Weird behavior

My husband has taken a new job and is out of town a lot now, so Ruby and I are the only ones in bed a lot now. 2 nights ago when he was out of town, Ruby and I were going to sleep when she suddenly jumped up (and off of my face) and started freaking out. She acted like something was biting her or something. I turned on the light, checked her and the bed out, and found absolutely nothing. She would sniff and slowly walk over the bed and then jump back like she was startled or something. She would even act startled if I tried to pet her. It got so bad that she jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. Took her out in case she needed to potty (she didn't). I ended up sleeping on the couch with her because it really freaked me out. You always hear about animals having this intuition, and I couldn't help but think something bad was going to happen (it didn't). Plus, this was an hour and a half ordeal, and I had to start grad school the next day. Then, my husband came home last night. I thought the whole thing might have been because he wasn't there. She settled into bed with us just fine, and then she freaked out again and jumped on him. She flew off of the bed and into our bathroom where she hid behind the door. I put her back up on the bed and we both tried to reassure her, but she jumped down again. This went on for about 30 minutes without us finding anything wrong. I finally went downstairs and got her little pink bed and snuggle puppy and put it on the floor next to our bed. She got in it immediately and settled in. However, sometime in the middle of the night, she got into bed with us and slept there the rest of the night. Anyone have a clue as to what kind of behavior this might be?? She's only acting like this on our bed at night. It's like she's paranoid or something......

I don't have any suggestions, but it's a very intertesting story. I'm curious to see what others have to say.

That is odd and scary, and lasted quite a long time, and was repeated, all red flags for exploring this more thoroughly as it wasn't a once-off event and check for possible medical issues from allergies to impacted anal glands or anything that might cause sudden pain. If this happens again I'd talk to your vet and get an appointment with a neurologist, if your vet cannot find any medical reason for why she might be doing this -- it could be some medical problem causing bursts of pain /discomfort. If she isn't actually seeing or hearing something that is frightening her -- and it doesn't sound like there is anything there, unless she is hearing some high pitched noise, strange or painful noise -- and she is cleared in a basic medical check, then I'd be moving on to also check for neurological pain or weakness or obsessive compulsive behaviours. Make sure to print out the information on syringomyelia at www.smcavalier.com for the vet as this could very possibly be one cause for this type of behaviour -- neurological pain that the dog cannot pinpoint will often cause dogs to whip around and try to bite at something that isn't there and the pain will cause the dog to seek to try and hide away or run away. Sessions where unexpected behaviour happens, then the dog returns to normal, are reported by many people with SM dogs. Only a neurologist can do some basic testing of reactions and reflexes to see if there are some signs that this might be the problem or refer you on for an MRI if they suspect anything. They may also give an all clear, too -- which will help you move on to check out other possible reasons . If this went on for an hour or more though, to be honest, I'd really want this vet checked *now* and not wait; and then if nothing is found, get an immediate referral to a neurologist as this is very odd behaviour indicative of fear and very possibly sudden flashes of pain that are confusing to the dog. I hope you find it is something quite basic and easy to address. :flwr: Let us know what happens.

I meant to add that SM dogs often have their main problems first thing in the morning, around bedtime, and/or during the night. No one really knows why. I am not sure if this is also the case with other neurological issues. Leo's worst scratching seesions are always at these times. Of course you wnt to check for other possible reasons first! But I would want to be very sure my vet knew of this possibility, and if the vet was baffled, I'd want a neurologist check-up.

This happened to me a few weeks ago. My husband was away and Maddy and I were in bed. All of a sudden she acted scared and jumped away from me. I really thought there might be someone trying to get into the house.
Nothing happened but it was really strange because she never acts scared. I thought there might be a mouse in the room.
I don't have any ideas, but it did stop.
Pam

BarbMazz said:

This might seem silly, but do you have a down comforter or pillows by any chance? Sometimes the hard end of a feather can stick through and feel like a little pin prick.

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We do have a down comforter, but I checked and didn't feel anything sticking out.

Her vet isn't open tomorrow, so I'll call them on Monday and see if they can see her then. She's been completely fine since then......guess I'll see what happens tonight. Other than those 2 episodes, she's been normal and playful. It just scares me now because SM hasn't even occurred to me.

Oh, and Karlin....do you think it would be SM if she's only doing it on our bed?? I mean, she gets on the floor and is completely fine. We went downstairs and were going to bed on the couch, and she acted normal. It's just so confusing because she's never acted so strangely. It's like she's just been spooked by something. I of course want to be in denial that this COULD be SM because she's my baby, but I definitely want to handle the situation and take care of it if it is. I'll keep you guys posted. Someone's about to get her anal glands checked!!

Gee that is really weird isn't it! That would have freaked me out too. It does sound like something caused a sharp and sudden pain, as I am sure that is how a dog would react to a pain that came out of nowhere. If it happened more than once or twice I would be getting an opinion from a vet. Good luck with this and please keep us posted as it is an intriguing case.

Joly has done something similar, though his reaction was limited to 'something' on the duvet', twice recently. I think , maybe, I moved slightly and he imagined a lurking monster, because he has reacted the same, in the past, when a dry leaf has moved on the carpet or a spider has crawled near him. In his case, he jumped back, sniffed , jumped back, tried again, then settled down.

Nothing happened last night, so that's good. And to clarify some, she didn't act like something was biting her the entire time. She kind of looked down at her bottom quickly and jumped up, no whining or anything. That was pretty much it with her acting like something was physically on her. She would sniff the bedding and then jump back like something was there. That's why I ran my hand over it several times to see if I felt anything like a feather sticking out. I also checked for spiders and whatnot because she is an excellent bug-catcher! If I moved my leg or anything under the covers during this, she seemed scared of it as well. Last night, she just settled right in without any weird stuff happening. I'll keep watching her and call up her vet just to see what he thinks. Of course, my hubby just thinks that she missed her daddy and is fine now that he's home!!!

Wow. That is freaky! I find that Wrigley has SUCH a keen ear that he hears things we don't. If my husband isn't home, he will perk up and sit at the edge of the bed barking the moment the garage door goes up. Are there any new noises in your house at night (like a water softener, air conditioner, etc.)?

Our Barney was a bit like that last night. We had been to Scarborough for the day and he had been chasing sand flies for ages. He woke up later and he just looked like he was chasing them again, looking round and going barmey. Took him a while to settle, maybe it was just all the excitement or maybe he was having a sort of night terror. You know where they are awake but not there sort of. Could it be the same thing that has happened to yours?