Change in reliability....anyone else had this happen?

[D'Elle]

From the time I adopted Jester at age 2, he always respected what was mine and what was his. He never chewed anything up, not even his own toys. Didn't chase or annoy the cat. Never messed in the house, never touched the garbage can, never damaged anything. He was 100% reliable left alone in the house for any number of hours. He was a perfect gentleman.

 

Suddenly, three years ago at the age of ten, this changed. He started chewing things up if left in the house. First, just plastic bags, so I made sure there were none he could reach. Then it was something else, and I dealt with that, but when he moved on to strewing the contents of the kitchen garbage can throughout the house I decided that he was no longer going to be reliable and started leaving him outside or in a crate. Last week, when left in a crate, he destroyed the crate and I came home to a house in utter chaos, so in the future he will simply have to be left outside whenever I leave.

 

I don't like this, as he is now 13 and aging, and if it is cold or raining I really hate to leave him to the elements. Fortunately, I live in a climate that never gets all that cold, and in the summer he stays cool in a hollow he dug under the shed - probably cooler than in the house, which I do not often air condition due to the cost.

 

When he changed, there had not been any changes in the household, and I had only the two dogs at that time, Jes and Kit, who had lived together for years at that point. They get along well; there were never any issues between them that I noticed, and my own schedule had not changed either. I never could figure out a precipitating cause for the change in his behavior.

 

Not asking for a solution to the problem, although I am certainly open to ideas if you have one. But wondering if any of you have ever experienced a similar change in a dog.

[Gideon's girl]

I had it happen with my epilepsy dog when he started seizuring. He went from being Mister Perfect to Mister Gets-into-everything. And I had it happen with an old cat that we chalked up to senility. My JRT can be completely trustworthy for a year and then all of a sudden start getting into everything for a while so we have to start crating her, then she'll be good for a year again, but she has always done that. I think of it as a terrier thing.

 

I know someone that had their dog do the same due to a brain tumor.

[Shetlander]

This spring, as Quinn approached his 9th birthday, he began showing a number of behavior changes including separation anxiety and destructive chewing. Before, he was perfect in the house. I ended up crating him to prevent further destructive behaviors and asked the vet to run labs. Low B 12 and folate showed up, indicating small intestine disease and a possible cause of behavior changes. I started him on B 12 shots and then also folic acid. Not sure if there he'd now be ok loose in the house when I leave because he suffered a serious spine injury in July (2014 has not been a great dog year for us), requiring extended crate rest. I worry about leaving him uncrated all day when I am at work, so he is still in a roomy crate with an ortho bed. I can't say if the separation anxiety has improved or not.

 

Sorry to hear about Jester's issues. At least the yard works for him, though not what you would prefer. Would some sort of shelter help with the more extreme weather conditions?

[D'Elle]

It never occurred to me it could be a brain tumor. But I doubt that at this point, since it started over 3 years ago and otherwise he is fine. In fact, if you didn't look too closely at his teeth and eyes and just saw him chasing and catching a frisbee, you'd never guess he is 13.

 

As for shelter, I doubt that anything would be much better than his under-the-shed hollow. I thought of building him a dog house but I don't know if he would use it, as he is used to the shed hollow.

He's never out when the temperatures are genuinely cold. It only freezes a few times a winter here, and only at night, when he is, of course, inside. Summer....well, it's hot in the house and hot outside. I suspect he may be more comfortable outside under the shed dug into the ground than the other dogs are in the non-air conditioned house with just a fan going.

 

I am not a fan of leaving a dog outside when I am not home, and would not dream of it with the small dogs.

But in this case I don't think I have a choice.

[Shetlander]

Doesn't sound like a lot of options, for sure. :-/

[Gideon's girl]

No, if it was a brain tumor, you would know by now.

[jvw]

Not the same behaviors at all but my old gal got strange about a year ago. I now have her on melatonin 3 mg and she's normalized dramatically

[sjones]

I've had several old gals throught the years, some did things that they would never have done in their younger years and some no problems. Maggie, my heeler/aussie was perfect from the first day I got her. Super easy to house train, the only thing she ever chewed as a pup was the corner of my James Heriot book, never counter surfed or went through the garbage. When she was probably 11 or 12 it seemed like she figured she was older and could do what she wanted. She stole some really tasty cinnamon raisin bred off the counter ( I only got one piece). Little things like that shocked me since she never had done that in her life, but lesson learned on my part not to having food on the counter in reach of a smart dog. I haven't experienced the major changes like you have, but I suppose each dog is different. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have some blood work done, just to rule out any health issues.

 

Samantha

[Root Beer]

Not to that extreme, but Speedy changed some in the last couple years of his life. Sometimes I would walk into a room and find him standing there, looking like he thought he was doing something, but he wasn't - he was just standing there. He started licking the floor and anything metal - not obsessively (I could break him out of it easily), but intently. He needed to be on a leash to be focused during a Freestyle performance, but if he was on leash he was spot on.

 

And then, of course he started eating inappropriate things in a way he hadn't even done as a puppy, which ultimately led to his death.

 

Something was obviously not computing in his brain anymore.

[Maralynn]

Missy, my never touch ANYTHING she wasn't supposed to dog, started counter surfing and raiding the trash around 11.

[KrisK]

About 6-8 months before Jazz died, his behaviour definitely changed. Like Missy, he never got into things he shouldn't have but then started counter surfing, once eating an entire loaf of bread. He also started licking the floors and I could not dissuade him from that.

[D'Elle]

Thanks for the replies. As I said, I am not asking for a solution, since I doubt that there is one - I just have to manage it. I have worried that when he is even older leaving him outside will not be good for him, but I plan just to try the crate option again in another few months or a year or so, because at some point he will probably become too old to break out of a crate.

 

And it is helpful to know that other people have seen similar changes in behavior in their dogs as they age. It is puzzling, because Jes was always such a perfect gentleman and I was so proud of him for that. But we all change as we age, and he is still a terrific dog, and I still love him.

[Shetlander]

Well, you and he have a workable solution so that is good. It is always something with dogs! Good thing they are so loveable and wonderful in most ways. :-)