# Great article on mental aging



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

My golden Joplin lived almost until his 16th year, and the last 6 months he started to really seem like a human with dementia beginning.

Cognitive Function in Older Dogs | Clinician's Brief


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## kathi127 (Sep 17, 2009)

Very interesting article! I have a friend with a 14 yr. old Golden and am going to pass this on to her. Thanks for sharing!


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

I am lucky my senior is mostly still with it at almost 14 years. Interesting reading. Now and then I tease him that he's senile when he does something silly or seems confused. He's still incredibly intelligent and in tune, though.


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

Interesting article! Thanks for sharing!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

One thought I had after reading that article is that it must be different for different seniors going through senility? 

Our two old men were 13 and almost 13 when we lost them. The biggest things we noticed were -

1. Placid, uber relaxed, daydreamy attitude. They would stare off into space and apparently be at perfect peace with whatever they were thinking about. 

2. Deeper sleep - both their old man naps throughout the day and also their regular bedtime at night, they would fall asleep and sleep so deeply that you could be walking around them to talking to them and it wouldn't wake them up. 

3. Incontinence - this was the hardest thing for our Sammy who was almost neurotic about accidentally going potty in the house. You would have thought we beat him for accidents when he was a puppy (which we didn't). And Danny's hidey spot under the bed had to be routinely checked for random poops or puddles. 

And our friends with the 17 year old female experienced the same thing. She had been a red-headed terror when young, but in her old years she became super mellow and relaxed.


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

Sam passed at 12.5 and the only noticeable change was his unwillingness to climb stairs those last few months. I knew it was from arthritis and his neuro condition that was causing his back end to become weaker, and some days were better than others. He'd try to make the stairs for bedtime but during the day he stopped following me upstairs while I was doing chores. Instead, he'd stay at the bottom landing and watch me.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

interesting article, thanks for posting it.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Slow responding to commands - finally - an explanation - after all these years!

I'm making fun, but it's really sad to watch a senior decline. It seems like 10 minutes instead of 10 years ago they were so young and vibrant. Sometimes I wonder if Boomer is deaf or confused, but I think this article shows me how he is slowing down and may have trouble hearing or moving, maybe doesn't want to do what he is told, i.e. come when called, sit, stay, etc... but doesn't appear to have real Cognitive Dysfunction in the sense of the symptom complex.

This is a great article, thank you so much for posting it.


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