Snapping The Air

[tornadosgirl]

Yesterday I was sitting on the bed with Tornado next to me. Three times in a row (a few seconds apart), he snapped the air like he was trying to catch a fly, only there was no fly. Any idea what that could be? He is going to be 12 in early November. Otherwise he has been himself.

[Guest Adrianne]

Chevy does it all the time......usually right before he starts doing zoomies in the living room and running like a madman in and out of the house. For him, it means, "I'm happy. I'm getting excited. I want to play."

[greyhead]

Keep watching and see if he does it again. If so, you might want to speak to your vet. When Spencer started doing that six years ago, the vet said they were small seizures. Along with his defensive "aggression" and lack of stamina for walking a half-mile, this led us to get him a full thyroid panel. He was hypothyroid, and all these problems cleared up as soon as we started the medicine. Not saying your dog is hypothyroid, just that this is what the air snapping meant for ours.

 

 

[Brindles]

It's a happy thing. Echo does it all the time!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Yes, it's an either/or situation. Either he's really happy, or he's having small seizures. (Sometimes, with seizures, the dog "sees stars"--or at least that's the theory--so that's what he's snapping at.)

 

Either way, his aim might be questionable, so don't get too close. My first girl did happy "air bites," but occasionally she'd miss the air and tag me by mistake.

 

If you get the feeling that he's not happy about it, keep track of what's going on: could he be hungry, tired--something like that--and talk to your vet.

[Trihounds]

Brucie does it all the time when he's in a playful mood. In his case, it's definitely not due to seizures...it's his goofiness shining through

[tornadosgirl]

Thanks all. Since the snapping came from no where- he was just sitting there, I was inclined to think it wasn't happy, playful type behavior. And since he seemed perfectly fine before and after, I didn't think seizure. So I will wait and see. It really could have been either of those.

Edited August 14, 2011 by tornadosgirl

[Batmom]

Mosquito.

[tbhounds]

Could have been a seizure. Fly catcher seizure-- where they snap at the air- appears to be trying to rid of a bug. Of course, it could have really been a bug. I would just document some notes on a calendar for future reference in case it continues.

[greyhead]

This wide spectrum of choices is almost funny! Anyhow, Spencer has done all three kinds of snapping, so maybe this will help: When it's playful snapping, he's looking right at me and stretching his legs toward me, usually lying on his side. When it's a bug, there's a bug. When it was a seizure, he wasn't looking at me and there wasn't a bug.

[tbhounds]

Hope this link works- trying this from my phone-

www.canine-epilepsy.net/flybite/flybite.html

[joejoesmom]

I had a foster once that would bite at what I thought were invisible flies. One day he was surrounded by a sunbeam and I could see that he was snapping at a teeny tiny almost invisible gnat like thing. It was extremely tiny but it was there. I couldn't see it in normal light. Of course, if a real fly got in the house ... the battle was ON! When winter came, I am told by his adoptive mom that the fly biting stopped.

 

Seriously though, there is a type of seizure that is described as a fly-bite seizure. So you might want to read up on it and if it seems familiar to you and if it keeps happening, you can talk to your vet.