older dog behavioral problems

[wolf nymph]

I have an older eskie named 'Wolfy', about 13 years old, who was never really trained aside from a couple of tricks and house training. My mother and I are usually away at work and school during the day, and wolfy spends more time alone than usual these days. The past five years or so he's been having major behavior issues. Before he lost his hearing, he would bark constantly, now he digs and scratches at the carpet, get's into everything he can eat (trash, plastic, carpet fizz, plants, even his own hair), and is in general a wierd acting dog. Since he's older, training him is difficult, and I can't spend hours and hours with him to do it. Does anyone have any tips about how to calm him down a bit, or help him with us being gone a lot? Thanks!

[Pit Chick]

Well, this may be a switch for the old fellow, but for his safety and your sanity you may want to start crating him when you aren't there to watch him or catch him misbehaving. He's not too old to learn new tricks, you don't have to spend hours trying to train him either. You really should only spend 30 minutes to an hour a day training cause any longer than that and he'll get board with it. You may want to try finding a trainer who knows how to teach dogs with hand signs. Using treats will be a big plus in traing him now, cause his eyes and knows work so he'll be focused on you and that treat. A good trick to start with is getting him to make eye contact. Get his attention with a treat by waving it in his face, but don't let him have it. When he's focused on that treat, bring it up to your face and with the same hand the treat is in, point to your eyes and say "eyes". He may not hear you, but he sees your mouth moving and giving a command. When you can keep his eyes focused on yours for a few seconds without him looking away, give him the treat. Make the focus time a little longer every time. This trick will help you with other obedience lessons when you need him to watch you give a command. Since he has lost his hearing, when you catch him doing something wrong, you can squirt him with water to get his attention. When he's chewing on things that are not his, trade that with something of his own like a favorite toy or chewy.

[Dixieland Dancer]

We're talking about a 13 year old veteran here. I would NOT start crate training him at this point of his life. That is provided he has never been crated before. And knowing he has no other training other than house training and a trick here or there, my goal would be to make him as comfortable and loved in his Senior years as possible.

Is it possible to baby crate a safe area of the house and make a comfy bedding area there also? You can make sure that any things he could destruct are put somewhere where he can't reach them or put in a different room from where he will be baby gated in.

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by Dixieland Dancer
We're talking about a 13 year old veteran here. I would NOT start crate training him at this point of his life.

I'm sure it wouldn't be an easy transition, but it can be done. I've rescued young and old dogs and managed to crate train them. And these are usually dogs that have lived their entire lives outside. I rescued a senior Dalmatian that had apparently been an outside dog all his life and he became very attached to his crate and would open the door to let himself in. If it means his safety, then there really isn't many other options. A wire crate would probably be easier because he'll still have a good view of the entire house and won't feel as closed in.

A baby gate is a good idea if it can be done in a safe room where he can't eat anything that isn't his.

[Dixieland Dancer]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
I've rescued young and old dogs and managed to crate train them. And these are usually dogs that have lived their entire lives outside. I rescued a senior Dalmatian that had apparently been an outside dog all his life and he became very attached to his crate and would open the door to let himself in.

In these cases it sounds like all the situations were for the better. If I was a dog who had to live outside all the time and someone brought me into a nice inside environment where I didn't have to put up with heat, cold, weather in general anymore, I would love a nice cozy crate. However, that is not the case here. I still say I would NOT crate train this dog at 13 years of age. I would make something else work. If however, all else is tried and nothing else works and the dog is in danger of hurting itself, then (and only then) would I consider a crate for this particular dog.

You can bring the dog to my doggie daycare center and I will watch him for you during the day!

[wolf nymph]

He has a crate which is only used if it's too cold in the garage. The garage area is nice and big with nothing he can get into within reach. He has a big old carpet which he can scratch up all he wants, an old un-used body pillow and his food and water. Only problem with that is it gets really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter, so his crate is used often.

I was thinking about moving that rug to the basement and putting fencing around it so he has a place with more natural light and less worries about tempurature. Problem is finding enough safe and not-too-expensive fencing material for the indoors. I'll check out hardware stores and pet places. Thanks for your advice everyone, I'll see how an improved dog-space can help him.

[jiena_drakon]

a not to costly sugestion for you would be to continue the garage thing and just get a personal heater/ac nice smal 1foot by 1 foot by three inches you can get them at wallmart or kmart for like $20 in the winter put it on warm and attatch it to his crate on the back side to blow warm air into the crate and block it off so he can not eat it with wood .. and winter time put it on ac to cool him off ...

now if you don't think this will work then you could go with a two inch tray you can build for under the crate that will not be accessable to the dog and you can put a heating blanket under that for winter and several ice packs under there in summer time.. either way or one will work... and this way no hastle in moveing him to an unfirmilier place...

[wolf nymph]

Those are some pretty good ideas as well! I'actually sure he'd be more comfortable in the house as opposed to the garage though, since he'll associate it with family and not being alone. He's usually by himself when he's in the garage (with the exception of my cat who gets curious about the garage every once in a blue moon). The heating pad or ice packs is a pretty good idea though. Being a thick-furred dog, I bet it'll really help him out in the summer. Thanks!

[jiena_drakon]

duh I'm a groomer I should have thought of this earlier.. but anyway you mentioned a thick furred dog.. one thing you could do is shave your dog down in the summer and turn it into a short haired lab lookin dog..hehe

[jiena_drakon]

about the cooling.. I found a cooling system spicificaly made for dogs and kennels it runs on batteries and also has an ac adapter to plug into the wall and all at a cheep price.. unforchantly this is just a cooling system.. you can find it at www.petedge.com item numbers are zwb11034, zwb11038, zwb11036,zwb11033