Need help with new nighttime behavior prob

flutterby0504 · 11-30-2006, 06:10 PM

My aging labrador (11 yrs old) has been acting strange for the last month, asking to be let out several times a night (and not always for the purpose of relieving himself).

As soon as he gets out, he takes off and will be gone for 30 or more minutes! He's mostly deaf so calling for him won't do any good and I am not going to go looking for him, the low temp last night was 4 below with snow on the ground.

I have tried interacting with him more when I get home from work, and my DH is home during the afternoons and he has been trying to get Max to go outside more, but all he wants to do when we try these things, is either come straight back inside or walk over to his bed and lay down. Yet he wants to go out at night!

Please help, if I don't get a decent night's sleep I'm gonna keel over at my desk!

blackgavotte · 11-30-2006, 07:17 PM

Get him checked by a vet first thing. He could have physical things going on at his age that are making him restless or just throwing off his usual schedule. The thing that made me cringe was you say he takes off ? An 11 year old lab who is mostly deaf, is very likely to end up killed by a car that he can't hear or move out of the way fast enough from, and his vision would not be the same as it was either. At the very least, at night especially, he should be kept on leash when he does have to go out.

flutterby0504 · 11-30-2006, 07:49 PM

Thanks for the thought about having him checked by the vet. He started this behavior just after his last annual visit, so I really didn't think to take him back.

Also about the taking off, we live at the end of a culdesac in a very small subdivision. There is virtually no nighttime traffic on our end as there is only three houses and ours is one of them. Plus we have a two acre fenced lot, so unless he has figured out some way to get out of the fence he is not in any danger, it's just that 2 acres is pretty dang big!

We are going to use the leash tonight to see if that helps.

Thanks for your insight.

blackgavotte · 11-30-2006, 08:50 PM

Thanks for the clarification ! Yes, I still wonder about things going on, like some arthritis, or teeth aching, or just old age aches and pains that may get to him more at night when all is quiet and maybe he stiffens up or whatever? Sometimes old dogs also develop some anxiety problems just out of the blue, the vet may want to give him some anti anxiety meds too, just for night time maybe, so everyone can get some sleep.

uptowndogs · 12-01-2006, 04:37 PM

flutterby, is he neutered? If not, is it possible there is a female in heat in your area that he is sensing out at night? This can definately make him run, even though his sight and hearing are failing, I'm sure his nose is as good as ever! I agree with the idea of leashing him. This will certainly keep him from running off. Good luck!

flutterby0504 · 12-04-2006, 09:20 AM

Well we think we got it figured out!! My oldest son hadn't been out to visit for a while with Tasha, his rott/lab mix. We thought maybe he was missing her (she used to live with us til 2 months ago) so we had her come visit 3 days in a row and now Max has seemed to settle down at night, as a matter of fact he has just been plain tuckered out at night from all the playing!

I did talk to the vet and on the off chance that his hips were bothering him, he had me give him aspirin as well. So all is well at our house and everyone is sleeping through the night! Thanks so much for your help!

P.S. uptowndogs - yep he's neutered and had been for years. Good thought though!

cshellenberger · 12-04-2006, 05:29 PM

Sounds like you might need to get him a new friend to play him out