Barking - at nothing

[Dame]

So, Winston has picked up an interesting little habit lately... barking at thin air. First I thought he was reacting to noise outside of the apt (since it can be loud here sometimes) or to our chinchilla. Unfortunately, he's not.

He is in fact barking at nothing. The hardest and most puzzling thing of all is - he is very scared. We just got finished with a nice extended session of it, and he was being incredibly protective of me and was clearly very shook up and shaken. I've resorted to putting him in his crate early for the moment since we're going to bed in a few anyway.

I am at a loss of what to do here. I tried scolding him, which doesn't help much on the protective instinct he is going with (and I worry about doing it too much and having him think I am encouraging him.) I don't want to get in the habit of picking him up and coddling him since I don't want him to think barking = affection (which didn't help much anyway.) If it was actually noise I would try to desensitize him, but there isn't anything to do it with.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Beyond chalking this up to him being a ghost or something I'm at a loss here.

[suda]

Maybe he can hear something you can't hear as they have great hearing, when my boy does that I try distracting him with a squeaky toy or just carry him to another room and he forgets what all the barking is about

[Dame]

Originally Posted by suda

Maybe he can hear something you can't hear as they have great hearing, when my boy does that I try distracting him with a squeaky toy or just carry him to another room and he forgets what all the barking is about

I thought about that too, but he's been doing it even when there is no one else home in the building (and the sounds shouldn't be anything more then he's used to.) I think the most worrying thing for me it, I really can't distract him. He does into such an "attack mode" that I think if something were to fall or move or do anything he'd charge and rip it to shreds.

[suda]

lets hope some else has an idea what to do and it solves your problem or try searching back in previous barking threads, there must be an answer as there are so many helpful yorkie talkers out there.

[RoxyLuv]

How old is you little one? Roxy has behaved in a similar way at times. It took some time to figure out the problem, cuz it sure was a mystery. Each time I figured out it was a shadow, the blinds or curtain moving ever so slightly from a fan, the wind, reflection in a window, or some such thing. I had to really watch exactly where she was looking & try to figure it out. In the case of the frightening dishwasher (which you can hardly hear) I took her & sat right up against the dw w/treats & sat very quietly with her giving her a treat now & then. She calmed right down & hasn't paid attention to it since. Each time she was in high alert mode. Don't know that she was ready to rip anything to shreads, but she sure was intense.

If your little one is real young, he could just be learning some of the subtle everyday things that he'll adjust to with time. Shadows & wind used to really spook Roxy, but she has gradually gotten used to them.

[YorkieMother]

Could be barking at that which you do not hear or he could be barking light and shadows or bugs.

Check deeper.

JL

[allyboo]

Agree, it could definitely be shadows, or something you have overlooked. Or if you have moved an item into a different place and your pup didn't see you do it... (my dog will growl at a handbag on the table: she thinks it belongs on the door hook! I had to put up big thick curtains because the shadows of trees moving at night drove her barmy).

A dog also has a far better sense of hearing than we do (I think about 5x?) so it might be something high-pitched and far away, such as a car alarm.

If he really is in fact barking at nothing, it might be worth taking him to the vet for a quick look-over. If he has a blocked ear or something like that, it could cause a ringing sensation which would undoubtably make him upset.

Please let us know how you get on with this.

[JoeyP]

Dogs hear many more things than we do
What you might think is nothing might be very easily heard by them
My two pups constantly get up and bark together at things I never hear

The other thing is that you said you scolded him
Don't do that
That might be why he's getting scared
My guys will often bark when they get frightened
and all it takes to make them stop is a pet and me telling them that it's ok
and they quiet down
other times if I go to the door with them and then say ... It's ok no ones there and walk away they will stop too

[Dame]

Originally Posted by RoxyLuv

How old is you little one? Roxy has behaved in a similar way at times. It took some time to figure out the problem, cuz it sure was a mystery. Each time I figured out it was a shadow, the blinds or curtain moving ever so slightly from a fan, the wind, reflection in a window, or some such thing. I had to really watch exactly where she was looking & try to figure it out. In the case of the frightening dishwasher (which you can hardly hear) I took her & sat right up against the dw w/treats & sat very quietly with her giving her a treat now & then. She calmed right down & hasn't paid attention to it since. Each time she was in high alert mode. Don't know that she was ready to rip anything to shreads, but she sure was intense.

