Kelly - Strange Behaviour On Walk This Morning

[Guest Stripeyfan]

When I was walking Kelly this morning, we were just crossing the street when a paper delivery guy wearing a red jumper walked past on the other side of the road, going in the same direction. Kelly froze – I had to drag him onto the sidewalk – and he continued to STARE at this guy all the way to the end of the street.

 

 

Once we’d turned a corner and the paper guy was out of sight, Kelly acted like he was scared out of his mind and pulled me all the way home, glancing behind him all the time and not stopping to pee or sniff or anything. When we got back he was pacing and panting like he does when there’s fireworks going off. He also kept acting as if he was listening to something. And of course, I’ve had to come to work… DH is with him though and I’ll be ringing home shortly to see if he’s calmed down. Does anyone have any clue why he acted like this??

 

 

[Guest fringepup]

My goodness! I have no idea but I am sorry that Kelly got so upset on your walk. I sure hope he is feeling better when you call home.

[Guest IrskasMom]

I have no Idea what triggered this. Give Kelly some gentle Hugs and whisper in his Ear ,everything will be alright

 

My Morty , when he cannot make out who it is at the Park (and he thinks he knows everybody) he starts barking.

[jetcitywoman]

He was attacked by Santa in his puppyhood and now has lifelong fear of men in red?

 

Seriously, don't worry about it too much. New dogs especially, will occasionally come across things they find scary. What worked for my dogs was to let them stare as much as they wanted, and slowly approach and sniff. If you pull them away from what they're staring at, they get the idea that you're pulling them away from something scary.

 

In her first year with us, Capri would do this with inanimate objects: parked cars, street cones, street signs.

Edited March 19, 2011 by jetcitywoman

[GeorgeofNE]

No one can tell you the answer to that. Likely, it's totally illogical to our human brains anyway.

 

Example: my last dog was thrown from a moving car as a puppy. He had NO fear of cars and was terrified of the ironing board! It does no good to try to figure out something that is likely not figure-outable!

 

If only they could tell us...

 

Oh, Kramer was also terrified of the ROTC cadets, and the many Hassidic Jewish gentlemen in our old neighborhood. But not the one thing that logically should terrify him!

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Well, we ended up taking him to the vet as this went on for hours, and I was scared he was in pain (he had similar symptoms last year when he started with his IBD, and had horrible stomach ache). She couldn't find anything wrong though and urinalysis was also clear, so she thinks he had a massive panic attack, triggered by the red fleece guy - a flashback sort of thing. Poor dog! He is much calmer now though. Thanks for your advice and good thoughts.