Older male getting ornery, crotchety

[kbbcoop]

My older male cairn Jake (12) has recently been getting really grouchy when he is sleeping. If my leg bumps him or anyone tries to move him he freaks out growling and snarling like he is thinking about biting, but he hasn't bit yet. I thought maybe something was physically wrong but any other time he is awake he is fine, still runs, "dances" for treats, gets on his hind legs, etc..seems really healthy. Is he just getting crotchety?

[arseovrteakettl]

My old dog Joey always got bent out of shape when feet under covers tried to move him around on the bed.  It was pretty dramatic.  It is the only aggressive thing he ever did, and it was all growl/snarl  but no bite.  Maybe this is the same thing that Jake is doing.

Edited January 9, 2014 by arseovrteakettl

[bradl]

Many, many things can go on with our older dogs. They often are beginning to go deaf and may also be seeing a lot less well than they used to, so they may startle more easily and may also tend to wake up in defensive mode (aka snarl first and ask questions later). The pain of arthritis and other ailments can also push them a bit closer to the edge of what they'll tolerate. So yeah, he may indeed be getting a bit more crotchety.

 

Often  a good idea to have some bloodwork and a good senior workup at the vet to make sure there's nothing acute taking place. 

[Idaho Cairns]

Blood work will not show pain associated with aging joints that very well may be stiffening up when the dog is asleep.  That would be my first suspect under the scenario you describe.  A good way to test it would be to give Jake a half aspirin or vet provided pain pill and then see if his reaction is the same when he is awakened--it could tell you if he is experiencing pain or just getting cranky with age.

[pkcrossley]

it is normal to expect older dogs to get a bit grumpy. any dog when disturbed while sleeping might be peeved about it --older dogs sleep more, so there is more chance of incurring their disfavor. i also noticed that when two of my dogs who lived to old age (18 and 17) got to be about jake's age, they became very protective of their space, and would warn off anybody reaching for them. it could be that eyesight is not great and they are not always clear about what is coming for them. if his hearing has declined he might not hear you coming and he could be surprised or alarmed by anybody reaching for him or touching him. but it is also likely that they have aches and pains and are wary of anybody touching or bumping them the wrong way. and it is also possibly just  attitude --terriers tend to be very protective of their space anyway, and as they age they may feel that they just don't have to put up with intrusions.

 

a basic wellness exam, including bloodwork and eye check, is certainly in order. if your dog has a problem with glaucoma, which would cause pain, you will want to treat it; cataracts you can shrug off. if he has specific joint pain he might need a cortisone shot or just an exercise regimen, but if he has sort of low-grade joint discomfort from arthritis there are cheap, safe pain meds for dogs that can really help. 

 

from your description it is likely that your dog will get a good report, and you might change your usual ways of interacting to compensate for his age: speak loudly to him when you approach him, only touch him after you are sure he sees you, and always be gentle and soothing when you do touch him. and don't let him intimidate you with his grumpiness. he is still a terrier and if he finds that he can rule the place by always being grumpy, he will catch on fast. keep interactions very frequent, but compensate for his age by making sure he can see and hear you and be very confident that you won't touch places that hurt or in a way that hurts.

[kbbcoop]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Jake has his vet appointment coming up anyways, so I will pass this all along and we shall go from there! 

[Autumn & Lola]

When the old one here gets ornery and crotchety, I usually just tell him to shut the hell up, or give him a firm smack on the butt or deny him treats. I dunno. Works on my husband.

[nclar0523]

Pain and sundowning are possibilities- funny I never thought that older dogs could sundown but people do so I guess that makes sense! with people you would orient them to their surroundings but I would think a quick correction is probably a dog equivalent to remind them what's going on.

[pkcrossley]

yes, dogs definitely sundown. in people and in dogs it is caused by a rise in pressure in the brain in relation to a rise in cortisol in the evening (it drops in the morning and stays low until evening). mild cases can be dealt with through patience or mild pain relievers (it is like a headache, but with confusion and mood problems), very severe cases may need steroids to reduce brain pressure. as in people, it can take form of anything from mild irritation and anxiety through extreme agitation and sort of craziness. lucky dogs and people just sleep through it and wake up in the morning after cortisol has dropped. 

