[Dailydrool] demented dog sleeping through the night

[Valerie]

finally, commander Bo is sleeping through the night. several of you have written to me about your dogs with canine cognitive dysfunction (doggie dementia) having the same problem as Bo--waking up all through the night, roaming, and bArking randomly, keeping everyone awake. since we have finally conquered this problem, I wanted to share what we have done. I do not know which effort or combination of efforts has made the difference, since the efforts all overlap.

Here is what we have done:
1. Our vet put Bo on 30 mg. of Prozac and 5 mg. of Valium, taken at bedtime in a pill pocket. Bo weighs 54 pounds. alone, this helped but did not solve the problem, at least in the first few weeks, though it is possible that the cumulative effect by week 4 might be responsible.

2. we now leave all the lights on in the living room and kitchen and have a nightlight in the bedroom. Bo is 100% blind in one eye and about 80% blind in the other. Having the lights on seems to have made a big difference.

3. we changed Bo's mealtimes. He now gets two meals a day instead of three and a snack. Bo does NOT get breakfast. (We think he had learned to wake us up early in order to eat). Instead, his first meal is lunch. His second meal is at bedtime, followed by a walk. (This change also seems to have changed his need to poop time schedule from 5 AM to about 9AM)

4. As before, Bo wears diapers under his doggie jumpsuit, so although he needs to pee frequently, he does not need to go outside to do so.

5. Momslave, who is indisputably over attentive to the dogs needs was banished from the house for ten days. (actually she was helping a two legger on the mainland who was having surgery). Since there was no mom to appeal to about the new routines, they had to be accepted. Now that mom is home, she is scrupulously following the new protocols.

And Bo  is sleeping through the night. Hope tzHese ideas help others of you coping with the same doggie symptoms. aloha, Val