calliecritturs
Posted : 7/23/2006 11:38:03 AM
My guess would be that he IS straining to hear and probably can't sort out what sounds he does hear (they'll hear certain pitches easier than others).
If he's having urine accidents he may have a UTI. Why not try giving him a cranberry capsule daily and see if it helps?
IF it's poop accidents - as they age the sensitivity decreases near the rectum so he may not even know he HAS to go. So rather than leaving it to his choosing, it's wise to add a 'schedule' and simply chase him outside at certain intervals and tell him TO go.
I've seen times when my old dogs literally would pass a tiny 'poop-let' - a little piece of poop - that will fall out while they're asleep and it doesn't even wake them. Then they'll wake up and think "huh?? how'd THAT get there!"
So making sure they are awake and go out at all the appropriate times like after eating -- and if you free feed DON'T -- put him on a scheduled mealtime so he can then go out right after, and then again about an hour after because eating will trigger the need to go! Make sure he DOES go out before bed and upon waking (even if it's just HIM who woke up -- when you see him awake after an old-dog nap, make him go out!)
She might also start to train him to 'track' a little bit -- put a bit of scent (like peppermint or some essential oil) on a tennis ball and then hide it under a towel and encourage him to 'find' it. Make a big deal out of it when he does. Take the object further away as he gains expertise -- but you can train him to use his nose INSTEAD of his ears. The nose doesn't 'dull' like the eyes and ears do and if you remind him to find things with his nose he'll likely take the cue and do that.
I had a deaf dog (a cocker who had both ears removed because of infections) who literally became SO astute with his nose that he was my guard dog! The other two would willingly follow him EVERY time because he was never wrong. One night he was adamant that there was something OUTSIDE and he kept 'pointing' to a place on the window about man-height (where someone would have been if they were outside on the driveway). AFter much investigation we turned on the lights desperate to find out what he was SO insistent about -- there was a TREE FROG on the window. He smelled it -- in fact, he smelled it from two rooms away!!
We could tell by his behavior it wasn't a severe 'threat' but just something he thought we oughta know about and we were about to think he was crazy. Then we finally found the tree frog and he was totally happy WE finally gotta clue!!!
If you see the dog lift his head in the air to sniff -- that's when they're using the Jacobsen's Organ -- that's an advance organ of scent and if he cocks his head AFTER sniffing the air he's probably doing a reality check to see if he 'hears' what he 'smells'.
Sometimes we have to help them adapt that way -- gating them off from certain places is not a bad option, and