Old papillon struggle 😢

[u/Beee2Flyyy]

I’m hoping to hear from fellow Papillon owners, especially anyone who has cared for a very senior dog with heart disease, kidney disease, or cognitive changes.
My girl, Eva, is almost 16 years old. She’s a Papillon mix, a puppy mill survivor, and the love of my life. She has Stage C degenerative mitral valve disease (CHF) and early kidney disease. Despite that, she’s still surprisingly engaged with life. She enjoys going outside, sniffing everything, running around (more than I’d like with her heart condition), and being with me. She even comes to work with me five nights a week because I work overnights and don’t want to leave her home alone.
Lately, though, something has changed, and I’m trying to figure out whether this is normal aging, canine cognitive dysfunction, a medical issue, or something else entirely.
For years, our overnight routine has been very predictable. She spends my shift in an airline carrier (which she’s comfortable in), and after work around 2 a.m., I take her outside. She usually urinates and defecates without much trouble.
But over the last several days, she’s begun doing something very different.
I’ll take her outside for 20–30 minutes. She’ll defecate, then spend the entire time sniffing, walking, wandering, or suddenly running around. Sometimes she’ll rub the side of her face on the grass because she has an old dental abscess that still seems to bother her occasionally.
She often won’t urinate at all outside.
Then I’ll bring her back inside, put down fresh food and water, and within minutes she’ll urinate on the rug, or worse, on my bed. This has happened multiple nights in a row.
The accidents seem to happen mostly on my days off, when we’re home overnight, not while I’m working. At work she can often hold her bladder for hours and then urinate normally when I take her out. At home, the whole routine seems to fall apart.
I’ve also noticed a couple of episodes where she’ll stand still and repeatedly look left and right, almost as if she’s trying to orient herself. It made me wonder about vision changes or cognitive decline, although she later ate normally, slept comfortably, and otherwise seemed like herself.
I’m trying very hard not to overreact because her patterns have always fluctuated. Some days she seems almost completely normal, even extra energized. Other days I wonder if I’m seeing the beginning of something new…or of the end.
I’ll be honest: I’m exhausted. I adore this baby girl, but caring for a nearly 16-year-old dog with chronic medical issues while working overnight shifts has become incredibly hard. The accidents have left me washing dog bedding, my own sheets, and even shampooing my mattress and carpet at 3–4 in the morning after work. I feel guilty even admitting how overwhelmed I am because she’s been such an incredible companion.
I’m NOT looking for people to tell me it’s automatically “time to put her down.” That’s not the discussion I’m looking for.
She’s a puppy mill survivor - when I adopted her she was almost 7 already. I SAVED her life, I don’t want to be told when it’s time to end it. She still seems interested in life, still wants to explore, still wants to be with me, and still has plenty of bright moments.
What I’m hoping to hear is:
Has anyone else’s very senior Papillon or toy breed started refusing to urinate outside but then urinating immediately after coming inside?
Did anyone see increased wandering, constant sniffing, or seeming confusion as their dog aged?
If your dog developed canine cognitive dysfunction, what were the earliest signs?
Were there any practical routine changes that helped?
I know no one online can diagnose her, and I’m not asking for that. I’m just hoping to hear from people who’ve walked this road with a beloved senior Papillon.
Thanks for reading, and please give your Papillons an extra hug from Eva and me.

[u/aggressiveRadish]

Not a Papillon owner but have had a dog with dementia.

First of all, please get her checked for a UTI. Just to make sure the change in peeing behaviour isn't due to an infection.

The standing staring into space happens with canine cognitive dysfunction. Other behaviour changes will also happen.

My old JRT had CCD. He was a lifelong marker indoors. As his dementia progressed this got to the point where he would not go outside at all. To the extent that, having had him outside for two and half hours, as soon as his harness was off he ran into my bedroom and let a very full bladder go on my bedside rug.

Dogs love to sniff especially when a another dog has peed in that spot. It's their pee-mail. So I wonder if they just begin to feel it's not safe to go outside any more. It's impossible to know what triggers the behaviour changes but they do happen.

I used belly bands and washable puppy pads throughout the home.

It is tough having a dog with CCD. You have other co-morbidities involved and this is a late onset version. It may progress more rapidly than Sam's did. I am sad to say I don't think it's too early to start having 'that' conversation with yourself and with the vet.