Crazy dog. XD

• Crazy dog. XD wendyl2 Posted : 11/17/2006 1:41:16 PM This isn't so much a serious post as a quirky one.  Our new dog, 7 months old, which we've had for 3 weeks, likes to stare at random inanimate objects or empty spaces and growl at them.  His eyes will be glued to something and he'll look very concerned, not breaking his gaze for anything.  Occasionally he'll puff that fur on his neck up.  He just sits there and growls this low growl into thin air, occasionally mixed with a barking. It's really weird.  He'll keep it up for a LONG time too, I don't know what's setting him off.  Any ideas? LIKE 7 REPLIES 129 VIEWS LAST POST JENHUEDEPOHL Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• inne Posted : 11/17/2006 1:52:29 PM It sounds like he's scared or trying to alert you to something. What I do is either put my hand on my dog's back and say "Okay, I see it" or go up and touch/sit on/kick the object and then invite my dog over to investigate it to show her there isn't anything to be scared of. I do this very casually and don't talk to her except to praise her confidence after investigating the item. If she's scared of something I can't identify, I do calming signals with her or redirect her attention. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• jennie_c_d Posted : 11/17/2006 1:58:34 PM Not breaking his gaze for anything? Does he respond to your voice, when he's growling? 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• brookcove Posted : 11/17/2006 2:11:17 PM Between six and seven months the go into this stage where they start getting this urge to do something about things they don't recognize. It can, honest to goodness, be something they've seen a million times but just strikes them differently for some reason. Herding dogs and sight hounds are past masters of this "ghost growling". This is a good time to teach, "OK, thank you." Or "Enough." As inne said, just let them you know you've got it and it's under control. If you can't catch your dog's attention, I'd be concerned about seizure activity. But that's less likely. Also, if your dog continues this very regularly past eight months or so, approach it a little more proactively because that WOULD be weird.[&:] 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• scoobychick Posted : 11/17/2006 2:34:21 PM Our little 7month old German shepherd is in the ghost barking stage.  The patting her on head and telling her I see them seems to work for us.  She still likes to bark at objects she sees on a regular basis like the deer in the fields behind our home.   0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• jennie_c_d Posted : 11/17/2006 2:41:37 PM If you can't catch your dog's attention, I'd be concerned about seizure activity. But that's less likely. That's what was concerning me.... 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• fuzzy_dogs_mom Posted : 11/17/2006 2:50:25 PM Max will do this every once in awhile.  I'll catch him sitting in the middle of the kitchen staring up at the ceiling.  I finally discovered that a suncatcher hanging in the kitchen window would, at a certain time of the morning, make a couple of little rainbow lights dance on the ceiling.  The dog is mad for lights and shadows and that little moving rainbow will keep him mesmerized for the few minutes that it's there. Are you sure that he's not reacting to something that you haven't noticed?   Joyce 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• jenhuedepohl Posted : 11/17/2006 5:16:02 PM My crew gets that way about bugs and spiders. One day, I watched the cat just sitting there, staring at the carpet. Pretty soon, our second cat comes by and sits down next to him. Then the dog walks by, stops, then sits next to the cats and all three stare at the same spot on the carpet. Of course, by then they had me and I had to get up and look! It was just a bug, crawling across the carpet. The first cat reached over and ate it, and everyone wandered off again. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login