Signs of Aging in Dogs: What to Watch For

The grey comes in around the muzzle and everyone notices, and it tells you almost nothing. Dogs grey early, late and unevenly, and a white face is not a medical finding.

The signs worth your attention are duller and easier to miss, because they arrive as things your dog quietly stops doing.

Start with what has been dropped

What did your dog do last year that he does not do now?

• The sofa, and the bed
• Jumping into the car
• Taking the stairs at speed instead of one at a time
• Meeting you at the door
• The second half of the walk

The AVMA names a common cause of activity change directly: arthritis. Most of its list of signs is not limping. Favouring a leg, walking stiffly, difficulty sitting down or standing up, sleeping more, resisting being touched or petted, playing less, and showing unusual aggression towards people or other pets.

Look at the last two. From the outside, a painful dog looks like a grumpy dog, which is how arthritis goes unnoticed for a year in a house full of people who love the animal, and why an aging dog who has become snappy deserves a pain assessment before he gets a behavior label.

Rule of thumb: A painful dog looks like a grumpy dog. Snappiness earns a pain assessment before it earns a behavior label.

The way he gets up is the most useful thing you can watch

Not the walk. The transition. Standing up from lying down, on a hard floor, after a long nap, is the moment that shows first and shows most.

Film it on your phone once a month, in the same room, from the same angle. You will not notice the change day to day, and you will absolutely notice it across three clips. It is also the most useful thing you can hand to a vet.

The stand-up after a nap, on a hard floor, is the moment to film once a month from the same angle.

The cognitive cluster

Physical change is one track. The other is the brain: the AVMA describes cognitive dysfunction, similar to senility in people, as a cause of behavior changes in older dogs.

Its list of common behavior changes in senior pets with cognitive dysfunction:

• Acting disoriented or confused
• Increased wandering
• Changes in sleep patterns
• House soiling
• Increased anxiety
• Increased barking
• Increased reaction to strange or loud sounds
• Increased aggressive or protective behavior
• Less interest in playing
• Repeating the same actions over and over
• Decreased response to voice commands
• Poorer memory and learning ability

It is a cluster, not a checklist, and one item on its own means little. Several items are also signs of something else entirely, which is why the AVMA notes the changes can seem contradictory, such as hearing loss alongside increased sensitivity to sounds.

The same sign, two lists

Several signs sit on both AVMA lists, which is why a vet has to sort them rather than you:

House soiling is the one that most often gets mishandled. It reads as a training failure, and it is on both the cognitive list and the medical one.

Remember: House soiling is a phone call, not a retraining project.

Sight, hearing and the quiet compensations

It is normal for dogs to lose some sight and hearing with age. The AVMA notes that a dog with poor eyesight or even blindness can still get around well in familiar surroundings, and advises against rearranging or adding furniture that could become an obstacle.

The same page has a piece of forward planning: teaching hand signals while a dog can still hear makes it far easier to communicate once hearing fades. If your dog is middle-aged and healthy, pair a hand signal with every cue he already knows, this year, while it costs you nothing. Our guide to recall at home works the same way with a visual marker added.

Weight, in either direction

Excess weight in a senior dog is linked by the AVMA to increased risk of arthritis, breathing difficulty, insulin resistance or diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, skin problems and cancer. Weight gain is the more common problem in senior dogs.

Sudden weight loss is the more urgent one; the AVMA is direct that it often means something is wrong. Either direction, if it happened quickly, is a call rather than a change of food.

What to do at home while you wait for the appointment

None of this is treatment. It removes the daily friction that makes everything look worse than it is.

• Traction. Runners along the routes he uses most; a two-by-six such as the TTelephant covers the hallway or the run to the water bowl, where the sliding starts.
• Access. A ramp or steps for the sofa, the bed and the car, so he is not choosing between a jump and giving up. Foam steps like the EHEYCIGA four-step suit a small dog who has lost confidence rather than strength; a big dog and a low sofa want the Pet Gear Easy Step II, two extra-deep steps at a six-inch rise; the car wants the PetSafe Happy Ride ramp, 62 inches long, folding in half.
• A better bed. Supportive, with a low side to step over. Our orthopedic bed picks are chosen for this stage; the JOYELF memory-foam bolster has the open front a stiff dog walks onto rather than over.
• Support for stairs. A lift or support harness such as the GingerLead sling turns a frightening staircase into a two-of-you job, and toe grips address the floor for a dog who is skating rather than struggling.
• Keep the brain working. Reduced play is on the cognitive list, so replace lost physical activity with mental work: a food puzzle asks nothing of the joints, and a snuffle mat like the AWOOF can be worked lying down. See brain games for senior dogs.

The AVMA itself names orthopedic beds, raised feeders, and stairs and ramps as changes that help an arthritic dog feel more comfortable: a rare case of gear advice and veterinary advice being the same sentence.

Write it down, then take it in

Keep a dated note on your phone: what you saw, which day, what he was doing.

What helps you see it, and what does not

What actually helps:

• Filming the stand-up once a month, same room, same angle
• Three dated lines a week on your phone
• Asking what he did last year that he does not do now

What tells you almost nothing:

• The grey muzzle
• Ten minutes at the vet, where adrenaline masks everything
• A description reconstructed from memory in the consulting room

What to ask your vet

• Is what I am seeing when he stands up consistent with pain, and can we do a pain assessment?
• Are these behavior changes worth investigating for cognitive dysfunction, or do they point somewhere else?
• Is his weight helping or hurting at this point?
• Given his size and breed, where is he in his expected lifespan?

If you are not sure whether your dog counts as a senior at all, when is a dog a senior covers where the line comes from, and the senior stage page has the rest of the picture.