Is it normal for an 8 month old pup to suddenly start being scared of things she has been fine with previously?  Lucy has all of a sudden become scared of the lawn mower, the hoover, a statue, a washing up bowl and numerous other things she has seen before.  Today she took fright at a couple of black people - highly embarrassing!  We're just ignoring it and carrying on as if nothing unusual as happened in the hope that it is just a phase she is going through (as if life isn't challenging enough with a bolshy 8 month old sprollie with attitude!)  Are we doing the right thing?  Will it pass?

It's said that there can be a second fear period around this age, the first being around 8-12wks.  Just go back to basics and try to re-socialise her to these things as if she were a pup.  Which means standing at a distance she feels safe at and feeding treats, generally speaking.

:-) Really amused me seeing this as Jack has just come running in from the garden where OH has started using a  strimmer....He leapt up on to my lap and tried to wriggle under my arm. He too is 8 months.

Nips who was a very confident and well socialised little pup also went through a very brief phase of being spooked by ordinary things when he was about 7 months old. All of a sudden the tumble dryer turned into a terrier eating monster and the level crossing gates near our house which he'd lived with quite happily since 8 weeks old needed to be seen off lest they take some terrible liberties with him. It was only a very brief phase and I handled it by cheerful and positive reminders not to be so daft! What I made sure I didn't do was make much of an issue about these suddenly spooky things lest he got the idea that they really were something he needed to worry about.

Caleb our beagle did the same at about a year old, was very spooked by lots of things, grew out of it, he would commondo crawl to whatever was upsetting him barking or hide behind my legs

We called it "Tigers under the bed" moments.