My westie is 14 years old and in good health, albeit fairly deaf and a bit arthritic. He eats well and still enjoys his walks and the vet has said he still has a good quality of life. He has never been a particularly friendly dog and I have always been a bit tense if approached by strangers wanting to pet him or whatever.
Anyway recently my DD had one of her neighborhood friends in. She went through the porch (where his bed is) to get to the bathroom and he just jumped up and nipped her leg. She wasn't hurt thank goodness, we apologized profusely to her and her parents, luckily they were very nice about it. We thought perhaps he was asleep and she startled him and we decided in future visitors should use the upstairs loo. Anyway a couple of days later the same child came in the house with DD and he ran at her, snarling. I closed the door before he reached her but it looked like he was really going to go for her. She has been coming to our house most days for years, he has never minded her before. I am as sure as I can be that she has never teased or hurt him.
Other than this his behavior seems perfectly normal. He spends most of his time in bed so it's easy enough to keep him away from visitors, but just want a bit of advice really. Do dogs get aggressive when they get old? Is it enough to just keep visitors away from him, or is there something else we should do? I feel if we go to the vet for advice they might suggest having him pts. Any advice?
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The doghouse
Elderly dog advice
13 replies
Deadringer · 10/01/2020 22:24
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