Older Ddog, poor eyesight, losing hearing and barking

[crispinglovershighkick]

Our rescue lurcher is 10+ years old, he's always had poor vision (currently treated for high pressure in his eyes) and his hearing is going.

He follows me around the house barking. It's often playful, though the energy can get frantic and bossy.

He has little interest in toys, chews, bones, antlers, Kong etc.

He loves his LikiMat and he likes it when I hide treats in the garden, that occupies him for a while. It's as though he needs to be walking, sleeping, eating or barking, there's no happy busy or playful activity to occupy him in between.

He used to be exercised off-lead, which we had to stop because his recall has suffered, but even lots of running on the long lead doesn't reduce the barking, it's sometimes worse when he comes home tired after a long walk.

I've made a vet appointment and will contact the behaviourist we've used in the past for follow up but I wondered if anyone here had any thoughts.

Could you up the scent based training as that is one sense that you haven't mentioned he has lost.

So more hiding treats in the house or under pots. You mention he likes the likimat so have you tried a snuffle mat as well to hide dried treats.

Thanks that's a good idea, I hadn't thought of pots or snuffle mats. Going to get some frozen prawns in, that should keep him interested

Bitey pots were a great idea, it really deepened his focus.

That's good news. I think sniffing really does tire them out and they love using their nose.

It might be doggy dementia. My old terrier got it as she got older and so did my friend’s lab. Mine didn’t go barky but my friend’s did, would bark and bark for no apparent reason. If they’ve never done it before it might be worth thinking about.