You shouldn’t tell them off when they become less tolerant and more irritable. Instead, we should give them time and space away from any visitors or other animals. We need to understand and respect this by making sure we leave them alone when they are sleeping. It’s also not a good idea to let them struggle to get up or down the stairs without your help, it may be a good idea to block the stairs off with a baby gate so that they don’t injure themselves. We should not let them become overweight, as this can contribute to several health concerns. You should not make them exercise in a way that puts excess strain on their ageing joints.
It is not recommended to take them on a single long walk, instead look at taking shorter but more frequent walks throughout the day.
We should not ignore changes in mobility, or slowing down, struggling with stairs or being less keen on jumping up, hearing difficulty, or loss of hearing, stiffness when getting up, not being able to see things as well as they used to.