hi everyone-this behaviour is really weirding me out!two of my collies have always been a bit neurotic-freaking at thunderstorms,fireworks(though i guess thats quite common)also,things like a pop bottle suddenly expanding and making a pop-sudden empty room as they slink off,also smoke alarm,when it beeps to let you know it needs a new battery,so when this behaviour started,i considered it may be due to some noise id not registered,being slightly deaf.(i did put my hearing aids in and listened everywhere,also asked my daughter to pop in and have a listen),rather than my other thought,that "something"may have got in,as i leave my back door open(safe back garden)for the cats-i guessed theyd be sniffing about,rather then the seemingly terrified they are.

     it started one morning after our early walk(back at6am)one dog shot up the garden,the other two went upstairs,one the spare room,one in the furthest corner under my bed(this one being river,my"hardest" one!)i registered this as weird,had a quick check round the house,nothing obvious,but they werent happy! when it was breakfast time,there was more odd behaviour-not wanting to go to their usual places,but did eat.i give them a small biscuit after-tried to give jess hers_shes on a diet and never refuses food-she kept looking past me and at the front door-wouldnt eat it!(i checked out the front,nothing)

luckily they seemed to get back to normal-after a couple of hours,but last night i practically had to drag gwen in from the garden so we could go to bed,she did not want to come in!then this morning after the walk,i couldnt get jess to come into the house!never happened before!at the moment i have my "hard one in here,behind the chair,the other two are outside-right at the top of the garden!this is all such odd behaviour! what on earth could they be scared of-oh,i forgot to say-jess wouldnt eat her dinner last night-no bad thing as shes dieting,but theyre all clearly worried-as am i!help please!x

Ordinarily I would be saying to go straight to the vet but with them all doing it, it does sound like something has frightened them.  If you didn't have your hearing aids in and with them being collies it's very possible they all heard something you didn't - if it was quite high pitched as well it could be more scary.

Or indeed as you say, perhaps something got in - fox maybe?  Some dogs get really quite upset if they can smell that a fox has been around.  Or even something random like an escaped ferret!

It might be some kind of noise, they can hear at much higher frequency than humans can, also this time of year some very young animals born within this past couple of months will probably make unfamilar sounds their adult counterparts do no make as well as different scents, but, whatever it is what you say does indicate something unfamilar 'to them' in their environment.

Or even something random like an escaped ferret!

Yes, it could be some animal escaped.

We have a charger for a rechargable torch that makes a really high pitched noise. I can't go in the kitchen when its charging. My OH can't hear it at all.

A non-doggy friend of mine woke up one morning to find a corn snake fast asleep on the kitchen doormat. It belonged to the neighbours (semi-detached house) but had been missing for TWO years!
Hopefully this is not what has frightened the dogs, and that things are back to normal!

I wonder if a neighbour has one of those sonic pest deterrents or those that are supposed to stop barking dogs???

thanks for your replies everyone-all is back to normal now,the neurotic bunch,bless them!nikita-when we first moved in here we did have an escaped ferret!he d run across the road and made himself comfortable!one neighbour is away,the other is my daughter,so i dont think its that,brainless(i feel rude putting that-youre definately not!)unless the sonic things could travel further than next door. i never did find out what caused it,but refusing food,refusing to come in the house-hiding when they were in the house,well it had me really spooked,especially when a daughter said"youve got a spirit!)oh cheers-id prefer the ferret!thanks everyone who answered,bless you all xx

hope not!eeek!xxx

i did wonder if it was my cooker-it has an automatic timer that i simply dont understand how to get it to zero(second hand cooker)and it periodically beeps-i cant hear it unless someone is there who says"whats that noise?"but i checked it-i can hear it if im close enough-nope!daughter suggested my henry hoover as id just bought him,but before i could hide him away,they all relaxed!xxx

it may well have been an odd noise,we have car alarms going off around here,there are new cows down the fields,foxes and hedgehogs walk up the street,cats have arguments-and they are pretty sensitive to odd noises.i guess i ll never know,but boy am i pleased theyre back to normal-that morning when jess wouldnt come in the house after a walk-i always take their leads off at the door-the look in her eye said"i dont like this-im off!"and im sure it was only my sharp voice got her in the house-im so pleased they seem"normal"again!x

Are you in one of the areas that had earthquakes recently?  Or did it all start away from when the first one happened?  Roughly late April I think it was.

no i dont think we are in that area-nottingham?i dont know to be honest,but it only lasted 3 days last week,but it really freaked me out-its not so bad when you KNOW whats scaring your dogs!xx

update-think ive sussed it!a friend was here and she could hear a "beep" intermittently while we were talking.i couldnt hear it at all-even with hearing aids in!turns out as i have a warning for low credit on my smart meter-i thought it was just the visual warning when it reached 5 pounds,anyway ive been watching and waiting-this morning Gwen shot out like a startled rabbit after the walk so i checked the meter-sure enough,the visual warning was up! topped up-now just have to wait(up to 2 hours)for it to get to the meter.Im glad to have sorted itDogs,eh! and i still cant hear it at all.xx

Well well.makes perfect sense and would be useful if the peep was louder by the sounds of it or u might run out of electric. Very annoying.  Maybe in future u will habe a dog alarm instead:) hope she is settled now 2 hours for it to sort the meter out !!! Ridiculous so much for new technology

Glad you’ve sussed it! Much more preferable to a snake anyway!

Aha!  Glad you've found the source :)

turns out as i have a warning for low credit on my smart meter

Only constructive advice I can give is, try a turn on 'Britains Got Talent', with gags like this you'll go far........
.

very true!xxx

thankyou!xxx

ive turned the darn thing off,i never relied on the warning anyway!hopefully,peace reigns,now!xxxx