Sudden fearfulness

This is a recent thing for Brinley, for like 2 months now she has been absolutely TERRIFIED of strangers. She is ok if they are just standing there, although sometimes she barks at them (no big deal), but if someone goes to pet her she absolutely freaks out. The other day I had brought her to the pet store with me and was holding her when someone went to pet her she started freaking out, clawing me and makign this awful screaming noise. She did it again yesterday at the vets office as well and this has been an issue on our walks when we meet people. She is EXTREMELY loving to people she knows and is great with other dogs. We have had her for over a year and this just started about 2 months ago. I have no idea why it has happened or how to change it. Please help me, I dont want her to live fearful of perfectly friendly people.

Just some info you may ask about: She is a pug/beagle mix, about 24 lbs, 1 yr 3 mnths old. We have had her for just over a year. We have one other pug/beagle mix that we rescued about 4 months ago. She has never been hit or abused. I should also mention that prior to 2 months ago, she went up to all sorts of strangers, she loved everyone and always wanted random people to pet her and didnt mind if someone picked her up.

Do you take both dogs together? Have you tried taking both dogs together and see if she freaks? The time frame between getting the rescued dog and her subsequent change seem connected to me.

If you have changed your amount of attention/play, that can affect the dog. One key to having more than one dog is to treat every dog equally.

Yes, they go everywhere together and Butch DID come tot he vet with us yesterday. Where one goes, the other follows.

Our attention to her has not changed at all. now that we have two dogs, we give out double the love. It is just my husband and I so if Butch is cuddling with my husband, I am cuddling with Brinley and vice versa. There is definitly no lack of dog love in our house, if anything there is too much, lol.

I am just getting really concerned about Brinley. I'm afraid that someone might have done something to her one time when we boarded them, but there is no way I can know if that is true.

Try separating them and see if her behavior is the same. She may be trying to be the dominant dog---her actions might indicate she is confused about who is the pack leader.

I am positive that this is not the case as the story I mentioned about her in the petstore was her without Butch.

bump up......i need some more advice