Hi everyone. Sorry this is so long, but I hope some of you will take the time to read it and give me your thoughts because my 12 year old border collie x briard has begun acting a little odd.
A few weeks ago I got up in the morning to find her gone. She had jumped out of the living room window. To say that this is out of character for her redefines the word 'understatement'!
Thankfully after a terrifying hour she was recovered safe and sound. Everyone has theories as to why she jumped out, the most popular one being because there was a storm, but Widget has never shown any fear or apprehension to storms in the past other than occassionally growling at very loud thunder.
She also pays no attention to passers by, other dogs, cats, foxes etc so it's unlikely something like this drew her out.
We put it down to a one off weird thing and resolved never to leave her unattended with the window open again!
Last week I got up to find that she had clearly been on the window sill in the night, ornaments, the phone, and a vase had all been knocked over, which is odd behaviour in itself, Widget is not a clumsy dog and hates knocking things, she's almost cat like in the way she moves around things in the house, (as opposed to my other dog who tends to just crash her way through things oblivious to the destruction in her wake!!)
At this point I started to worry that maybe she has some neurological problem, maybe even a brain tumour. We decided that we would set up a video camera to record the window at night, try to 'catch her at it', but we haven't yet had a chance to set this up.
Last night, there was another storm. Lightning and thunder were flashing and rumbling all evening, all of which she paid NO attention to at all.
We went to bed and after about 10 minutes heard a noise from downstairs. My other half got up to investigate and said she was laying in front of the sofa panting heavily, but that when he went in, she seemed to settle, stopped panting and went back into her bed.
About 5 minutes after he came back to bed there was a crash. We both went down to find she had tucked herself into a miniscule gap between the sofa and the coffee table. She scrambled out and once again seemed to settle.
Concluding that this newly acquired storm fear only seemed to affect her when we weren't there, we decided she could come sleep in our room. She trotted happily upstairs and tucked herself away under our bed. She seemed fine until I finished reading my book & turned out the light, then she began pacing and panting and pacing and panting.
This went on and on and on. Eventually I got up to get her a bowl of water, and it was only when I went to switch off the landing light, that i realised this was the other thing that changed when we went to bed, the room going dark.
Bizarre as it sounded I decided to test the theory, I switched my bedside light on, she stopped panting and pacing, went under the bed and fell asleep, remaining there all night!
So, what do you all think? Can she have suddenly developed a fear of both storms & the dark? Or does this sound more like a neurological problem?
Any thoughts appreciated!
A few weeks ago I got up in the morning to find her gone. She had jumped out of the living room window. To say that this is out of character for her redefines the word 'understatement'!
Thankfully after a terrifying hour she was recovered safe and sound. Everyone has theories as to why she jumped out, the most popular one being because there was a storm, but Widget has never shown any fear or apprehension to storms in the past other than occassionally growling at very loud thunder.
She also pays no attention to passers by, other dogs, cats, foxes etc so it's unlikely something like this drew her out.
We put it down to a one off weird thing and resolved never to leave her unattended with the window open again!
Last week I got up to find that she had clearly been on the window sill in the night, ornaments, the phone, and a vase had all been knocked over, which is odd behaviour in itself, Widget is not a clumsy dog and hates knocking things, she's almost cat like in the way she moves around things in the house, (as opposed to my other dog who tends to just crash her way through things oblivious to the destruction in her wake!!)
At this point I started to worry that maybe she has some neurological problem, maybe even a brain tumour. We decided that we would set up a video camera to record the window at night, try to 'catch her at it', but we haven't yet had a chance to set this up.
Last night, there was another storm. Lightning and thunder were flashing and rumbling all evening, all of which she paid NO attention to at all.
We went to bed and after about 10 minutes heard a noise from downstairs. My other half got up to investigate and said she was laying in front of the sofa panting heavily, but that when he went in, she seemed to settle, stopped panting and went back into her bed.
About 5 minutes after he came back to bed there was a crash. We both went down to find she had tucked herself into a miniscule gap between the sofa and the coffee table. She scrambled out and once again seemed to settle.
Concluding that this newly acquired storm fear only seemed to affect her when we weren't there, we decided she could come sleep in our room. She trotted happily upstairs and tucked herself away under our bed. She seemed fine until I finished reading my book & turned out the light, then she began pacing and panting and pacing and panting.
This went on and on and on. Eventually I got up to get her a bowl of water, and it was only when I went to switch off the landing light, that i realised this was the other thing that changed when we went to bed, the room going dark.
Bizarre as it sounded I decided to test the theory, I switched my bedside light on, she stopped panting and pacing, went under the bed and fell asleep, remaining there all night!
So, what do you all think? Can she have suddenly developed a fear of both storms & the dark? Or does this sound more like a neurological problem?
Any thoughts appreciated!