My trouble is with my 10-year-old dachshund, Earl. I adopted him from a shelter last year. Besides Earl I have a 13-year-old female that’s been here for two years and two older male foster dogs that came in January. They are all dachshunds and everybody is spayed/neutered.

 

Earl is a friendly guy, but usually prefers to keep to himself. In the past three weeks or so Earl has started barking and running toward the foster dogs when they walk past him. They can be 10 feet away and just walking through the room or standing there and he will jump up and run barking toward them. The foster boys just keep on walking past or go the other way. He never does it to the old lady of the house or my prior male foster who was with us for five months, but he did do it with a female foster who went to her new home last week and an annoying young child who visited. I figure he is just protecting his space, but it seems to be getting worse and I’m not sure how to get him to relax and realize there is enough room for everybody.

Julie’s Answer:

Subject: Senior Dog barking at foster dogs.

Hi!
I am so glad you are enjoying reading about my solutions to other people’s questions! It’s wonderful to hear from people like you that are adopting senior dogs and also fostering! Thank you for all that you do!

As dogs age they can undergo physical changes that can affect them in different ways and even alter their behavior. Painful underlying medical conditions such as arthritis or dental problems can cause recent onset aggressive symptoms in senior dogs. A change of vision or hearing can cause different sensory problems that may also result in changes in behavior. Sometimes even decreased mobility can affect how a dog reacts to events. Because your dog also had a new issue with a child who may have gone past the limits of acceptable behavior towards your dog, it sounds as though there may be some physical or even mental changes going on due to his aging. You’ll need to discuss this with a good vet and see if there are treatment options to help make him more comfortable. If it does turn out to be a physical cause then you’ll have to watch for signs of stress and carefully monitor interactions with visitors and between the dogs. There may even be times your dog may be safer and happier to be given a quiet place to hang out that allows him to be away from some of the situations that make him feel stressed.

Other things to consider are that in homes with multiple dogs there is a pack structure where one dog is often more dominant and oftentimes it’s the dog that was there first, usually the older dog. But, as the dog ages, new, younger dogs come into the picture there can be dominance challenges. This may also be what you are seeing. You as the owner will have to become the dominant one and use strict control of who gets what and when while working with obedience as well with commands such as sits and down stays. Close supervision of the dogs may be necessary and separation when they are alone.