Well, maybe not stumped, but looking for answers from this huge well of knowledge we have collected here.
In the last two weeks, Bear has developed some disturbing behaviors.
Bear is a 95 pound, 5 year old dog and considered a senior.
He's energetic, but will not do much with his engery since pulling his groin last year.
Recently, he'd gotten to where he wouldn't go to the bathroom until Jeremy was home from work.
J works nights.
Fast forward to earlier this week.
I keep a routine, pretty much never wavers, so he knows when his last potty opportunity will be every night.
Well, sometimes he goes, sometimes he doesn't, that was nothing new.
This time, he didn't go, and came downstairs in the middle and peed in front of the back door. He never gets up at night.
Off to the vet, it was time for a senior panel anyway.
She found nothing, said aside from being chunky, he's in great health.
More recently, he's gotten to where he will rarely use the bathroom unless you sit outside with him for 20-30 minutes and he's had 5 more accidents in the house.
After talking with his vet, her only suggestion was that he was perhaps losing muscle tone in his bladder.
Nothing around here has changed, I'm home all the time and he knows how to ask to go out, so I'm thinking her guess is probably correct.
Now then, what to do about it?
Should I treat him as a smaller dog with a smaller bladder, or should I treat him as a housebroken pup that doesn't quite have full muscle control?
In the last two weeks, Bear has developed some disturbing behaviors.
Bear is a 95 pound, 5 year old dog and considered a senior.
He's energetic, but will not do much with his engery since pulling his groin last year.
Recently, he'd gotten to where he wouldn't go to the bathroom until Jeremy was home from work.
J works nights.
Fast forward to earlier this week.
I keep a routine, pretty much never wavers, so he knows when his last potty opportunity will be every night.
Well, sometimes he goes, sometimes he doesn't, that was nothing new.
This time, he didn't go, and came downstairs in the middle and peed in front of the back door. He never gets up at night.
Off to the vet, it was time for a senior panel anyway.
She found nothing, said aside from being chunky, he's in great health.
More recently, he's gotten to where he will rarely use the bathroom unless you sit outside with him for 20-30 minutes and he's had 5 more accidents in the house.
After talking with his vet, her only suggestion was that he was perhaps losing muscle tone in his bladder.
Nothing around here has changed, I'm home all the time and he knows how to ask to go out, so I'm thinking her guess is probably correct.
Now then, what to do about it?
Should I treat him as a smaller dog with a smaller bladder, or should I treat him as a housebroken pup that doesn't quite have full muscle control?
