Scared and Shaking in Dogs

I've got a staffordshire terrier/ Pitbull mix named Lola. About 2 weeks ago she started having these "fits" in which she would stay far away from me or anyone else. She never had this problem before and I've got no idea what it could be. When she has a fit, I try to rub her body to see if she is bruised but as soon as I start aprouching her she darts away! What can I do?

One day she is totally fine, and the next day she freaks out over nothing. Whether it be men, strangers, or loud noises. I have no idea what her specific triggers are because she shows inconsistency with her reactions. For example, last week I walked her on a very familiar route, she sees the same environment often. Today, I took that same route, stopped and talked to two guys and she wouldn't even come near them. She ran off during the conversation because she heard a door open. Its random and I see no rhyme or reason. What should I do? Is there training to combat this? (shes a well trained dog for the most part)

I left my seven-year-old Chihuahua for 1 hour and he seemed to be fine and I came back one hour later and he was shaking uncontrollably like he was scared. There has been no environmental change within the household and he doesn't appear physically sick or hurt. He follows me around and won't leave my side. When I sit down with him and snuggle with him he is fine and stops shaking but that's the only time he will stop. I cannot get him to eat or drink with even his favorite foods. I am very confused.

My dog has recently started shaking and trying to give me his paws as if to get my attention for no apparent reason. He has always had a bit of anxiety (separation anxiety) and tends to follow me around for a portion of the day. Also afraid of loud noises (thunderstorms and wind in particular). He is very OCD, has a set daily routine for when he wants to be let outside, when he eats and such. Could a change in his routine be causing him to shake as a result of increased anxiety? He is not currently on any medication but wondering if it would help. Also wondering how to let him know everything is fine without feeding into his anxiety and making it worse. We adopted him at age 3, so unsure of any causes of initial anxiety.

I have a two year old dachshund who whimpers and urinates when strangers try to approach or pet her. When I’m not home she stays curled up in a ball in a corner of the house. I’ve had her since she was 6 months old and she has never done this before. Her other problem is that she barks at strangers and when someone knocks the door or rings the doorbell. She barks at strangers that come into the house. I don’t know where all this behavior came from or what started it all. Please help. I am expecting a baby soon and I don’t want this to become worse.

Hello
I recently adopted a 9 y/o Maltese/poodle, he's been with us for over a month now. He is incredibly social, high energy and sweet. Yesterday I noticed on our normal walk he suddenly became very timid out of no where. He fell behind me, head and tail went down and almost refused to come walk in front. He didn't eat anything random during our walk, nothing strange happened, it was just our normal route. Later in the night we did have two friends over to which he greeted with enthusiasm and excitement and was being his normal playful self until I gave him a bacon treat (he gets one daily and typically loves them) but we suddenly noticed when he snapped it the noise scared him so badly he jumped and coward beneath me. It happened two more times that night when he continued to eat it, every time it snapped it was as if a firework went off. He has never been sensitive to such noises or displayed behavior like that. I do understand having strangers in the house may have played in but the behavior started while it was just he and I, and for the rest of the night he would randomly shake, as well as trying to be as close to me as possible including him laying on top of me which he doesn't do. I just can't tell if this is because he met new people or something I should worry about, his only other symptom is slight lethargy so far.
Thank you for your time,
Kelly

My dog acts scared of my husband. He has never been abusive to her, but sometimes even without him touching/ being near her, she will cry and yipe. She goes to him when called, and licks him, but she shakes the entire time. I am not her first owner and I know she was previously abused. Could this behavior be caused by a traumatic event from her past?

hi,
my dog is acting weird and not her normal self. she is acting weird, scared and sometimes trembling/shaking, she is breathing heavy as well and moves around when she lays down.

My dog showed signs of pain from her dew claw being broken last weekend, she let me touch and inspect it then, it didn’t seem to affect her ability to walk or play so I was just keeping an eye on it. 3 days later I came home from work at lunch and she seemed fine, when I got home that evening she didn’t greet me and I found her in my bed shaking terribly and couldn’t figure out why. We have another dog but they historically get along well. The only thing I can think would have happened is perhaps the mailman rang the doorbell and she ran down the stairs to bark at the bell. She’s been acting quite strange since then. It kind of seems on and off, in the AM she went outside as normal and was chasing and playing with me but this evening she yelped as I reached for her without even touching her. She seems uncomfortable and just not herself. I don’t know what to do, she’s eating all of her food and pooping like normal, she may be eating just a bit slower than usual. She acts scared when me or my husband approach her and yelps if we reach out, before this episode she’d snuggle with us everyday on the couch.

