Having issues with our dogs - need advice

[wyoDreamer]

We have 2 dogs - a 14 year old setter and a 6 year old German Shepherd Dog. Recently, they both have developed "issues" and not the same issues, lol. I am at a loss of how to deal with them.

First off - Pete - the 14 year old setter. Pete came to us when he was 11 months old and has been a pretty good dog. He was house trained and left to sleep loose in the house along with our other dogs. He never had an accident in the house.
About 4 years ago, our Shepherd had sight issues and ended up on steroids. I didn't know he was peeing in the house for about 2 weeks - he hid it well. Pistol picked up the habit of peeing in the house at night, at that time. At that point, we started crating both dogs at night with no problems. Fast forward 3 years and Pistol starts waking up in the middle of the night and barking to go outside and go potty.
I get it, I am getting older too and need to get up in the night. However, he has decided now, that he does not want to sleep in his crate at all and barks and whines soon after the light goes off. As a result, we have been putting him outside when he fusses and he has been sleeping outside all night long. We find him on the porch, sleeping right in front of the door in the morning. They have a securely fenced yard.
Not so bad when it is 60 degrees out, but what do I do when it is in the low 30's or lower? Any advice on how to get him to sleep in his crate again? Or am I going to worry about him being out in the cold this winter?
The night-time routine has not changed - go outside to do their business while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Let the dogs back in and lock the door for the night. The dogs go right into their crates and wait for me to show up with their bed-time treats and close the doors. Turn off the lights and go upstairs to the bedroom. About the time I get upstairs and ready to climb into bed, the howling and whining starts.
Vet says he is very healthy for his age, but is an old dog. Pete sleeps alot now adays. One thing that has changed is that Pete seems to have gone deaf or really hard of hearing at least. I tried letting him fuss until he went to sleep - well, no sleep for anyone, he barked all night long - 6 hours total before I finally threw him outside. The dogs have a huge dog house to sleep in, but it is not heated. He will sleep in there when it is raining.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

We have 2 dogs - a 14 year old setter and a 6 year old German Shepherd Dog. Recently, they both have developed "issues" and not the same issues, lol. I am at a loss of how to deal with them.

First off - Pete - the 14 year old setter. Pete came to us when he was 11 months old and has been a pretty good dog. He was house trained and left to sleep loose in the house along with our other dogs. He never had an accident in the house.
About 4 years ago, our Shepherd had sight issues and ended up on steroids. I didn't know he was peeing in the house for about 2 weeks - he hid it well. Pistol picked up the habit of peeing in the house at night, at that time. At that point, we started crating both dogs at night with no problems. Fast forward 3 years and Pistol starts waking up in the middle of the night and barking to go outside and go potty.
I get it, I am getting older too and need to get up in the night. However, he has decided now, that he does not want to sleep in his crate at all and barks and whines soon after the light goes off. As a result, we have been putting him outside when he fusses and he has been sleeping outside all night long. We find him on the porch, sleeping right in front of the door in the morning. They have a securely fenced yard.
Not so bad when it is 60 degrees out, but what do I do when it is in the low 30's or lower? Any advice on how to get him to sleep in his crate again? Or am I going to worry about him being out in the cold this winter?
The night-time routine has not changed - go outside to do their business while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Let the dogs back in and lock the door for the night. The dogs go right into their crates and wait for me to show up with their bed-time treats and close the doors. Turn off the lights and go upstairs to the bedroom. About the time I get upstairs and ready to climb into bed, the howling and whining starts.
Vet says he is very healthy for his age, but is an old dog. Pete sleeps alot now adays. One thing that has changed is that Pete seems to have gone deaf or really hard of hearing at least. I tried letting him fuss until he went to sleep - well, no sleep for anyone, he barked all night long - 6 hours total before I finally threw him outside. The dogs have a huge dog house to sleep in, but it is not heated. He will sleep in there when it is raining.

Older dogs can get very confused when they're getting up there in age. When our dog Coal was nearing the end, he was very confused and often wandered around barking at walls, and just inanimate objects. He also frequently peed and had no control towards the end (how we knew it was time).

It's not really a behavioral thing you can fix at this point. He's likely just struggling with age. It isn't something bad. He's likely confused, scared and doesn't really know what's going on anymore.

You can look into getting him a belly band (diaper for male dogs) and letting him sleep with you so he feels comforted.

Also side note: Steroids increase the need to pee in dogs and can cause them to pee without them knowing they're doing it. You may want to bring it up with your vet.

 

[wyoDreamer]

@RosemaryDuck Thank you for the response. And what you wrote is pretty much what I was afraid was happening.
Pete does have some moments where he seems lost and confused - luckily not very often so far. He does sleep most of the time in the house, just not willing to sleep in his crate. Our bedrooms are upstairs and he has bad hips, so no go on taking him to the bedroom for him to sleep with us. I may try moving his crate next to our German Shepherd's crate, so he knows he is not alone at night. I guess he will be sleeping outside - we have a heated dog pad out there, but he doesn't use it.

