I have a Rat Terrier, who just celebrated (with some Schwan's doggie ice cream) her 13th birthday.  She's a great dog, in remarkably good health, and is generally in good condition.  We have a pack of dogs - my fiancee's 7.5 year old Rat Terrier and my 7.5 year old Boston terrier.  All 3 are inside dogs.

She loves my fiancee, almost too much.  When she's around the house, my dog follows her like her shadow, and before bed each night, she loves on my fiancee. 

What the issue recently has been is that when she (Molly my Rat Terrier) wants my fiancee up, she sits & stares at her, and scratches at her until she gets up.  This can be several times a night.  She (the Rat Terrier) doesn't do it to me, unless she wants to go outside, which is infrequently. 

But, she'll paw & scratch & stare at her all night at times.  Consequently, she can't remember the last time she (my fiancee) slept through the night without being woke up by the dog. 

I've noticed that my Rat Terrier is a heavy sleeper during the day, but doesn't go to sleep at all once we get home in the evenings, and generally is attached to my fiancee the whole time she's around the house.  At night though, the dog is up & down like a yo-yo, going to get water, to check on her chewies, and whatever at several different times during the night.  She will sleep, just for shorter durations at night.  But never all night. 

As a result, we're both exhausted from lack of sleep.

The other two dogs though, will sleep through the night, most every night. 

One issue that may be part of it is that my fiancee's dog sometimes stays with a friend of hers for a week or so at a time, and we've noticed that the problem with my rat terrier's sleeping is worse the week the other rat terrier comes home.  They get along great with each other, and there are no issues I know of that they have in determining each other's place in the house.

It's been brought up that my rat terrier may have Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome, but she exhibits none of the other symptoms outside of the sleeping ones (Disorientation/Confusion, Interaction, or loss of house training).  There have been a couple of "accidents" but they have generally been when my dog knows it's raining and won't go out to do her business. 

The vet gave me some medication a while back for use when there are bad thunderstorms, and I only give her about 1/8 of a pill at a time - it knocks her out so much that she loses control of her bladder during the night, so I avoid that mostly at all costs.  A Benadryl helps, but I do not like to give her drugs just so I can sleep.

Does anyone know of anything that could be the issue here, or have any suggestions that wouldn't be intoxicating my dog to get her to sleep at night? 

Help!!!!!

To answer your question, yes, we both work. 

My fiancee owns a Gift & Gourmet food store, and usually is gone from 9:30 - 6:00 p.m. 6 days a week, and I have an 8-5 job every weekday, and close up for her when I get off my "regular" job.  We're both working on Saturdays, mostly. 

I've thought about the walk a little later, but we're usually eating dinner around 8 or so. 

Regarding her bed - I hope it's not uncomfortable - It's mine, too!!!

When I shut her out of the bedroom during the day, she has a choice of one or two beds, the porch with a couple of loveseats on it, and the living room where there's a sofa & chair.

At this age its very normal for your dog to have a couple changes in her habits and conduct, you can try changing her food schedules to a little later so she wont wake up during the night, or give her no treats before going to bed.

Crate training at this stage won’t be impossible, but yes very hard if she’s used to sleeping with you. However, it might be something you may wish to try. I have a 12-year old doxie who has slept with us all his life, but the reality of it is.... when he starts becoming incontinent (and he will... they usually do at some point in their older years)... I will probably have to resort to putting him a crate as bad as I hate to. Remember this isn’t her misbehaving; it’s a change in her system, that probably has her acting differently.

Most elderly dogs require more sleep... not less. LOL However, it doesn't sound like that's the case here. She's obviously sleeping during the day and it could be... same as with elderly humans sometimes... she just has insomnia at night. I agree with the suggestion you've been given about more exercise. I know that because of her age, strenuous exercise is out of the question... but is it possible to reschedule the walks so that they are closer to bedtime? I realize this may be contingent on where you live, etc... but I think that might be your key. When my dogs are really tired, they sleep better. If you can't walk her... can you play fetch with her... or engage her in some other type of physical activity to where she will be more physically tired at night? I hope this is a possibility for you... because if it isn't... and crating her isn't an option... and if the situation doesn't improve otherwise... you may be looking at medicating her, and I agree with you that meds aren't the most ideal solution!