Hi! Recently we moved to a new place that is different from what we used to live in. It has more windows/light exposure and our dog seem to have hard time adapting to new place. He was fine at first, but after recent thunderstorm, he became scared of almost everything. Today, we were in a balcony and he saw birds flying high above in a V formation, and he started shaking and run for the bathroom, no windows, which became his hiding place. I noticed change in behavior with other people and dogs as well, he used to be very social/friendly puppy, and now that he grew up a bit, he seems to be taking different approach to socializing. Please advice and thank you in advance!

Tiny panting every now and then, she don't like to be bother quietly lay a side.
Her body does shake a little and when I holding her I feel her temperature is not as warm as use to be. So far Tiny eats her snack and haven't see her drinking water yet. As now, she is still quietly taking a nap with a blanket on her .

My dog(who is a senior)suddenly decided she will randomly become afraid of nothing, she was fine a few days ago, and now for the past two days, she out of no where becomes scared and panicky. I know shaking is a common thing with Chihuahuas but this is not normal behavior for her. The only possibly traumatic thing I can think of that has recently happened is a bath she had two days ago. I don't know if somethings wrong or if its just a passing phase, but I don't like seeing her like this. What should I do?

I have a 6 year old small pit mix named Lucie. She has always been a little anxious or anxiously aggressive to people who are not my mother or I. We literally took her off of the street when she was about 6 weeks old; however, she is very attached to me. My mom texted me this morning, as my dogs live with her while I am in college, and said that now she is more anxious and aggressive than ever. She only wants to stay in the utility room, she growls when my step dad talks, she doesn't seem to even want to be around my mom. She dug a massive hole last night against the side of the house - whereas normally she would do it because there is a dog next door but this hole wasn't by the fence. My mom said she is tucking her tail and does not seem to want to spend any time with the family. She's always been a little weird around men - so has never really liked my step dad much; however, I wouldn't think she would suddenly become afraid of my mom. Does she just need to go on anti anxiety medication, or are there perhaps household products that could be causing this random influx of nervousness, and anxiety/aggression? Could this be separation anxiety, as I was at my mother's house just a few weeks ago?

Hey, my dog is a mixed breed and he's 8 years old (turning 9 in October). Now he's always been scared of rain and starts shaking, but recently he's been shaking and getting scared of nothing. Just suddenly his head would jerk up like he heard something, then would start shaking slightly. There's no loud noise or anything, he just starts slightly shaking. Other than that he's a silly and loving dog. My mom thinks he might have anxiety.

Why does my dog get scared when there is nothing there? tonight he went in my room and after a minute he came out and was really scared. after i saw him i went in there and didn't see any pee or poop, and he didn't chew anything up. so it wasn't guilt i knew for sure. i picked him up and brought him in there, during this time he was shaking. i was looking around and a few seconds later he jumps out of fear and tries to run out of my arms. after i didn't make him go back in and for the night he stayed beside me shaking. what happened?

My dog is 4-6 years old. He is a small tibetan terrier/jack russel/maltese mix (we are not sure, he is a rescue). He has recently begun shaking/increased heartrate only during the day and sometimes panting. He has also gotten more cuddly. He is completely fine at night before bed with normal breathing and in the mornings. He stays that way until after we bring him back inside and settle him. Once he is settled he shakes all day long until night/bedtime.

Hey there!

I have a one year old Jack Mix. I adopted him when he was about 5-6 months old. I have noticed that he becomes VERY scared at little noises that may occur (ceiling being turned on, dryer sound going off, etc). When this happens, he becomes very anxious, shakes really hard, panting, and will not stop for quite a while. These episodes can last for hours at times. The last three days this has happened to him at least once. The last two nights he has also woken us up around 2:30am panting and anxious and will not lay back down and go to sleep. I have definitely determined that this anxious behavior occurs from something scaring him, but I guess my main question is.... is this something we just deal with and let is pass each time? Or do I need to get him seen by a Vet?
Thank you!!
Very Concerned Dog Parent...

