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Hi everyone.... I know I havent posted in a while, we have been crazy busy. I have still been reading posts just not posting myself....
George and Duncan are doing very well. Duncan is getting more loveable and floppier all the time. He seems to get prettier and prettier as each day passes. I promise to get a pic of him on here soon.

The advice I am looking for is about my dog Lady. She is a 10 1/2 year old cocker spaniel. She has alway been a fear biter so we have always had to be careful with her. There are a couple problems I am not sure how to handle other then isolating her Sad The first is her bladder. She seems to wet herself sometimes and not even realize it. At times she is just laying in it. She has always been the dog who will pee when you pet her but his is different. No infections has recently been checked by the vet. Because of this she has to be confined to the kitchen area with tile. She is also losing her hearing. Most times she seems to hear nothing but occasionally we think she might still hear a bit. The problem is she has snapped at the cats sometimes when they go by her. I know it is because she dosent hear them but it worries us so we have begun using a crate for her again. She has always had a crate as her "own space" so she really dosent mind it. So now we have to keep her in the kitchen and / or in the crate often. Now my concern is the other day when my daughter went to put her in the crate she bit my daughter. Now it wasnt a hearing thing she was looking right at her. I was really surprised. Over the past year she is snapping more and more. We can not brush her often cause she always tries to bite us. It used to be my 14 year old daughter who would mostly brush her but now she is afraid to.

I really do not like to isolate her and keep her in her crate but I dont know what else I can do??? I know these issues are probably due to age. ugh...just dont know what to do...
Vicky- From what you are describing, she seems to be exhibiting the same type of behavior our Springer Spaniel showed toward the end of her life. She lost control of her bladder at times, and snapped even at those she loved. She had lymes disease from 1980, that was not treated properly, (no one really knew about LD then)and was in pain for a variety of reasons at the end. She snapped because she was in pain, and confused, and just generally miserable. Maybe it hurts her to be touched and she is trying to let you know. What does your vet say?
last time she was at the vet she said the wetting was due to age. As far as we know she is not in any pain, tho I know not being able to hear is contributing to the snapping. However that was not the issue with her biting my daughter the other day. She has always wet with peeing and snapped out of fear but the vet always said that is just the breed.
Hi Vicky,
Are you sure Lady doesn't have cataracts?A vision loss could also result in the kind of startled reaction to bite.
I hate to even suggest this she is an old lady, but it is better then her biting someone and geting law suit..muzzle
there are some soft ones available that would allow her to eat and drink.
http://www.doctordog.com/store/ProductIn...tid=B3-354
I would all so talk to your vet maybe he has a magic pill in that black case of his.I would think he could put her on something to help relax her in her old age.
I would all so instruct children not to stick fingers or hands near her cage.Call Lady out of her cage as she may be protective of her space.
Let us know how things go with her.
Ps..Bugs me what your vet said,,, Any dog that is a fear bitter you can not blame on breed it is plane and simple bad lines bad breeder.A Cocker A well-bred Cocker is sweet, loyal, cheerful, playful, trustworthy.
Hi Vicky it's quite possible that Lady has Cushing's disease, have you noticed that her fur has got thinner anywhere? is she more tired than usual? Lady is still pretty young really, i insist that the vet checks out all possibilities especially since she has become snappier. If you want to ask any other questions feel free to email me or P.m me, so glad little Duncan has settled so well, he sounds like a doll, i've been a bit absent as well lately, spk to you soon and hugs to Lady xx
Hi Vicky,

I think you should call your vet and tell your vet about the bite. Maybe they will have suggestions for you. I hope things work out ok, please keep us posted.
Hi Vicky, grat to hear from you again, and good to hear that Duncan has settled well.

Has the possibility of senile dementia been discussed with your vet? I say this because Charlie, our terrier cross went senile when he was about 12 years old. This made him pee in the house, snap intermittently and generally seem a bit confused. He also had hearing and sight problems as he got older. Our vet gave him some tablets for the dementia and he did improve for quite some time finally having to be pts when he was almost 17 years old.

I know how you must feel, Lady must have been a part of your life some considerable time and it is heart-rending to see our pets grow old and infirm. What you ar doing so far seems to be the best for her, we had to confine Charlie to a room with a tiled floor but fortunately keeping the cats out of there wasn't a problem for us. If Lady is happy in her pen then don't worry about her being in there, she won't see it as a punishment, more as a safe haven.

Ask the vet about dementia, it's another possibility.
thanks everyone...
the dementia sounds like that may be it...
I tried calling the vet today but he got back to me while I was out. I think Im just gonna make her an appt.
I'll let you know how it goes...
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