Finn's acting weird.

AllieMackie

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#1
Nothing huge, just a few little things that are kind of bugging me.

The "big" one is that he's suddenly... fearful? Seems he's scared of the broom suddenly, no idea why. It's fell on him several times before from him walking into it, but not in the past few months. Suddenly he's avoiding it at all costs. He hid in the corner of my bedroom because it was leaning near the doorway. :rolleyes:

He also seems fearful of going down stairs before me all of a sudden. I'm always mindful of him when going up or down stairs, he's never been pushed down stairs my me or my roomies, even accidentally. It's so odd.

Overall he just seems really... wary? He's hyperscanning a lot and weirding out/warning barking at seemingly nothing. This has been going on for a few days. I've been trying to be observant on what he avoids, looks at, shies away from... all I can figure is the stairs and broom things, but I'm sure there's something causing all of it. It's all so sudden. :(

His health is superb. Eating well, drinking well, healthy eliminations, he's not lethargic at all, he's happy to play. It's just sudden fears. So weird.

Right now I'm click/treating for going down stairs without fear and for approaching the broom. We'll work on nose touches next, I think. Any suggestions are welcome, this is weird behaviour and I don't like a scared Finn. :( I work very hard with him to make sure he's comfortable with all noises and objects, and it seems like it all fell apart within a day and I can't pinpoint why. It's frustrating.
 

AgilityPup

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#3
Psyche randomly grew into a fear of the nailclippers. She had never been quicked or had a bad experience... I wish I could tell you why she did, and why Finn now has these issues, but honestly, those border collies are weird critters.

I hope you're able to get the scardy Finn to go away and bring back Happy-go-lucky Finn.
 
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#4
Alot of times thyroid problems can cause weird temperament changes. A friend of mine has a Belgian who was totally normal until he reached his adult years and he became fear aggressive towards people and other dogs -- totally unlike him, he was always very friendly and outgoing before. Turns out he was hypothyroid. After going on meds he returned to normal.
 

Zoom

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#5
Sawyer picked up a bizarre phobia of the dishwasher when he was around 4-5. *shrug* Our dogs are just weird?
 

JacksonsMom

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#6
Jackson is like this sometimes but I usually know why he's afraid of something, it doesn't usually just pop up for no reason. For example, a few months back, my mom was cooking in the oven and opened it and the smoke alarm went off and was REALLY loud. He got really scared! Well, I went to my dads house a few nights later and could not for the life of me figure out why he was acting so skiddish and running away from the kitchen while my stepmom was making a pizza.... and then it clicked! He remembers freakin' everything. So now he is VERY cautious and fearful of the oven and won't even step near the kitchen when they are cooking with it. He has no issues with the stove, the microwave, toaster, anything else. I'm trying to do the same thing you are and c/t everytime he comes near the stove but have not worked on it as much as I should be. Anyways... once he gets these little fears in his head, it's hard to get them out. In general, he's a pretty confident dog about most things but he's also VERY shy and sensitive.
 

AllieMackie

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#7
haha, thanks guys. It really isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it sound... I'm just used to fearless-Finn and it's frustrating not to know what's bothering him.

He's two years old, and thyroid issues crossed my mind (having Hashimoto's myself I know how thyroid issues can cause a ridiculous array of symptoms). I honestly don't think a health issue's the case though - something spooked him, I just have no idea what.

He does have his annual vet appointment coming up soon, so if it's still going on I may mention it anyway, see what my vet has to say.
 
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#8
Any changes to your household lately? Chewy warning-barks at absolutely everything when my parents leave. She's usually mellow and only barks a few times when people come in, but it's over the top when they leave.
 

Shai

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#9
Just asking because Kim hit a third fear period around 2 years old, and I know several people who've had the same issue. Treated it like any other fear period and a couple months later they were fine again. Usually, though, these are dogs that had fairly pronounced earlier fear periods and a lot of the same behaviors resurfaced, though not as strongly as before.
 

Lizmo

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#10
This is random, but I've noticed this will happen with Blaze. It's not long, maybe a day or two at most, but he'll just randomly act shy around a certain thing or two. It's like, where did that come from Blaze?

These 'shy episodes' don't last long and are very few and far between. No idea what causes them. I wonder if it might be a hightened sense of a select surrounding?
 

AllieMackie

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#11
This is random, but I've noticed this will happen with Blaze. It's not long, maybe a day or two at most, but he'll just randomly act shy around a certain thing or two. It's like, where did that come from Blaze?

These 'shy episodes' don't last long and are very few and far between. No idea what causes them. I wonder if it might be a hightened sense of a select surrounding?
Could be!

This is the third day, but he's much less wary than he was the first day. I think keeping things positive and happy and treating when in the situations he fears is helping immensely. :)

I noticed tonight that he also has a few HUGE mats in his rear leg feathers, probably from his dogpark romp. That would be causing some issues, too. I know when he's gotten mats before, they stressed him out because they were uncomfortable. When Matt gets home he's getting a trim!
 

elegy

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#12
ah border collies. such sensitive souls.

i hope he's back to his normal self soon.
 

AllieMackie

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#13
Update:

After a few days, I came to the realization that his wariness and odd behaviour was more that he seemed in discomfort (except for the broom thing, still can't explain that one).

I could hear his tummy and it was aaaangry. Rumblerumblerumble. He also had bad gas out both ends, and was showing discomfort when wanting to play (he would initiate play, but then suddenly want to lay down). No other symptoms though, so I figured he just had a bit of an angry tummy.

We had a meet n' greet with our new vet just down the road last night that I had scheduled anyway, so I called them and asked them their thoughts. When we got there, the vet was kind enough to give him a quick look-over for free, including taking his temp. Vet also concluded that he simply has an angry tummy, probably from some random thing he ate. Dogs.

So, Mr. UpsetTummy is on a bland diet for a few days. I got some beef-flavoured probiotic powder at the vet, and he DEVOURED his bland breakfast with that sprinkled on top, so woohoo! I'm really lucky with my timing vetwise, since we were meeting him for the first time I imagine the act of kindness was part of wanting us to choose them as our new vet. ;) He's a great guy, knowledgeable, and the staff is very courteous, so I think they have Finn as a new patient.

Hopefully that was at least part of the cause. I'd sure be acting weird if my tummy was angry for a few days. :)
 

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