Ok so I have a Shiba Inu x Chihuahua mix and we got a mew dog this summer and he was fine. we juss recently took this dog to the shelter because she was too much to handle. after she left the Shiba started peeing and pooping all around the house as well as shivering and acting scared. we would beat him for going to the bathroom because he knows better. we also put the dogs in the backyard if we cant walk them at the moment and he refuses to go. i wouldnt say he’s scared to go outside because he still loves to go on walks. when he doesnt want to do something he pees on the floor and then tries to hide under my bed. this is where he is usually but now it seems like hes hiding and if you call him he wont answer im getting a little frustrated with him and i wanna see whats wrong before i do anything. hopefully you can resolve this issue.

My Bella, a rat terrier, 8 years old. Last night we had neighbors doing horribly loud fireworks going on for about 3 hours straight. Today she is still scared. Shaking, yelping when anyone gets close. She is usually such a cuddler. Is this an after effect or maybe something else? She can’t get comfortable trying to lay down.. can’t sleep and she is so tired.

H. I HAVE female dog, she is 3 years old. In July 2017. she had panick attach one morning. The same behaviour repeated 2 week later but it was much shorter. In december od 2017. our problems came back. She starting to act like we have some ghoste in house. She starts shaking,pant..she become very becomes nervous. I have some videos of her that i will put link so you can see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABt_VwDoSPA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsaVkz3pE4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlbc8fJGpQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbX4tDrW9_I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3d9dvCzIQA

We made biochemical tests and evrything is fine. Onyl parameter AMY
it's a bit low (her result is 321 and normlan amount is 400-1500), and parameters ALT it's a bit high (her result is 90 and normal amount is 0-88). We also looked at her thyroid gland and all hormons (FT4,T4,T3,TSH) are fine. Im really worried for her because is not so nice looking evryday at your scared dog. Some days are better, some worse. Can you please give me some advice.

Over the summer my lab mix started being afraid of everything and even nothing. She doesn’t even want to go outside at all. She gets frantic, shaking, shows the whites in her eyes and jumps up trying to climb in windows. We have claw marks on walls and doors, she has pulled the screen door off a number of times. She is truly terrified over what seems to be nothing. We have spent hours outside with her trying to figure it out and are unable to narrow it down. When you are outside with her she is glued to your side and shakes like a leaf. I try to hug and comfort. She lets me, but doesn’t calm down till I take her back in. Our trainer came out and said it didn’t seem like a training issue as she is terrified. We took her to the vet and they ran labs. Those came back normal. It really seems like she has gone totally crazy and I don’t know what to do. It seems like the only place she calms down is inside. But other times she goes outside and is fine for a short period of time....it’s really strange

My dog is suddenly shaky and scared, she goes from room to room anytime there is movement around her. If she is laying down and she hears you move towards her or enter the room near her, she jumps up and go to another room. She likes our presence in the room, but she is afraid of sudden movements. She is taking medicine for arthritis and this behavior didn’t start until after a week into taking the medicine. What should I do?

I have a Maltese that has been having severe ear infections off and on for about 6 months or more. Now for the last 4 months off and on she seems very scare, tail down,rapid breathing,and during this time she will not eat or drink and wants you to hold her. Sometimes she trys to climb up on your shoulder. She will hide behind the tv or behind our bed. I have taking her to the Vet so many times and this time she is being treated for ear infection,allergy medicine for itching, and yesterday they put her on anxiety medicine and we are waiting for results on lab work. But she kept me up all night and I'm in tears because I don't know what to do for her. Please help me.

My dog went outside to pee, and when he came inside he was dirty. He was full of weeds like he was rolling. He now doesn't want to be held or touched and wants to stay in his cage. When we touch him by his head he cries. My dog looks at me with fear like Iam going to hurt him. This is not like him.

Hello!

