizing occurs while you’re home, a behaviorist can help pinpoint the cause.
Potential contributors to vocalization include hearing loss, cognitive dysfunction, central nervous system disorders, or medical conditions causing pain or discomfort. Increased urges to eliminate, overeating, or seeking attention can also lead to vocalizing. Fear and anxiety stemming from noises or visitors can also trigger vocal responses. Punishing your dog for vocalizing can worsen anxiety.
Once underlying medical and cognitive issues are addressed, behavioral modification focuses on identifying and altering reinforcing owner responses. Training a “quiet” cue and rewarding silence can be effective. In some cases, non-shock bark collars (like citronella) may be considered. Medication can help if anxiety is the primary driver. Further details can be found in articles on Howling.
Restlessness and Nighttime Waking
Dogs that sleep more during the day may become restless at night, reacting to stimuli they previously ignored. Keeping a log can help identify triggers for nighttime activity.
Sensory decline, cognitive dysfunction, or other central nervous system disorders can disrupt sleep-wake cycles. A thorough veterinary examination is essential to rule out medical causes. Once medical issues are managed, retraining can help reestablish normal sleep patterns. Increasing daytime and evening activity through walks, play, training, and puzzle toys can promote better sleep. Your veterinarian may also discuss medications to induce sleep or promote daytime activity.
House Soiling
As with other behavioral issues, numerous medical problems can contribute to house soiling, including sensory decline, mobility issues, brain tumors, endocrine disorders, and conditions affecting bladder or bowel control. If house soiling occurs exclusively when you are away and is accompanied by other signs of separation anxiety, this diagnosis should be considered.
Changes in schedule or environment can also lead older dogs to soil indoors. Once an indoor spot becomes a preferred elimination area, it can be difficult to correct. Professional guidance from a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB, ACAAB), a veterinary behaviorist (Dip ACVB), or a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) is often necessary to determine the cause and develop an effective treatment plan. You can find professional help through resources like Finding Professional Behavior Help.
After medical issues are resolved (e.g., anxiety managed, pain reduced, incontinence treated), re-establishing house training using puppy-like methods is crucial. This includes close supervision, confinement when unsupervised, and a consistent outdoor potty schedule with rewards. Adjusting your schedule for more frequent outdoor trips or providing an indoor elimination area (potty pads, dog litter box) may be necessary.
Destructive Behavior
The underlying cause of destructive behavior in senior dogs must be identified for effective treatment. This can range from pica (ingesting non-food items) to excessive licking, chewing, scratching, or digging. A comprehensive medical and behavioral evaluation is essential. Cognitive dysfunction can play a role in licking, chewing, or pica. While treating underlying issues may help, environmental modifications and providing appropriate chew toys (bones, rawhides, food-stuffed toys) are also important.
Fears and Phobias
Sensory decline, cognitive dysfunction, and anxiety can contribute to new or intensified fears and phobias in senior dogs. Treatment begins with managing underlying medical and cognitive issues. Common fears include noises, thunderstorms, going outdoors, or specific room types. Your own frustrated reactions can exacerbate the problem, especially if punishment is involved. Keeping your dog away from triggers or masking noises can help. Behavioral modification techniques, guided by a CAAB or ACAAB, can help change your dog’s emotional response to fears. Veterinary advice on drug or pheromone therapy for panic and anxiety is also recommended.
Compulsive and Stereotypic Behaviors
These are repetitive behaviors with no apparent goal, such as excessive licking leading to self-injury, spinning, pacing, air biting, or staring at shadows. Medical conditions, including cognitive dysfunction, can contribute. Conflict or anxiety can also lead to displacement behaviors that become compulsive over time. Identifying and reducing sources of conflict or stress is key. Drug therapy is often necessary, but early intervention in resolving conflict may prevent the need for medication.
Aggression
Multiple factors can increase aggression in senior dogs, including medical conditions affecting appetite, mobility, cognition, senses, or hormones, as well as pain or irritability. Changes in family dynamics or the introduction of new pets can also trigger aggression. Increasing anxiety and sensitivity with age can lead to heightened aggression towards unfamiliar individuals and animals.
Effective treatment requires a diagnosis and determination of the cause. Consulting a qualified animal behavior expert (CAAB, ACAAB, or Dip ACVB) is recommended. Treatment will vary based on the type and cause of aggression and may include drug therapy, behavior modification (like desensitization and counterconditioning for fear-based aggression), or environmental management. Head halters can improve control and safety. For more information, consult resources on Aggression in Dogs.
The golden years of a dog’s life can present unique challenges, but with attentive observation, prompt veterinary care, and compassionate behavioral management, you can ensure your senior companion continues to thrive and enjoy their time with you.
