what makes a dog suddenly afraid...

Addie (my husky mix gal) seemed to wake up one day terrified of thunder storms. I can sort of understand, since I feel fear if they're really bad. I would assume no matter how I think I'm acting cool, she senses my fear. I've never babied her or anything during one, tho. Hammie picked up that fear from both of us, so now he's attached to my hip during thunder. BUT...now Addie is suddenly filled with fear hearing gunshots. she is 5 yrs. old, has always lived here, and this is a big hunting area. it took me awhile to even grasp what she was freaking out about (I thought she was sick), and she screams like a little girl. great....big hunting season starts next week. someone is shooting in the woods, and she's a basket case. what can I do??? I certainly have no fear from gunshots, so this one isn't from me. next.......it'll be a plane flying over too low. I also haven't reacted to this new fear by babying her in any way.

I'm sorry I can't help, but I hope others will have some advice for you.

Good luck.

nobody has any ideas?? oh man...........this is gonna be one heck of a hunting season.

Well, there is a chance she will get better again. Just try not to convey any concern about it.

My dog was deathly afraid of any loud noise when I got him 2 and a half years ago. He'd get stiff and start drooling when he heard a thunderstorm coming, even before I heard it. I've been working with him all this time. I make sure he has a place where he feels safe, but then I ignore him. He's gotten so much better that he'll be fine in a storm until the thunder is VERY close. Hey, I'd be scared, too. Firecrackers would send him into a panic. Now when he hears some, he'll perk up to check it out, but that;s all. Of course, on the holidays, he still needs his safe place in the closet.

This may take some time, don't try to comfort her, just ignore her. I'm at the point where if my dog starts looking worried, I'll laugh as ask him what his problem is. He knows that laughing is good.

Now, my little puppy will run outside in a thunderstorm that you catch me in. She'll lay down and eat! The rascal!

Good luck.

Loud noises are something VERY normal for a dog to be afraid of.

Now it's bottles, plastic bags, paper, cardboard boxes, that I'd worry about

Yeah, my dog used to be afraid of any noise, even the aluminum foil in the kitchen and plastic garbage bags.

Just today I got out a new garbage bag and gave it a big noisy shake to open it right next to my dog. Somewhere along the lines he became completely used to it and the noise of the aluminum foil.

Sudden fear in a five year old can be attributed to thyroid. Now if she was one or two, maybe not, but if she's lived there for five years and has never shown fear before, then I would get her thyroid checked. When you go to the vet, ask for the FULL panel. Most vets just do T4, and that is not enough to truly indicate a problem. It must be the full panel, sent away to a lab, likely out of state/province.

To read more about hypothyroid and what it can do to dogs, visit http://www.gsdhelpline.com/hypothyroid.htm and http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/THYROID-ARTICLES.HTM

My hypothyroid dog was diagnosed at the age of 4 years, 10 months, and had sudden changes like extreme noise sensitivity to things that had never bothered him before....

Smokey is afraid of the vacuum cleaner.....:yikes: