11 year old greyhound in constant state of alert

[Susie]

Our greyhound joined us in December last year, and quickly relaxed happily into our family. For the last few weeks however, he has become frightened of every little noise. He leaps up and runs into another room staring around in a confused way. He’s found a spot in the small office we have, and wants to be in there permanently, no longer interacting with us. He doesn’t even wait by my side while I’m cooking any more like he used to. Does anyone have any ideas? He’s 11 years old with arthritis, but still very fit and well, still enjoys walks, but it’s like he doesn’t want to be a part of family life in the house any more.

[Time4ANap]

Maybe something related to a dementia type illness or similar to Sundowner's Syndrome.  Is he up all night and agitated once it gets dark out? If so, check out Sundowner's syndrome in dogs. 

[KF_in_Georgia]

If he's hearing something that upsets him--humming machinery or something--there might be something in the office that masks the upsetting sound. Did the behavior change happen when you turned on the furnace?

[GreyPoopon]

Another possibility is some change in the environment that might seem trivial to you, but isn't to him. It could be scent (new detergent or air fresheners?), sound (construction nearby?), food, housemates (human or animal), almost anything ... It might not be an ongoing change either--if something happened to disturb him, he might remain on alert for a long time.

If I couldn't think of anything, I might have a vet exam and bloodwork done, in case there is a medical issue. 

I have a 13 year old whose behaviour suddenly changed in the spring--she would suddenly jump up and switch locations, she spent more time in her crate, and so on. In her case, the problem seemed to be pain. She went to the clinic 4 times and told 4 different stories about what hurt. She's now on a cocktail of pain meds and supplements. That, plus the cooler weather, and maybe time (perhaps she had a strain or nerve impingement that's healing) seems to have helped.

[greysmom]

If it started recently I'd suspect turning on the heat as an issue.

But second the vet visit for bloodwork, and especially a thyroid test.  Hormones can change drastically as they age, and a thyroid imbalance will cause anxiety in some dogs.  

I'd also try putting some putting some DAP diffusers around the house (and maybe a collar on the dog) to see if that helped at all.  He might need a short course of an antianxiety med to get him through this.

[Susie]

Thank you all for your helpful replies. 🙂 I took him to the vet yesterday and showed her some videos I’d taken so she could see his behaviour.

She thinks his hearing could be deteriorating and that noises aren’t sounding the same at the minute which he’s finding confusing. He had a good check over and there were no other problems, thank goodness.

I’ve got Yucalm to try out, a DAP collar, and we’ve moved his bed into a quieter room away from the hustle and bustle of the house. He’s starting to seem a bit happier already.

it’s very useful to know about slight changes upsetting greyhounds as now I’ve had a good think about this, there are quite a few things that have changed. Heat, as mentioned, which it turns out is quite noisy at night. Also, a new bread maker we put on at night which clacks for a couple of minutes quite noisily! He’s probably been petrified! 
 

Thank you again - what a useful website this is! 

 

[HeyRunDog]

14 hours ago, Susie said:

I’ve got Yucalm to try out, a DAP collar, and we’ve moved his bed into a quieter room away from the hustle and bustle of the house. He’s starting to seem a bit happier already.

I have found the Adaptil plug-in diffuser helps taking the edge off for Grace during the  November and New Year fireworks.

[cleptogrey]

look into http://www.senilife.com   and purina bright minds. both take at least a month to kick in. but it won't hurt- 

i've dealt w/ senility in older dogs and it sounds like what you are dealing w. it may not be at the stage where they are up and about all night before starting to keep you up.