dog

Question
My dog is eleven years of age. She has slept inside basically all of her life. About a year ago ,there was a change in the house. since then she has been acting weird, phantom pregnancies.. etc... now she is peeing on the carpet and on my bath mat. She is outs.ide most of the day, but waits to be alone even for ten minutes while we leave the room, and pees. the smell is disgusting. What do i do? i dont let her inside at night anymore.


Answer
Hi Yolanda,

The first thing I would do is take her to the vet to be tested for a urinary tract infection. This will immediately rule out any physical problem she might be having.
She is getting up there in years and may be experiencing the very first signs of old age or dementia. A usually well trained and behaved dog will exhibit strange signs and behaviors like your expressing here. They pace, act strange, have "accidents", and are simply losing their abilities. If that is what it is, it's really quite sad to watch and she doesn't mean to be upsetting you. There are some medications that can help with this too, but again your veterinarian would have to be the one to diagnose that. She simply just might not be able "hold it" like she used to.  She might also be acting out when you leave her because she's afraid.
It is suspicious that this behavior started after the change in your house and could be the cause of it but usually by a year, the dog has adjusted to the change.
Bottom line, I would take her to the veterinarian and have her thoroughly checked out. He/she will definitely be able to improve the quality of both your lives with the correct diagnosis and medicine if necessary.
I wish you both the very best.
Take care
Carol