British Bulldog defecating in the house

Question
I have a 10 year old British bulldog that has been a great family dog. In the last 3-4 months his behaviour is changing. He has only ever been allowed on the main floor of the house. There are baby gates at both sets of stairs going up and downstairs. When we are at home he never challenges the barriers set so we could leave the gates down. when we leave the house we put the gates up. We walk him daily but in his old age he can only walk about 15 or 20 minutes and just lays down wherever we are. Recently he goes upstairs or downstairs the minute we are not watching him so we keep the gates up all the time. If we forget, he immediately runs down and either pees or poops on the carpet. We put him outside many, many times a day. If it is a nice day(not too hot, not too cold) we will leave him out for a couple hours at a time. When he is out there he barks at a slow monotonous pace at absolutely nothing. When we try to bring him in, he takes off. This has all started just recently. He is fed at the same times every day - 1 scoop in the morning and 2 at supper time. He gets walked at night and is put out for about an hour before bed(11pm)and has been pooping in the kitchen every couple nights. We have had it. There have been no changes in our family, our home, our jobs, our cars, our furniture, nothing. He has several toys and a blanket - we cant give him a dog bed because he pulls all of the insides out and trys to eat it. My husband is home all day so the dog isn't left alone or crated. Is it possible that he is becoming senile? I am ready to have him put down. I feel that my house has become a giant litter box for him. I am angry and resentful so I don't want to spend time with him. I am sure this just makes things worse. It is so hard at this age because you can no longer do any of the things you like to do with your dog. He isn't able to walk very far, he can't play longer than about 10 minutes and he sleeps about 20 hours a day. In his 4 waking hours he finds time to defecate somewhere in the house. He knows enough to do it when we are not looking. FYI - he does not whine or bark to go outside at night which he used to do on the occasions he needed to go outside at night. I know this is extremely long but I am trying to make a really difficult decision and am at my wits end. Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

Answer
Dogs do certainly suffer from Dementia in their old age.

There is also the consideration it is a medical problem, due to age.

Loss of Hearing and Sight and Smell also occur with age.

Any one or all of these thing explain your dogs change in behaviour.

As your Husband is home all day,I would say he should keep a closer eye for the need for potty breaks, looking for the sniffing and circling routine.  Use a Crate or Pen, when he can not be watched closely.  Provide something with you scent for companionship and a radio on a news channel, for companionship of a human voice when he is left alone.  Put the baby gates back up.  Use proper cleaning solutions for where he has had accidents to ensure removal of the scent he can smell.

Speak to your vet about changing the diet and testing for medical conditions.



I do not put my dogs to sleep, just because they are old and showing signs of loss of memory

I only put my dogs to sleep if they are in pain and suffering.