I am posting in the hope of getting advice from someone who has experience of and/or knowledge of my problem. My Border terrier, male 4 y/o, has been exhibiting uncharacteristic behaviour when I take him on his walks. He has gone from an energetic ball chaser who loved to run up Clapham Common, to a dog who now strains on the lead in the direction of home and would run away if I let him off.

This literally happened over night. About 3 weeks ago he suddenly turned tail and ran away from me ignoring my recall which he has never done before. I let him off at his usual place in the middle of the common, he barked for his ball and I threw it, he got it then dropped turned round sniffed the air and bolted totally ignoring me. There was no loud noise, nothing to spook him as I explained to teh vet, we were basically alone. Thankfully he made it across the main road , a driver diligently slowing down to let him pass and found his way to thye front door. I dread to think what could have happened and still get stressed and tearful when I think of it.

My vet has put him on a homeopathic remedy pulsinilla continuous and nat. sulph for 2 weeks. He reckons it is a lack of confidence but has offered no explanation to the suddeness of this behaviour.

What used to be a joy for me and such enjoyable exercise his long ball chases,or just long walks, around the Common has turned into stressful walking as he strains to get home if we even go near the common. His tail is in alert and his ears are down??

I would be grateful if anyone could give me advice and is it fearful behaviour?

It's very hard to say exactly what it is, I do sympathise because you must feel very worried.

I take it you have seen the vet, as you say you told the vet you were basically alone when this happened.
Hmmm. Did the vet give a very thorough examination and take blood tests etc?

The reason I ask is because sometimes, a very sudden behavioural change (esp. in a mature adult dog) is cause for considering medical problems which may not be apparent on a quick once over by the vet, and often not apparent to the owner at all either, except for the change in behaviour.

I don't suppose you know if he is like this on walks away from the Common? :)j

Lindsay
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Hi BT

I would get your vet to give him as through a check as he can manage and you can afford.  Sudden changes in temperament with no obvious reason generally seem to have a serious physical cause in my experience

Just a thought, but from the way you describe he behaved, is it possible he could've been stung by a wasp? A friend of mine was out in the garden with her dog and she suddenly jumped up screaming and went mad in a panic. THere was sheer terror in her eyes, which contined for a few days afterwards. THe vet checked her over and couldn't find anything but i would imagine under a lot of dense hair a sting would be easy to miss. Something like that can really unsettle some dogs, particualarly if he doesn't know where the sudden pain stemed from.

Danlo
he got it then dropped turned round sniffed the air and bolted totally ignoring me.

Davedee
The only clue you have is this scenting triggering an acute flight drive reaction, apart from the vet I would try taking him to the very edge of the park from a different entry point to which you normally enter and just play around with food lures and talking touching etc, try it for a few mins ONLY and leave to wherever you go now, do NOT let him off lead.

Try it every day and each time from a different entrance point, if this is working, even slightly, after a few days just go a few feet further into the park and extend the time from maybe 1 min ONLY on the first try to maybe 3 mins over the period of a week, then asses any possible progress.

The reaction you describe is extreme so maybe the vet will come up with an answer in the meantime, try it anyway, it might or might not have some success.

A big thanks to everyone replying to my post. My first consideration to the change was illness and took him to the vet that same afternoon. The dog had blood tests and his leg x-rayed as he has an ongoing hip problem. He was given a clean bill of health and if anything his joint has improved, when I went back to get the results we decided on the homeopathy. On the fourth visit to the vet to collect his new prescription the vet considered his confidence has improved. Finance is not a problem as I believe if you own a dog you should meet the costs but I am not satisfied with the vet's diagnosis. I honestly do not think lack of confidence is what is wrong. I have never disagreed with the vet before and this is worrying in itself. I really think it is fear. This morning he suddenly stopped and looked around as if someone or something was following him then pulled on the lead in the direction of home that is the best way I can describe it. It is fear, this is why I am so worried, every other aspect of his behaviour has not changed. Playful as ever at home and in the garden, good appetite, stools regular firm and small. When I walk him to the bank or pet shop which are in the High St he is fine. He is accustomed to noise, fireworks, traffic and even thunder. Nothing has "spooked" him as this is the word everyone is using to me and I hope I never hear it again. Cats appearing from nowhere and dogs suddenly charging up to him startle him but he recovers quickly and either comes to me or chases them away and plays with them.

I feel this has lowered his quality of life, mine also. I am terrified of the thought he would run away if I let him off the lead when we go down to Sussex as an Olympic sprinter would have difficulty catching him he is so fast off the mark. It really is distressing as he loved his runs. I will contact his puppy trainer and perhaps in her role as behaviouist she might be able to help.

I understand exactly what he looks like when he does this from your description.
I believe it is possible for dogs to suffer from such things as agorophobia, (sp) but not sure if it can "appear" out of the blue.

When he reacted in a similar way this morning, were you out on the Common, or elsewhere?

Does he  tend to have a startle reaction to dogs? Do you feel he may be nervous of them at all?
It's just possible he may be nervous of them in open spaces and feel scared of them; perhaps he actually anticipates their arrival, or smells them at a distance, and becomes afraid.

Or, maybe his hip caught him as he grabbed his ball and that shocked/scared him?
Possibly then he may be anticipating pain and not wanting to go on walks...(just an idea).

Do you think either of those are  feasible? :)

Lindsay
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Lindsay thank you so much I think your suggestion of a startle  reaction could be correct. He is nervous in an open space if a large "dominant" dog comes bounding up to him, he becomes submissive and nervous in that situation but he always recovers quickly and resumes his play. Perhaps I have been misreading the situation and he has been fightened and expects it to happen again. I will have to be very careful from now on. I think you have pointed me in the right direction with the anticipation of a dog(s) he may be scared of.

He is used to wide open spaces, when we visit the Sussex countryside and coast never any problems and Clapham Common is quite large expanse of green land.

The area this morning is a large green which surrounds the church adjacent to the common where he had his first outside walks as a puppy and was the first place we let him off the lead so he is very familiar with that area.

His hip is not painful at the moment  vet's opinion (that will be in the future sadly) and he still chases the ball in the garden and manages to scale the fence into my neighbours, if I'm not around, when he wants to pay a visit or retrieve his ball. That is if he is not digging a hole to get under it. Border terriers will be BT's.

I will try davedee's suggestion of a gradual introduction  thanks all

William x

If it's a problem with dogs rather than (or as well as) the area, you may need help with conditioning him to be OK with other dogs and to associate their actual presence with pleasure rather than upset :) He sounds fairly fit and as if the hip is not giving him any gyp as far as can be told, so that's positive anyway.

Lindsay
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