Fear of Ceiling Fans/ Out of body experience.

This sounds more medical to me than just behavioral.  This almost sounds like it triggers a seizure. 

Just desensitizing this will likely require something like herbals (which are often less habit-forming than pharmaceuticals).

Acupuncture can also be a HUGE benefit in cases similar to this -- http://www.tcvm.com -- That's the Chi Institute website and there is a locator on the left. 

Acupuncture can help simply with behavioral stuff -- and it is awesome when it comes to obsessive/compulsive stuff and particularly if it IS actually seizure activity.

Many dogs are afraid of ceiling fans.  

I think you should expose your dog to your ceiling fan, but NOT by turning it on. It will take some time. Do you have a regular training session? If so, you could use that time. But the idea is to expose him S-L-O-W-L-Y to the turning of the fan.

Start very slowly. Get his attention and touch the fan so he looks at it. Reward him for not barking. Do this several times. Then just barely move the fan with your fingers. Good boy! Lots of pets. Day by day, Increase the exposure (in time and movement) never going too far beyond his "comfort zone". If he barks, tell him CALMLY "no" and move back to the step just before the one that made him bark.

You want to extend that "envelope" of comfort by doing a little more every day, but not enough to "scare" him or set him back. Eventually, you'll go to the switch and pop it on and off. While it's turning, be happy, cheerful and act like it's a game. Throw a treat while the fan's turning, and he's relaxed. DO NOT treat or pet when he's barking or otherwise distressed. Only when he's ignoring the fan.

While you're doing this training, you'll want to avoid him seeing other fans. You can walk a different route, cover his eyes or something to prevent the escalation of excitement while you're training. Eventually, when he's not responding to YOUR fan, you can then start exposing him to other fans a little at a time. Remember, just because he's not afraid of your fan anymore doesn't  mean he will relate that to all fans. But it will be easier.

Good luck to you! I'll do some research and see if I can find anything else.  

The only other advice I've seen is to turn it on and leave it on all the time. But I don't think this would be the answer for your guy simply because he's SO freaked out. If he were just leaving the room or looking at it weird, I might advise that, but he's flipping out so I'm going to stick with the slow exposure. I think flooding might actually be harmful in this case.

And herbals are a GREAT idea. Rescue Remedy and even acupuncture are also things I'd try. I'd use the RR for the "exposure sessions".

Thank for the suggestions, in fact I have tried getting up there just to clean the darn thing and as soon as i touch and it moves an inch, the behavior begins....I am not the fondest of accupuncture probably since I hate needles and I know little about it in dogs....I will try the rescue remedy.  How is that applied? 

My initial reaction is that he was never exposed to such a thing, we have a convertible car and accidently put the top up while he was in the back seat and the response was not as bad but right up there "stress peeing" and just looking to get under cover and out of the way.  Although with the fan he doesn't pee, he just "freaks" in such a way, I feel terrible for him.  So I will continue to work on it, I as well don't agree in flooding and I will try and get back up there to touch the fan and see what happens.

Thank you all again.

teddysteatime

I will try the rescue remedy.  How is that applied? 

Just a few drops in the mouth.

Instead of getting up there (which might be "weird" for him) you might get a pole of some sort (I have a long extending pole for cleaning tall ceilings, etc) and reach up with it instead of getting up yourself and just touch it on the first try. Don't move it. Then if he doesn't bark or respond, praise him and do it again. I think the Rescue Remedy in combination with a kong or bone bight be a good way to go.

Good luck and I'd be interested to know how it goes.  

OH brother I better do this on a few days off.  I hate even having to correct this, but I know it has to be done.  I just hate seeing him like that.

Well, I will give it a try and certainly get back to you.....perhaps over this holiday weekend, when my kids are home, they might be a good distraction for him and he won't even think twice about me going near it.

Thanks so much for the support.

I was going to try and help but Fouriscompany already said all the good stuff, including the fact that, while dogs can generalize, they don't always generalize the way we think they would or to the extent we expect.

My dog used to be afraid of the garbage truck. Eventually, he wasn't afraid anymore. For him, I guess, it was just a phase or a new sound to which he eventually acclimated without any specific effort on our part.

So, good luck with whatever you do.