Unexplained Fear

As I write this, my dog is sitting under the desk, against my legs. This is not a normal spot for him. :(

He is a 10 year old keeshond. He had dental surgery about 4 months ago, and his bloodwork came back normal at that time.

Last week, during the day, he suddenly became scared of something. He would follow me around the house, right next to me, looking worried and occassionally shaking. We had been working on cleaning out the basement, so there were a lot of vending machines from the old business my parents ran for awhile, standing in the living room like sentinels. We thought maybe he had just noticed them, and was now freaking out. This continued on and off every couple of days. Then the vending machines got put somewhere else, and... he's still doing it.

Not only that, but he's started doing it at night. For no reason that I can determine, he becomes very scared. He whines to get my attention, and then if I acknowledge him, he does his "follow me" dance, like we have to get out of here right away because its not safe! The first night I pulled him up on the bed with me, and let him lean against me and slowly stop shaking. But he never really calmed down. He'd pace and get up and sit down and jump off the bed, and stand next to the bed and whine next to my face. I got about an hour's sleep. He's done this for 3 nights now.

He has a history of being afraid of certain sounds, and his eyes are getting bad, so things moving past him startle him. Last winter, the snap and crackle of the fireplace would set him off in exactly the same way. Inexplicably terrified, shaking and jumping into peoples' laps.

But this time I've yet to observe any trigger for the fear.

Any ideas? :(
I am sad that my faithful lump-puppy is so stressed out.

Thanks.

http://spiffy-keen.com/a/boostuff_01.jpg

http://spiffy-keen.com/a/boostuff_02.jpg

Hi and welcome :)
His actions are typical of a dog who could be in pain. They have a different way of showing it which includes anxiety (sometimes severe), pacing, heavy panting, whining etc. I know you said his last blood test was ok, but if it were me, I'd be heading back to the vet just to make sure nothing is being missed (or has changed since the last one). If everything checks out ok, there are some homeopathic remedies to help with anxiety, though I can't say I've had luck with them myself. If you try and they don't help, there's always anti-anxiety medications. I know a lot of people are against using those. But myself, if it's going to help my baby have a little happier (and less stressful) time with things, and I've exhausted the natural/homeopathic, I'm all for it.

Your baby sure is a cute fuzzball!! Good luck and I hope he's ok :grouphug:

Welcome to the board. I agree with Rgeurts, a vet check to rule out any health issues and then treat your sweet boy with some sort of remedy. I myself have never had any success with things like Rescue Remedy and the likes, but wouldn't hesitate to use medications if it helped to reduce the stress and settle your boy down. Good luck to you, please keep us posted.