Why has my old girl decided that she can choose whether or not to listen to me?

[hiredandsqueak]

So Bella nearly 14 has always been a biddable dog until the last few weeks when she is acting like a stroppy adolescent. Her recall is usually perfect, today she left the park to make her own way home and ignored me shouting her although looked round so can hear me and eventually stopped when I shouted wait. I've learned my lesson so she will be back on a longline for a bit.
She has always waited for me to put her dish down and waited until told to eat, now she ignores that and is jumping up at me instead.
I have to put her lead on to let her out for a wee last thing as she refuses to go out and then refuses to come in if she is of a mind.
Basically anything that she has always done automatically for years she is now choosing for herself whether or not she will. I'm not used to it at all even ham and sausage don't always work and she would normally do anything for a bit of ham. Any ideas?

Sudden change in behaviour , I would be looking at a medical / physical cause. Is she in pain? Arthritis? Vet check ?

Has there been a change at home?

Having said that, a lot of what you have written applies to my elderly lab, who is getting quite stubborn in his dotage. If he decides we’ve had a long enough walk, he just turns and heads for home, generally by the shortest route available. He does have arthritis though so I generally just follow his lead.

Our 13.5 year Spaniel has become more and more grumpy as he has gotten older. Similar behaviour of ignoring us when he feels like it - although we believe he's going deaf so that doesn't help.
He didn't used to be reactive over food, but now he can be and scoffs some of his meals, and he begs for treats and food off our plates. He likes to stay in bed after we get up in the morning. And he gets grumpy if we don't get to bed at night at a time that suits him.
Just thought it's normal and due to his old age.

It can be doggy dementia altering their personality sometimes.

Yes. At 14, I'd be surprised if it wasn't.

I did wonder whether it was dementia, oh poor old girl. She is like a much yonger dog now in so far as she is currently tossing all the cushions off the sofa as is her new habit that she stares at me after each one daring me to comment makes me laugh especially because she was always so well behaved previously and wouldn't have thought of doing it. It makes me sad having to acknowledge she is getting old though.

It sounds like doggy dementia to me, too. Are you sure, though, that her hearing is ok? Just like humans, dogs’ hearing can deteriorate as they get older.

I'm as sure of the hearing as I can be, she certainly hears me open the fridge when she is in another room. She is due a check up next month so I will remember all these oddities and mention them to the vet.

Sounds to me like he’s is losing his hearing. There are probably other clues picked up regarding the fridge door but all the other things sound, to me, like hearing loss along with just general old age.

She, sorry.

The going home from a walk and not recalling would make me want to check her out for pain. Also trying to get comfy eg throwing cushions around may be a sign she is in discomfort.

Personally I would book a vet check before next month

Has she been spayed? If not, the cushion tossing might be phantom pregnancy or pyometra.

I wouldn't wait until next month to get her seen by the vet.

Me neither. She's elderly and acting strangely, she needs to be seen.

Yes been speyed, I will phone vet Monday and book her in hopefully it's nothing awful just growing old.

Our old dog started to get grumpy as he got to 13 or so. He was slowly going deaf and losing his sight but mainly on one side, so if you caught him unawares he would seriously grumble at you. It's possibly pain and / or going senile. Having a vet check won't do any harm and might bring your doggy some relief if they're starting to become uncomfortable or having pain.

Aw she sounds gorgeous even if she is acting oddly. I'm picturing her little face looking at you then just ignoring you.

Sounds like a dog we had years ago. Thought he'd gone selectively deaf. Turned out he'd gone legitimately deaf!

I really don't think she's deaf just from dinner time she recognises the engine sound of the van that delivers parcels, heard it pull up ( couldn't see it) and was barking at the door before they had got out the van. She heard the creak of ds's bedroom door and was stood on the chair arm next to where he sits ready to sit on his knee before he got downstairs. She was asleep when I called Bella wee wee, she looked up at first call but again didn't come to the door but did come in at first call to come in tonight but didn't last night. I'm pretty sure she hears me as she looks when I call she just chooses for herself whether or not to come to me. Hopefully some answers from the vet next week anyway..

Sounds like how doggy dementia first started in my WHT.
She had always been stubborn but would generally do as I asked even if it took a few attempts.
She started like this at about 12/3 and lived until nearly 17. I think that rather than ignoring me, she had 'forgotten' what the words meant, so rather than going "Uh, don't feel like doing that right now I'm going to do what I want" it was more "No idea what you're talking about there human, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing!" It does seem like they're just ignoring you sometimes and doing whatever they want, but I genuinely think (if a dog has dementia) that in the early stages they just forget what the command means for a few moments, they look and acknowledge but have not no idea in that moment what's being asked, so go back to whatever they were doing. Like a dog that's not been in training, they don't understand the direction.

There's medication available (I forget what it's called) it does have a fair treatment record apparently but unfortunately as my dog had other issues it didn't have much effect on her.

As others have said though, check everything else out first, pain & discomfort can cause a change in personality.