[CoraBlu]

Mickey is a few months over 14 years old. He has always had a stubborn streak where he challenges me. Lately he has been doing that more often. I call him in for instance and he will look at me and go under the stairs to hide. I try to get him to come out and he is ready to bite me.  This is alarming. He just won't back down.  I relent. I go inside and grab a piece of cooked chicken and dangle it in front of him and that meets his approval.  What an event!  EVen going to work in the morning, there is a showdown at the OK Corral!

I would have been bitten and I am very concerned about the level of his aggression in his old age.

[CoraBlu]

It's like he is a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde dog!

[Sam I Am]

Have you had him checked out with your vet ? Senior blood work panel ?

[bradl]

Definitely start with a senior panel. That visit will also give a vet an opportunity to go over him physically and check for range of motion, tenderness and a few things that might be causing him enough pain to be self-protective. 

[pkcrossley]

congratulations on already getting mickey to an age that many of here would have loved to see our cairns attain. i'm sure he has plenty life left. as you see from the older comments here, there are a few things to check out, probably a few behaviors on your part to adjust (to compensate for possibly lower vision or hearing, or arthritic pain). i don't personally recommend allowing him to feel he can intimidate you, and i would suggest treating a bite threat the same way you would in a cairn of any age: possibly a harness with a short leash for a time, possibly oven mitts, possibly shunning. an elderly cairn is still 100 percent cairn.

i know in the mornings there is a rush that you can't do anything about. maybe use other opportunities during the day to reinforce some manners --maybe wait for his meals till you tell him he can eat, or take an extra walk together and remind him not to pull. i wouldn't recommend a lot of sitting (the usual politeness reminder) because it could unconfortable for him getting up and down. but something just to remind him that you are still you and he is still he. i would be disappointed in any cairn who did not try to exploit the "senior citizen" thing to the utmost. but we don't fall for that.

[Sam I Am]

I agree with PK that good manners should be paramount, but also  with age also comes medical conditions that can cause discomfort, and pain and other issues. A visit to your vet will rule out any medical issues and at that point a renewal in good manners can be reinforced.

I can only speak with my experience with Jock. He did have a liver disease (which can make dogs grumpy to begin with) but  a few years before he died he became increasingly grumpy when I picked him up at bed time to place him on my bed. He was also licking his front leg when he played and ran around. I assumed he was just getting on in years  and had a bit of arthritis but in his case he had a cancerous tumour growing on his sternum. So every time I picked him up, of course I would lift him up by his bottom and chest, he would snarl and no doubt was ready to take a chunk out of me. He never did, but I think only because of our incredible bond. I don't want to alarm you in anyway because I think Jock's medical issues were his alone, but he had every right to warn me that he was hurting. I never got after him and I am glad I didn't. 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Terrier lover

[Idaho Cairns]

" i don't personally recommend allowing him to feel he can intimidate you, and i would suggest treating a bite threat the same way you would in a cairn of any age: possibly a harness with a short leash for a time, possibly oven mitts, possibly shunning. an elderly cairn is still 100 percent cairn. "

I'm gonna second that good advice from Terrier Lover--Given the willfulness and intelligence of the Cairn, any quarter given will be quickly taken and turned into winning strategy by the dog.  Go to the local hardware store and grab some rough leather work gloves with the sturdy cuffs, we used to call them "railroad" gloves and then handle your little guy.  Trust me, giving in to a Cairn is a surrender that you might regret.
I wouldn't rough handle him because there might be some tenderness in those joints but I would sure get him out in the open doing your bidding.

[CoraBlu]

The vet said Mickey has cataracts!  That may be the reason for his grumpy and aggressive behavior.

[Hillscreek]

Very likely.

[CoraBlu]

Mickey is now officially 14 1/2.  I see his inevitable decline and my heart pounds with dread. 

[hheldorfer]

Poor Mickey.  It's no wonder that he's been grumpy.  Failing eyesight makes life a lot harder for him.

[sanford]

Along with some others here, I'm guessing that grumpiness is possibly a result of failing vision and/or hearing. (At least that was true in the case of Carrington at 15 yrs). I assume you are doing what I always did... handling him very gently and softly to avoid suddenly startling him... reaching out to lightly touch his fur before making further contact, and putting a hand under his nose to smell. This seemed to work for us.