 

[LaFleche]

We have 2 dogs - a 14 year old setter and a 6 year old German Shepherd Dog. Recently, they both have developed "issues" and not the same issues, lol. I am at a loss of how to deal with them.

First off - Pete - the 14 year old setter. Pete came to us when he was 11 months old and has been a pretty good dog. He was house trained and left to sleep loose in the house along with our other dogs. He never had an accident in the house.
About 4 years ago, our Shepherd had sight issues and ended up on steroids. I didn't know he was peeing in the house for about 2 weeks - he hid it well. Pistol picked up the habit of peeing in the house at night, at that time. At that point, we started crating both dogs at night with no problems. Fast forward 3 years and Pistol starts waking up in the middle of the night and barking to go outside and go potty.
I get it, I am getting older too and need to get up in the night. However, he has decided now, that he does not want to sleep in his crate at all and barks and whines soon after the light goes off. As a result, we have been putting him outside when he fusses and he has been sleeping outside all night long. We find him on the porch, sleeping right in front of the door in the morning. They have a securely fenced yard.
Not so bad when it is 60 degrees out, but what do I do when it is in the low 30's or lower? Any advice on how to get him to sleep in his crate again? Or am I going to worry about him being out in the cold this winter?
The night-time routine has not changed - go outside to do their business while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Let the dogs back in and lock the door for the night. The dogs go right into their crates and wait for me to show up with their bed-time treats and close the doors. Turn off the lights and go upstairs to the bedroom. About the time I get upstairs and ready to climb into bed, the howling and whining starts.
Vet says he is very healthy for his age, but is an old dog. Pete sleeps alot now adays. One thing that has changed is that Pete seems to have gone deaf or really hard of hearing at least. I tried letting him fuss until he went to sleep - well, no sleep for anyone, he barked all night long - 6 hours total before I finally threw him outside. The dogs have a huge dog house to sleep in, but it is not heated. He will sleep in there when it is raining.

This seems like old age dementia to me. I have seen it happen with some of my own dogs and had to let them out several times at night because they could not hold it any longer. But they did not whine as they sleep/slept in my bed room, so they did not get scared despite their loss of hearing and eyesight.

 

[LaFleche]

Pete does have some moments where he seems lost and confused - luckily not very often so far. He does sleep most of the time in the house, just not willing to sleep in his crate. Our bedrooms are upstairs and he has bad hips, so no go on taking him to the bedroom for him to sleep with us. I may try moving his crate next to our German Shepherd's crate, so he knows he is not alone at night. I guess he will be sleeping outside - we have a heated dog pad out there, but he doesn't use it.

Maybe consider sleeping downstairs on the couch for as long as he has left to live, which at 14 years of age might not be all that long. So he would not have to go into the crate but could sleep next to your makeshift bed and you would notice when he needs to be let out.
He might not want to got into the crate due to stiffness of joints/back or similar. Very old larger dogs have a hard time to ply themselves into crates, they prefer to sleep outstreched.

 

[wyoDreamer]

The issue has resolved itself. Rest in peace my sweet, old Pistol Pete.

He slept in his crate 2 nights this week, 2 nights he woke me up early (1 - 2 am) to go outside. This morning, he grabbed his green frog and played with that for a bit while I made his breakfast. It must have smelled pretty good because he danced for his breakfast and licked his bowl clean.

DH found him stretched out in the yard having massive seizures around 11 am.

I am going to miss that goofy dog.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

I am so sorry for your loss, wyoDreamer.

 

[Isadora]

The issue has resolved itself. Rest in peace my sweet, old Pistol Pete.

He slept in his crate 2 nights this week, 2 nights he woke me up early (1 - 2 am) to go outside. This morning, he grabbed his green frog and played with that for a bit while I made his breakfast. It must have smelled pretty good because he danced for his breakfast and licked his bowl clean.

DH found him stretched out in the yard having massive seizures around 11 am.

I am going to miss that goofy dog.

I'm so sorry.

 

[629522]

The issue has resolved itself. Rest in peace my sweet, old Pistol Pete.

He slept in his crate 2 nights this week, 2 nights he woke me up early (1 - 2 am) to go outside. This morning, he grabbed his green frog and played with that for a bit while I made his breakfast. It must have smelled pretty good because he danced for his breakfast and licked his bowl clean.

DH found him stretched out in the yard having massive seizures around 11 am.

I am going to miss that goofy dog.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I pray that your memories bring you comfort.

 

[LaFleche]

The issue has resolved itself. Rest in peace my sweet, old Pistol Pete.

He slept in his crate 2 nights this week, 2 nights he woke me up early (1 - 2 am) to go outside. This morning, he grabbed his green frog and played with that for a bit while I made his breakfast. It must have smelled pretty good because he danced for his breakfast and licked his bowl clean.

DH found him stretched out in the yard having massive seizures around 11 am.

I am going to miss that goofy dog.