Older dog- occasional odd behaviour

[scats]

My Great Dane x Husky will be 11 in May. We rescued her at 4-months and she’s an incredible dog.
She’s extremely fit and healthy and is regularly mistaken for a younger dog. People can’t believe she is the age she is when she’s out running round at the shore (she has 2 walks a day and one of those is at least one hour off lead at the shore everyday with our young dogs)

Over the last few months, however, I have noticed some strange behaviour in the house. She only ever used to wake me up in the night if she had a bad tummy. She sleeps in the kitchen and would bang the door. However, she has started waking me up at random times and when I let her out, she just sort of wanders around the garden, quite happily, sniffing things, sniffing the air etc. She has always been a dog who barks at passers-by (we are a corner house) and is quite vocal in general, but it’s always been for a reason. Ie. Someone walks by, knock at the door etc. Recently I have noticed that she will just sit in the house and randomly bark. It’s not frantic barking at something in particular that I know requires attention, but a steady “woof... woof...woof”, sometimes quite quietly. When I go to see what she barking at, she’ll just be sat in the middle of the room. She also does this in the garden when there is nothing to bark at. Its not the same bark that she does to tell me someone is walking past. Also, she sometimes won’t settle down in the house. Only for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. She’ll just sit and stare at me and look quite worried/unsettled, despite their being nothing obviously wrong and it being a time she would normally be chilling out. Then she will suddenly seem to snap out of it and go and settle down as normal.
Her appetite is fine, she doesn’t seem disoriented in the house or confused and when she is out on her walks she is totally switched on and interacts well with other dogs, as she always has. She plays well in the house with our younger dogs and loves them, I’ve not noticed any change in her behaviour towards them, if anything, she is becoming more tolerant of the very young dog.

I am going to take her to the vet for a check up, but I don’t think physically there is anything wrong. Could this just be normal old-age behaviour? I’ve been googling dog dementia but I’m not sure she is exhibiting the symptoms of that.

 

[meleeka]

Could she be going a bit deaf? That’s the only thing I can think of as my old Spaniel did this and we knew she didn’t hear as well as she used to.

 

[Clodagh]

Sounds like dementia? I think they can have drugs that help.

 

[planete]

I am afraid it could be dog dementia. Our Border terrier exhibited the same symptoms at the beginning even though he was physically healthy. Well worth having him checked as it could be something else though and some medication may help with dementia.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I'm sorry, I don't have anything constructive to add to the thread, but would you be happy to post a photo of her? That's such an interesting mix of breeds, and something I haven't seen before.

 

[Parrotperson]

yes agreed to all. going deaf or getting early dementia either way off to the vet I'm afraid

 

[deb_l222]

Yes, a vet check is probably wise but experience tells me they do start to do some bonkers things as they get older and it’s just an old age ‘thing’ and not necessarily anything to worry about.

One of mine (Button) is the most easy going dog you will ever meet both with other dogs and people. She has however taken to barking at dogs. Nothing particularly aggressive, just a ‘woof, woof’ in a very deep voice. This coincided with her cataracts so to me at least, it’s a defence thing.

I’ve had one or two that have randomly wandered into the garden and just admired the view but shown no other signs of confusion. No idea what that is.

Button sometimes won’t settle for long at night. She can be asleep all day but nighttime comes and she’s wanting to go out every 20 minutes for a sniff. It is annoying, especially in this weather but if I don’t indulge her, she just paces.

She’s just had a clean bill of health (as clean as it can be for her age) so I don’t worry too much. Something will come along to end her days soon enough so we live every day as it comes

 

[Stiff Knees]

Our 13 year old Labrador, Jake, is definitely more vocal since going deaf. Another of our Labradors, Spot, had dementia and would wake at all hours, she was on Vitofylline which helps with blood flow to the brain, I think it is also marketed as Vivitonin, I'd recommend it as it did help her. She also had vacant moments and then all of a sudden she'd be back in the room. She was less likely to behave this way when out for a walk as she was engaged and active which kept her brain ticking over. Anxiety is also a common thing with doggy dementia so your girl has all the symptoms that Spot had when she was diagnosed. ??

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I’m not sure there’s much you can do with dementia, there’s no medication that helps, ime.

 

[scats]

Thanks everyone. I don’t think she’s deaf, although I imagine she’s probably lost some hearing with age, but a few things recently have made me see that she is very aware of even quite minor noise.
She had a fantastic walk this morning at the shore, ran around like a loony and then slept all day as normal before her evening walk. Had her tea and is now doing her ‘looking lost’ act. She just sits in a strange place and looks at me weirdly.
I’ll give the vet a ring tomorrow. I always thought it would be her body that would catch up with her as she’s a big dog. It breaks my heart to think she might be confused or starting to feel confused.
Just had a lie on the floor with her and a cuddle. I love her so much.

 

[Aru]

Could be canine cognitive dysfunction. Not quite the same as dementia in humans but lots of similarities including sundowning.
There's plenty of other issues so similar changes though so worth a check over before assuming that its just old age change.

If the vet thinks its likely early-onset doggy dementia this is an excellent article on the condition and tips to manage them.

https://www.k9ofmine.com/sundowners-syndrome-in-dogs/