I have a 14 month Irish Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the last couple of weeks he's been acting really strange. He has episodes... panting, heavy breathing, shaking, looking around the room as if he's scared. Rather than normally sitting with us on the sofa, he would rather be upstairs hiding in the spare room or sat by the front door. He has been to the vets twice now and they have given him some calmer tablets... they have calmed him but he still insists on lying elsewhere and doesn't seem very happy. Any ideas?

It could be he is just hot.

Have you been having a few thunder storms in your area, we've had several round our way?  Some dogs get quiet stressed from this even if it's in the distance. Try him with a DAP collar or diffuser.

I thought that at first but it's not as its been hot for a while and even when he is cool he is doing it still, He just seems fed up and scared of something in our house.  He is fine at my mums house as she has him normally during the day when i am at work.  Its been warm before and he has never acting like this its just totally out of the blue.  Vet says it may be start of epilepsy so now am worrying and just waiting for him to have a seizure.  I still think it has something to do with him psychologically.  If you can recommend any one who could help with this would be very grateful?

What is a DAP collar or difuser there has been nothing that sticks out thats scared him, he would normally bark at something that scared him, one night he would not slepp at all but because i was worrying i was up the whole night too.  I think it is prob in his head but wanted to   get the all clear from the vets first as he suggest blood tests and an ultra sound which would cost 160.00 plus we have no pet insurance.

you can get DAP from this site..

[url=http://www.viovet.co.uk

You need to be careful to not let your dog sense you are worried about him as he will probably feed off your fear and make himself worse.

I realise that vets can be expensive as I have 4 animal which I brought into the country with existing conditions which make them un-insurable and very expensive. Please talk to your vet as he would not suggest these tests if he didn't think they were needed and maybe he would allow some kind of weekly payment plan.  Although this problem may just be 'in his head' it could be more serious and longer it is left the more expensive it could be to treat.

what about his vision if he is used to your mums house maybe he gets scared when he is home, maybe have his eyes checked out and staffs do have the eye problems dont they.

Louise

Also, he could be at that age when some Staffords go through the 'monster under the bed' type syndrome, i.e. frightened of their own shadow!

Has any of your neighbours got a sonic pest repeller? or dog bark stopper?  you might not be able to hear it working but he certainly would.  

You wouldn't happen to have a smoke or carbon monoxide detector that needs a new battery would you? My daughters akita is very sensitive to high pitched noise and one day while staying with us, we noticed her acting strangely. She was shaking, creeping along the floor, wouldn't go in certain rooms or would rush from them.....eventually she wouldn't come in the house, she was shaking with fear  :( ........turned out she could hear the detector upstairs beeping!!

She has since done exactly the same at daughters house but this time Bec knew what the cause would be :-D

You wouldn't happen to have a smoke or carbon monoxide detector that needs a new battery would you?

Same for me, i couldn't work out for few days what was causing 3 of my dogs to be constantly up and about.  Trying to get behind things.  Changed the smoke alarm battery as it finally started to beep and they were back to normal.

Emma

Our neighbour has a sonic dog alarm unit and it is on all day and all night at a very audible frequency.  When it first went on my dogs fixated on it and barked at it because of the constant noise it made LOL. It think maybe it hurt their ears. Certainly didn't work as a bark alarm, but they were very wary when it went up.  The cat ones are less audible to us but you dog can certainly hear them and it is very distressing.  When the husband was away the wife turning the thing off and everything was peace and harmony again with very little barking or whining.