My dog, Nala, is a 3 year old Shiba Inu. She is very friendly to people and loves meeting everyone who comes to our house and when we are out of the house. Unlike the Shiba's repution, Nala is not scared of strangers. However, she is extremely afraid of our housekeeper, Lana. Lana has been working for us before we even got Nala so she isnt new to her. Whenever Nala senses Lana pull up in her car, she starts shaking and cowering into a corner. Lana has never harmed Nala and despite Nala's behavior towards her, she loves her. Nala lets her walk her and pet her but she is visibly very scared. I dont understand why or what scares her so much. Nala is scared of the vacuum, is it possible that she fears her since she uses the vacuum? She seems to be more scared and anxious when I or any members of the family are home at the same time Lana is there. When it is just Nala and Lana, she is not afraid. If anyone has any insight as to why this could be happening, it would be greatly appreciated!!

I had taken my dogs out to eat in the back yard. Two of the dogs were fighting for the food and then i sepperate them. But then the dog starts attacking bambi and bambi falls to the ground with his neck facing to the side and his legs cramped. I picked him up right away and started hugging him. Now he doesnt want to be held and is scratching/holding his head every minute and crying. Pls help i dont know what to do

My dog (mixed breed) Chico got out and was fine when he came back however a couple hours later was scared and shaking. It stopped later that evening and he was fine the next day however today he has begun to shake and act scared again. He won’t leave my room and if he does he stays very close to me with his tail between his legs. I put pressure around his body and his paws and he didn’t show any signs of discomfort or pain. Earlier I blamed it on the rain because he doesn’t like thunder, however, now it’s not raining and his symptoms persist.

I have a 5 year old rescue Shih Tzu. We moved into our new house about 3 years ago. Ever since, he has been fine in our new place! He has always been a happy little pup, and excited to play and cuddle. Over the weekend, he has become what appears to be terrified of our house. He will just start shaking out of nowhere, with his tail between his legs. He never behaves this way unless there's fire or fireworks. Extremely lethargic, and almost paralyzed by fear. I thought he was sick, so I took him to the vet. We ran multiple blood tests, and everything came back normal. This has been going on for about 4 days now, and he won't sleep because he stays alert and shaking. This is causing me not to sleep because i try to stay up with him to make him comfortable. I have even given him some over the counter calming treats, but those are not seeming to help. It definitely seems like he is just scared of the house because when I took him to the vet, he was his normal self again. When I took him on a car ride around the block last night, he was fine...until he walked back into our house. Please help!

Toby has always been underweight and has never been a food motivated dog. I have taken him to several vets and tried almost every grain free/chicken free/ you name it free dog food. I have put him on a raw diet with supplements. Nothing has worked for him to put on weight. His weight issue is not completely my concern right now. Recently, Toby has been acting very scared and he will only follow me around the house, whereas before he was glued to the hip to my boyfriend. He also gets really yelpy, barky and snippy when our other dog tries to play with him, whereas before he could be body checked by her and he would want more play. We had a specialist look at him recently who ran some bloodwork- a thyroid and cortisol test and everything came back normal. Toby has also had several other tests in the past that have come back normal as well. The specialist I recently saw said he has a stage II heart murmur, but I don't know if this would cause his behavior to be this way.

My 6 month old english springer spaniel, Zoey, has very randomly been experiencing these freak outs. They always happen at night time, she could be laying on the couch and will wake up screaming and back peddling her legs and sometimes urinates. I thought she was just getting scared at first but then I was cleaning her ears like I do everyother night and got half way done and she started freaking out, her eyes went completely black and she bit me. I don't think I hurt her because she had been pushing her ear into my hand like it felt good and after she calmed down, she let me finish without difficulty. I'm just very concerned and not sure what to think, she is such a sweetheart and I'm really worried.

My puppy Taz is two years old and a toy poodle. He has always been a happy, playful fellow. He has never been scared of any person or anything! He is with me all day long at work and then we go home. He gets plenty of attention and play time. Three weeks ago I took him to the vet because he was sick. The vet diagnosed him with a bug and treated him. Two weeks later he went back and all his tests were normal. He seemed back to his healthy, happy self. He is no stranger to the vet and he loves his vet very much. Then a few days later, all of a sudden he starts acting scared and shaking. He sticks his tail betweeen his legs and acts sad. He even acts afraid of me and looks around like something is going to get him. Please help. No one has hurt him. I haven’t changed anything in his environment. I am clueless to why this is happening.

