Dog dementia??

my husband gets up before me most mornings (ok every morning) and he takes Ben for his early walk. and he says alot of mornings Bens looking at him as if he dont know who he is.and a couple of times he,s actually growled at charlie. maybe hes made him jump i dont know.
charlie went away for a 2 days and 1 night and when he got back i thoight ben would be all happy to see him like he used to, but ben just totally ignored him. and he left it for a few days and then it clicked he knew who he was and made a fuss of him. but this is getting weird.
and now when hes out we have the selective hearing going on. he will only come to me if i ask if he wants his dinner,or a bikki.
vets checked him over,and other than itchy skin and his achey hips hes ok.
any ideas on this memory thing.

Sounds quite typical symptoms of Canine Cognitive Disorder. The doggy version of dementia, although it seldom becomes as bad as in humans, there are still the lapses as you describe. I believe that there is little that can be done, from a veterinary point of view, although there may have been some advances in this nowadays. Just a case of hang in there and be patient with your friend in their old age. Good luck.

Was just wondering,is it just with Charlie that Ben does this?
Maybe worth you getting up first,just to see what he does.
Fingers crossed for Ben,hope he's ok(( hugs))

Hi GM there are a number of medications available for CCD which work very well in many dogs. Vivitonin is one of them

Thank you Meg, i am not up to date with veterinary medicine, although I did say there may have been some advances. Glad you could help, sure Ben's Mum will be more than grateful too!

I gave my elderly collie conium mac which is homeopathic you could also try Baryta Carb.

My last Afghan Jenna became senile in the last six months of her life `(she was 14 1/2 yrs) She still recognised people but first thing in the morning if I didn't let her out quick when I got up she would just wee. She also had to be in the bathroom with me or she would scream the house down - no other room had that affect on her - and it was only me she did it for. The vet gave her vivitonin which helped a little but I just learned to cope with her. She never growled at anyone though.

Give Ben a gentle hug from me.

Tawney was on vivitonin for the last few months of her life, at first it worked really well and she was very nearly her old self again, but she did start deteriorating a few weeks before her death, it delayed the inevitable really and gave us slightly more time with her

ill make Ben an appointment at the vets.and see what they can do. im wondering if its the tramadol hes on. 200mg twice a day.
and my husband gets up really early. i have trouble getting out of bed due to the hurty bits.

thanks for the help all.