[DesertChildAZ]

My boyfriend and I are starting to see some worrying behavior changes in Tahoe, our older yorkie. Tahoe was born in 1993 - making him 14, almost 15 years old. He is, without a doubt, the most laid back, quiet, gentle dog either of us has ever met. As he gets older, I can see that his cataracts are getting worse. I suspect he may have hearing issues which I can't quite understand. If we call him, he seems to look in a direction other than where we are calling him from. Other times he seems to not hear us but, at the same time, will flinch when he hears a loud noise like a door shutting or if I clap my hands. (Why can he hear those things but not my voice?)

Lately we have been having trouble getting rawhides away from him. He shows his teeth with the rawhide in his mouth and growls ferociously and will not let it go. Its scary, particularly because this is not his personality. It's like he's possessed. (He has only recently been receiving rawhides...since Jason moved in with his basset hound, Zac. Tahoe hasn't had bones or the like for years...since I took him off Greenies after his obstruction.) I would surmise that the rawhides are the problem and just take them away permanently from him (which is what we plan to do) but he has been recently behaving the same way when we try to take him off the bed or couch to put him on the floor to go outside...or if we pick him up. This morning, after I left for work, Jason laid down with him on the bed, massaged him, he rolled over to have his belly rubbed, which Jason rubbed for 5- 10 minutes, Jason rolled him back over. Tahoe proceeded to give Jason kisses and licked his hand which is something he does only with those he loves. Tahoe stood up on the bed (a sign he wants to get down). Jason went to pick him up and Tahoe snapped at him and although he didn't break the skin, it was the first incident of him actually trying to bite someone and not merely using his growl. I could understand if Jason had startled him or if he couldn't identify Jason because he is going blind, but Jason had just been petting him for 5 minutes! He knew it was Jason.

Can anyone explain what is going on and how we can alleviate whatever it is that is causing Tahoe to become so agitated?

It's important to note that Tahoe has gone through some big changes in the last year. He went from being the only dog (with two cats) to being one of 2 dogs (one of which is a very high spirited 1 year old yorkie, Johnny Cash). Then Jason moved in two months ago with his 5 year old basset, Zac. Zac has a tendency to ignore Tahoe (which seems to suit Tahoe fine except when Zac is barreling down the hallway with Tahoe standing in his way). Zac did run over TAhoe like a mac truck about a month ago. We have been keeping them apart during the day when we're at work and Zac has been learning the term "walk!" pretty well so we haven't had any more incidents like that.

Tahoe also suffers from arthritis and has stiff hind legs. He can't jump on or off the couch/bed, which is why we put him up and take him down.

I cannot stress enough that he is a VERY timid, adoring and emotional dog. Everyone loves him. His love is profound. I adopted him at 10 years old and other than this he is as close to "perfect" as anyone can ever hope for or want.

Again, any advice would be appreciated.
~ Kelly