We have a toxic mold and infestation of some bugs, some microscopic. We moved and it came with us. We feel something I have even caught stuff flying in the air on video. We can't see these, can my dogs? I can't find a vet that believes me. Our home flooded, it flooded our septic system and we have been in a true nightmare since and nobody believes us. Nobody will help. Is it possible, this day & time that we have microbes parasites that have taken over. That's what we feel like. I clean, I wipe walls, we bought air purifiers, dehumidifier and we still have stuff on us. Any idea? I know it sounds crazy but if someone doesn't acknowledged and investigate this & help us, we are afraid this will kill the dogs. We have been very I'll. I can't image how their little bodies can handle this. I have headaches, nose bleeds, allergies, nausea and vomiting as well as neurological, gastrointestinal and other issues now.

Hey I have a French bulldog he is 19 months he is playful / very lazy yesterday mid evening out of no where he began to shiver then a few hours later shivered again this morning he was shivering and a while ago when I got hom and he saw me and he's sleeping at the moment I pulled out a laser to play with him to see what he would do and he was going crazy chasing it like he normally would I believe he suffers from anxiety do to the fact that he can not hear He normally greets me buying running to me and taking me a toy to play with this time he did not he just shivered/shaked i'm wondering if I should be concerned he was never shivered / shakes before thank you

My 5 and half month old cockapoo Evie suddenly started shaking one evening. This happened when we moved her crate and toys and her to the basement to make space for the cleaning ladies to clean. My kids were with Evie in the basement when she started shaking and threw up in between. She couldn't stand up and kept falling over. We took her to the ER and they did some blood work and kept her for observation and finally sent her home when she was fine. They said it could be a lever shunt or some neurological issue and did blood work and amonia test. Everytime was normal. This shaking happened for about 3 hours. Then a week later, Evie started shaking again, unable to stand or eat, was very scared of everything and I held her in my lap for a long time but she continued shaking so we took her to the vet who repeated the tests. Evie continued shaking and threw up and then finally stopped shaking and was perfectly normal the next morning. The vet called and said blood work is fine so it is mostly not liver shunt and we should consult a neurologist. They have never seen anything like that. We are very confused as to what could be going on. Already spent $1000 in these 2 visits with absolutely no direction as to what is going on. Appreciate your response and guidance. TIA.

My mother’s chihuahua is 6 years old and has never exhibited the type of behavior she has recently- last night, she was walking upstairs and appeared to be spooked and started shaking and panting. She eventually calmed down but was out for a walk this morning and it happened again when she sniffed around some bushes.

My boy dog lays down on his stomach when he sees a dog larger than him. He then starts to shake like he's freezing. Once the dog passed he gets up and starts barking and looks like he wants to attck. My girl dog whines then starts to bark wanting to attack.

If it was a larger dog further away my boy dog is ok but my girl dog will want to bark at the dog. My girl dog usually triggers my boy dog. I try to hold my girl dog next to me while kneeling but she still barks and wants to attack. She also whimpers after the larger dog is out of sight.

Girl (mixed German Shepard and Chihuahua) is about 3 and the boy (malamute and rat terrier) is about 4.5 yrs.

My deaf dog has recently started acting strangely. She is normally high energy and affectionate, but for the last two days she has been hiding in the bathroom and trembling on and off. She refuses to come out of the bathroom and we have to drag her outside so she doesn't have an accident in the house. She seems to drink when I put her bowl in the bathroom, and she eats chicken and treats.

She is afraid of smoke, and we recently cooked something a little smokey, so I understood why she seemed stressed out that night, and the next morning she seemed fine. She was eating and playing with our other dog, barking at the window, asking for pets. But I left the room, cooked a grilled cheese, and she went back to trembling and hiding, which has been this two day episode. She went to daycare today (her favorite thing) and only played for the first 40 minutes before she was hiding there as well.

There are no other symptoms, no vomiting, no diarrhoea, just the trembling and hiding.