Just so you know who I'm talking about, here's a photo made last summer of her.   Her name's Molly.  I'm biased, but she's a precious little girl. 

Posted By DaisysMom on 03/28/2008 10:48 AM

I love the close up Makes me wanna give her a smooch!

Thanks!  Molly will definitley return the favor.  One of Molly's nightly rituals is for her to "love" on my fiancee, by licking on her, whether her face, her hands or arms,  with her nub wagging the whole time she does it.  She'll do this when she's ready to go to bed, at least for a little while. 

I have two dogs with only 1 eye and Skipper, the male, will almost always get me with his teeth when taking a treat...it's because he can't see to judge the distance correctly.

It might be, but that's not necessarily one of the symptoms of CDS in dogs. 

Does your dog:
	(Disorientation/Confusion)
	Appear lost or confused in the house or yard?
	Fail to recognize familiar people?
	Fail to respond to verbal cues or name?
	Have difficulty finding the door or stand on the hinge side of the door?
	Appear to forget the reason for going outdoors?
	(Interaction with family members)
	Seek attention less often?
	Walk away when being petted?
	Show less enthusiasm upon greeting you?
	No longer greet family members?
	(Sleep and activity changes)
	Sleep more during the day?
	Sleep less during the night?
	Wander or pace more?
	(Loss of house-training)
	Urinate indoors?
	Have accidents indoors soon after being outside?
	Forget to ask you to go outside?

I have no idea how to treat OCD in a dog......

When Molly wakes up your fiancee at night, is it to take her outside to potty? Or just to wake her up in general? 

When she wakes her up, we generally make her go out, but not always.  But it is seldom for her to have an urgent "need" to go out.  I mean, she rarely messes up in the house.  Mostly though, it's just to sit & stare at her when she wakes her up at night.  The dog doesn't do this to me, unless she really does have to go outside.

I'm the grocery man, my fiancee is the one who is worshipped by Molly.  I kid with her that she's like Snow White except with the dogs! 

No walk tonight, just a long one this afternoon when she got home.  So far, everyone's tired out & apparently down for the evening, but it's early yet.

Just an update to everyone after this weekend.

Last night, we had what may be an issue I would like to deny.  Sometime around 4:30 this morning, Molly had an accident in the bed, and lost control of her bladder.  In her/our bed.  I'm thinking that she may have some sort of kidney infection.  Reason I'm saying that is that I had caught a little of a smell to it when I noticed it this morning. 

One thing I have noticed though, is that she, when she does sleep, falls into a really deep deep sleep, that we sometimes have to touch her to wake her up from. 

She's done this a few times before, mostly though, when I've given her some sort of drug that makes her sleepy.  Other times, she has had a kidney/bladder infection. 

As far as being in denial, I do not want to think that this may be the beginning of the end for my little girl.  I hope that I'm making more out of it than it actually is. 

Well, the trip yesterday went okay.  The verdict was that she's got a UTI, which I kinda figured, based on how the accident "smelled"...  Nevertheless, she's still 13 years old, and I know I've got less time with her than I did before. 

We figure that her hearing's going a little bit, although I'm not so sure about how much of the hearing is natural deafness versus "selective" hearing.  Seems like a cheese wrapper will bring her out of a coma from a couple hundred feet. 

Something funny - we picked up a Rat Terrier magazine sometime last summer, and have gotten a big laugh out of one of the comments in it:

"Rat Terriers are highly motivated by food"..... 

Dunno if it's just mine & my fiancee's Rats that are that way or not......