dog depression & behavior changes

Has anything been changed lately? New home, new diet, new anything?

14 years is very old and when he turns 15, I hate to say it, but he’ll be beyond the average life expectancy. It sounds to me like old age has caught up with him. When chasing a ball, it initiates a dog’s natural prey drive and they will chase after that ball as if he was a young pup, if he still loves doing so.

Not sure what you mean about him looking like he has just been beaten, I’ll take that as a sign that he just feels knackered and want’s to sleep, which of course is more than common. As for running till his hearts content, I’m afraid that those days are behind him, if he has athritis as well, which is ery common, he may even be in some mild pain when moving.

With regards to him ‘knowing he did wrong’, it’s actually a very big misconception. Dogs are more smarter than we give them credit for, if you are angry around him, he’ll pick up on your anger/disappointment by reading your scent and your body language and he’ll adopt a submissive attitude as an instinct to tell you that he means you no harm. Unfortunately this submissive behaviour makes the dog ‘look’ guilty and we assume it’s because he has done something wrong and ‘knows it’. Dogs have no concept of time and no dog has the ability to work things out logically such as relating something like eliminating on the kitchen floor with you being angry 20 minutes later. They pick up on your attitude before even you do by reading even the most subtlest body language movements to which he will react to.

As for diet, Cat food is not a good thing for him to eat as it can be lethal and it may even explain some of the behaviours he is showing.

Are you able to let us know more information with regards to how you deal with him in these situations?

I would recommend booking an appointment to the vet, simply because your dog is very much at the end of his natural life and geriatric dogs are renouned for developing behaviours that they have never displayed before. The vet will also be able to assess the behaviour better than most of us on the internet without the full picture.

Best of luck.

If you are anxious around him, it can have a knock-on effect for him, so try to remain positive around him. Cat food is high protein, which for healthy dogs, can be converted into extra energy, but with old dogs, it can be very harmful and it may be a source of the behavioural problems.

I would try to arrange an appointment with the vet tomorrow or on Monday, just for a check up to make sure he is okay. With regards to Chondroiten, I’m not 100% sure that’s safe for dogs and it’s not really a good idea to give dogs human medicine as their system works quite differently to ours, not to mention that dogs require a lot less and too many people give their dogs human-size doses. Consult the vet first, but I tend to always err on giving my dog anything other than an aspirin or paracetemol tablet.

All the best.

Just to clarify… it is dog chondroiten that I got from the vet a couple years ago… it really has seemed to help his stiffness… I will continue to concentrate on giving him happy vibes… I just want his last years to be happy as possible! And more patience would help in many aspects of life! =)

Dogs live extraordinarily emotional lives just like you have described.

When pets experience a sudden change, it upsets the balance in their lives, just as it does in ours.

You should try setting aside more time together for play..

If your dog isn’t bouncing back, and if she’s losing weight or acting generally unresponsive to play and activity, it’s time for a checkup with the vet, who may run some blood work to be sure there’s not an underlying medical condition.

http://dogtime.com/depression.html

goodluck…