Edited June 28, 2017 by sanford

[pkcrossley]

cataracts could certainly make for a grumpy guy. i expect you've had him checked for glaucoma, which unlike cataracts can be painful and make a guy REALLY grumpy without treatment. low vision could be frustrating. if you typically toss things like balls or treats, he won't know exactly where they went and may be worried that somebody or other will get to them before he does. he may feel he is being sneaked up on if you don't speak to him before you touch him. and he may have a general sense of being at a disadvantage because of not seeing well, and no cairn will take that gladly.

old age is never very nice to meditate on, but for any dog or person it is better than the alternative. plenty of us here can testify to that. it is a pleasure to provide a safe and enjoyable old age for anybody. if mickey is otherwise in good health except for a few old man things (arthritis, a few missing teeth, or less endurance), i would suggest that you treat him as you might a blind or nearly blind dog. having had two of them, i would point out:

--no dogs are as good as humans at adjusting their eyes when going from bright light to relative dark or vice versa. make sure that your entryway to the house is clear of obstacles or a lot of steps and if possible make the transitions gradual by walking through a porch or other covered but open space. most important: shouldn't be things just inside the door that a guy can run into or trip over.

--give him treats at a regular spot that he understands. it can be a bowl that he can find, or --if you trust him-- right between his front paws. he will probably be anxious and impatient if he has to look around for nice things. 

--do everything you can to make things predictable. 

--he probably has to learn to accept help. there is no reason why he should be happy about this at first. i would suggest getting him a good padded harness with a handle (ruffwear is ideal but there are several others) and get him to understand that you might grab the handle to lead him or lift him (either with the handle or the leash). eventually he will develop some kind of signal to you that he wants you to help him. he might sit at your feet and look at you, or look at whatever he wants help with and pant, but if you are attentive you will eventually notice that he understands that it is nice to be helped sometimes. it should give him the sense that he has more control, not less, because he can ask for help with anything he not confident about. 

you've done a fabulous job with mickey, by the way. he knows that. 

[sanford]

This might or might not be relevant to Mickey, but it would apply to blind, or limited vision dogs in general:

I just recalled something I had seen at the dog park a while ago - a dog was wearing a vest that said "blind" and there was a thin wire hoop attached, which formed a sort of protective halo in front of his nose and around his head to protect him from bumping into things, (like the benches or the perimeter fence of the dog run). Of course, this probably isn't needed when walking on the leash, but the dog was off-leash inside the run. He seemed quite adjusted to it, was free to roam, and the other pooches paid no notice.

I hope I see the owner again. I'd like to question her and get more info. For example: What is this device called? Was the dog able to easily adjust to wearing it?

[sanford]

8 hours ago, hheldorfer said:

Poor Mickey.  It's no wonder that he's been grumpy.  Failing eyesight makes life a lot harder for him.

Grumpy, to be sure, but as to life being harder for Mickey - maybe not. I write this not to disagree with Helene, but only to report that I've been consistently impressed with how stoic our dogs are. Carrington for example, continued to be cheerful, despite bouts of grouchiness from hearing and vision loss, and others with infirmaries of all degrees, who maintained whatever level of interest and activity they were capable of, (like Dempsy)! Generally speaking, they seem to accept their lot, (better than I ever could) and the ones I've known remained in good spirits and involved with their families and with their own lives. 

My experience is limited so I hope I'm not just expressing wishful thinking in this regard, but I find my observations comforting, and hope the same for Helene and others here.

Edited June 28, 2017 by sanford

[CoraBlu]

Thank you to all that have offered their thoughts about my aging Cairn, Mickey. I found this site quite by accident and I know you will be a source of support. I love hearing about your senior Cairns too. 

Grumpy MIckey actually tried to play some frisbee yesterday. He made an attempt to shake it his mouth and prance about but quickly ran out of steam. I remember the endless chasing of ocean waves when we lived on the Maine coast. He would run back and forth on the shoreline trying to catch the breaking waves non stop for very long periods of time. He is a witness to my lifetime and I am witness to his. So many memories.