Old grumpy dogs.

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littlen

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How normal is it for older dogs to get grumpier and grumpier?

I have a 10-11 year old large crossbreed who has become the most irritated dog on the planet.
He has always been aloof but happy enough to interact with other dogs. I have fostered hundreds of dogs over the years and he has never ever been aggressive to any of them, young old etc. I often used him as a stooge or comfort dog in his younger days for my aggressive rescue. He has raised kittens and puppies with me, that’s how gentle he has always been.

On walks now he has become geeky and even started humping any male he comes across.

At home he mostly wants to be left alone but has become snappy with my other two, growling every single time they walk past him even if they don’t go near him.
He has also started growling over toys and food which he never previously did.
He has also become short tempered when walking, growling if they bump into him.
He’s also growled at me a couple of times when I walk past.
He has never acted on any of his grumbling, warning snap at most.

I’ve tried walking him alone and also separating him from the others but he seems more miserable to be alone.

I’ve had him to the vets twice, he has mild arthritis of the hips and is on previcox/you move and also pardale for that. He does not appear painful when on the medication and can run like a puppy when he wants too. He happily plays ball etc on his own but won’t if the other dogs are around he just gets snappy.
His eyesight/hearing etc is also fine.

The vet seems to think this is age related grumpiness. If so is it normal for this to happen and is there much I can do about it?
 
Yep I totally agree with PAS - they don’t become grumpy in old age unless there is something causing them to be grumpy, and I would hazard a guess it is pain related.

I’d possibly try a different vet if the vet is the one telling you it’s ‘age related grumpiness’
 
Thanks both of you.

I will take him back, not sure where to start looking.
I’ve already had him xrayed hence I know about bhe hip dysplasia and he has a recently had a dental also so his teeth are perfect.

Where to start ?
 
My initial thoughts were it is likely to be pain related too. It might be worth thinking about something stronger for his arthritis and having an MOT done on him just to make sure there isn't anything else bothering him.
 
He's the canine equivalent of 70.
I hurt *now* and I've got a ways to go before I'm 70.
But I can say, I hurt here because a dog crashed into my knee, I hurt there because I tripped and broke a bone two years ago etc etc.
He can't tell you what hurts where. Letting him hoon about while medicated is just storing up problems for later...it will mask the pain, not cure or fix it.
He could have made a link between other dogs = hurts.
(Rationalise it...running with other dogs...pain...connects it to them being there)
 
I’ve rang the vets and made an appointment, I had a feeling something wasn’t right!

In the meantime I’m not sure how best too approach it. My other dogs are younger and stronger and very tolerant of his growling but I’m wondering if separating them is best.
 
Only one of my late bitches became a little bit grumpy when we got a new dog, she had a weakness in one of her back legs, and even though it shouldn't have caused pain, I think it made her feel more vulnerable, and sort of want to scare away the youngest dog before the youngest dog got any chance of trying to interact with her. But the youngest dog didn't want to interact with her, so she was told off for being grumpy when the young dog was only walking past her bed. After less than handful times, she just ignored the young dog.

But my other bitches, both late, and current, haven't gotten any grumpier when they got old. The part of your story that I find most troubling, is that he's also growled at you walking past him. I also find it odd that he have started to want to hump other dogs, when by the sound of it, it isn't something he's had a habit of doing before.

If it was me taking him to the veterinarian, I would start with a blood test, and with what CorvusCorax mentioned in #4, checking his eyes, and ears. You say that his eyesight, and hearing is okay, but maybe it is worth checking again. Perhaps he was just sleping so deeply that he didn't notice it was you that was coming, but it is also possible that he didn't see/hear that it was you coming to walk past him, instead of one of the other dogs.

If you can't find anything other than the ahtritis, perhaps try other medication, massage, stretching, and/or a new, comfier bed (that he'll probably refuse to use for weeks if he's anything like my ladies). Acupuncture, swimming etc.

**If they only could talk**
 
He has growled at me twice, both in the middle of the night when he was sleeping. I put this down to giving him a shock creeping around! He’s also barking more at noises, car doors etc.

My two youngest dogs play together and generally ignore him however he used to play with them and now won’t. I wasn’t sure if it was just the dynamics changing or if he was just getting older and couldn’t be bothered.
He will still happily play with a ball etc.

The humping is strange. He has never done it before but a few weeks ago we met a pair of entire males and he humped both. I presumed it was just entire dogs and ignored it however last week we met another and he did it again. The other dog wasn’t interacting with him particularly but again it was entire and my other two dogs were with us.

Him and my bitch used to rough play but she has become wary as he is going too far and hurting her so she has mainly taken to playing with the youngest dog instead.

He is still eating, drinking etc normally and wanting to play one on one with us but not really as a group but the pain thing makes a lot of sense if only I could find out what!
 
He is castrated and was already castrated at 11 months when I got him from rescue. I think he was done around 9 months old!
He’s never humped or shown an interest in bitches previously.

He shows no signs of dementia other than being a grump. He isn’t waking at random times or anything like that but I’ll mention it to the vet this week.

I was hoping he was just sick of us and some treats/positive reinforcement would work but I think it could be more difficult than that!
 
I was going to ask if he was neutered and if not, check the size of his knicky nacky noos but you've already confirmed he's not got any so my second thought is thyroid.

A blood test from the vet will confirm if his thyroid gland is not functioning as it should be. He could also just have a water infection, so take along a sample when you go. As with humans, UTIs in dogs cause all sorts of bizarre behaviour.

Good luck and I hope he gets on OK.
 
my lurcher who had always been an angel with all dogs got really aggressive when we came across a couple of terriers who were barking behind a chain link fence, she would normally have ignored them but really surprised me and i told her to behave, she was on the lead at the time, i didnt really think anymore about it but about a month later i took her to the vet as she didnt seem right (not chasing squirrels etc) and i thought maybe her heart murmer had got worse, vet checked her over and said heart is same as usual but she has arthritis in her hips, we tried pain relief which made her ill even though we tried a few and she was almost 13 and i PTS. dont underestimate how painful hip arthritis is, i know from my personal experience how painful it can be even if the x rays dont look that bad..
 
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