Has been acting weird for several months now. She has gotten far more irrational about storms & pants heavily even when inside with us.

She has started trying to escape the yard. Over the last 2 months we have had to rebuild the fence 2 times and are going to have to rebuild another section very soon. She ate a six foot section. She never tries to run off, she eats the fence and gets on the front porch.

I have had (shudder) resort to chaining her while we are away to keep her in the yard. It's a 30 foot line and I move it every 2 days to give her different areas to sniff around. She of course comes in while we are home.

She has always been hard headed (she's lab & pit), but she isn't even motivated by snacks these days so she has been really naughty.

I am worried she might be getting senile. Do dogs get senile? I worry that she being the mix she is she may hurt someone if dogs can go senile. I love her very much and when she is acting "normal" I think I must be loosing it, but then she turns around and does something crazy.

Oh I just don't know. Physically she is healthy she was at the vet not too long ago. She was friendly w/ all the dogs there except the dobie and the male dog that was in. She was friendly with ALL the people.

Is there a mental test that can be done on a dog to check how they are funtioning? I love her so much, but I am so nervous that I am not doing what I should for her and for us. :(

Any thoughts? I am so at a loss :confused: .

Okay, this is what I mean about she is fine & then she's crazy.
For the last 2 days she has not even tried to escape the back yard, she has enjoyed being under the steps to the back porch or in the wooded areas. Last night she refused her food, but tried to steal Emma's food. She ended up only eating an egg. Now I know that dogs sometimes turn down a meal, but she didn't just turn down her meal she also tried to steal other food. LOL she gobbled breakfast (I knew she would, cheese was invloved & she loves! :kiss: cheese)

I know a lot of people suggest getting the thyroid tested, but I don't know anything about it really. More people should respond during the work week. Hope you get it all figured out!

Is it possible to keep her in the house while you are away? This may be less stressful for her. There is a condition in older dogs known as "cognitive dysfunction syndrome", and at 11 it wouldn't be unusual for your girl to be showing some symtoms. I think a full geriatric blood panel is always a good idea.

Here's some further reading on CDS:

http://www.familiesfornaturalliving.org/ONSITE/render.php?currentObjId=3217

Good thoughts for you.

Is it possible to keep her in the house while you are away? This may be less stressful for her. There is a condition in older dogs known as "cognitive dysfunction syndrome", and at 11 it wouldn't be unusual for your girl to be showing some symtoms. I think a full geriatric blood panel is always a good idea.

Here's some further reading on CDS:

http://www.familiesfornaturalliving.org/ONSITE/render.php?currentObjId=3217

Good thoughts for you.

I added that to my favorites. I will need to re-read it, there was so much information in that article! Thank you so much. It will be a while before I can take her back to the vet as I just had to dump big bucks into fixing my van (my living) and need to catch back up if you know what I mean.
I do leave her in the house if I am only going to be gone a short while, but my husband and I know how destructive she can be if left alone in the hose for too long. I have (as of the last storm) started leaving her in the house while we are gone and it is to rain.

I will call my vet in the morning to find out how much that blood work will be so I know how long I have to save to get it done.

Thanks again for that link!

Good news, it's ot as expensive as I thought it would be, so I will be able to take her in about 2.5 weeks. I'll update after that.