If your little one is real young, he could just be learning some of the subtle everyday things that he'll adjust to with time. Shadows & wind used to really spook Roxy, but she has gradually gotten used to them.

Winston is over a year and a half, but I do agree it could be a situation of him experiencing a new sound or such. Just wish I could figure out what it is!

[Dame]

Originally Posted by JoeyP

Dogs hear many more things than we do
What you might think is nothing might be very easily heard by them
My two pups constantly get up and bark together at things I never hear

The other thing is that you said you scolded him
Don't do that
That might be why he's getting scared
My guys will often bark when they get frightened
and all it takes to make them stop is a pet and me telling them that it's ok
and they quiet down
other times if I go to the door with them and then say ... It's ok no ones there and walk away they will stop too

He doesn't get overly scolded - and not in the dictionary sense. He gets a ah-ah, and a "no" in a calm tone, simply to try and re-direct his attention. Usually it works when we're dealing with people going in or out or when we have maintenance coming in the apt or anything else other then this. He stops, and comes to sit near me. He's usually very well behaved. From the first time he's done this and it had no effect I abandoned it, and unfortunately it hasn't helped either way.

The big problem with this is its at an entirely different level. Barking in itself isn't the issue. Its not just a "I am upset and reacting to it" its an "I am very very very upset and I So determined to get whatever this is". Calming doesn't work. Yesterday I spent over two hours trying to calm him down after another situation like this - he just doesn't calm. No amount of holding, coddling, pets, soft talking or treats will do anything to re-direct his attention. He just continues to bark, growl and shake uncontrollably. It went so far as to cause him to nip me yesterday. He really is that incredibly frightened and upset. The ferocity of it escapes me. If this happened on the street... I'd have animal control at my door. (It really is that frightening.)

I've dealt with a lot of nervous and frightened dogs in the years I've fostered... but none of my training tools have any effect on him.

[Dame]

Originally Posted by allyboo

Agree, it could definitely be shadows, or something you have overlooked. Or if you have moved an item into a different place and your pup didn't see you do it... (my dog will growl at a handbag on the table: she thinks it belongs on the door hook! I had to put up big thick curtains because the shadows of trees moving at night drove her barmy).

A dog also has a far better sense of hearing than we do (I think about 5x?) so it might be something high-pitched and far away, such as a car alarm.

If he really is in fact barking at nothing, it might be worth taking him to the vet for a quick look-over. If he has a blocked ear or something like that, it could cause a ringing sensation which would undoubtably make him upset.

Please let us know how you get on with this.

Thanks for the ear tip! He was just at the vet the other week so I never really thought about ear issues (since I was actually concerned about that.) Might be time to get a consult at another vet!

[watersideyorkie]

Anything new in the house, appliances, or new noises outside or nearby...our Shiloh hears a car door from the next county and yaps. He once heard the air purifier, we had to disconnect it...we've gotten use to him now...we like his sensitive ears...no one will sneak around our house without the yappers going off. Still check with your vet, could be something in his little ears ringing or buzzing. Good luck.

[JoeyP]

Hmmm..... is he barking at or toward any particular thing?

Yes have him checked at the vet
when dogs have pain they sometimes start barking like this
Does he stop when you pick him up and hold him?

The shaking is what is out of the ordinary here

My guys will get themselves into a tear and it will take me a good minute or two to quiet them down sometimes

But they never shake ...... when that happens they usually have hurt themselves in some way
and they will immediately jump into my lap

When this happens give him a little squeeze thru ... check his back his legs and see if there is any tenderness anywhere

[Dame]

Originally Posted by JoeyP

Hmmm..... is he barking at or toward any particular thing?

Yes have him checked at the vet
when dogs have pain they sometimes start barking like this
Does he stop when you pick him up and hold him?

The shaking is what is out of the ordinary here

My guys will get themselves into a tear and it will take me a good minute or two to quiet them down sometimes

But they never shake ...... when that happens they usually have hurt themselves in some way
and they will immediately jump into my lap

When this happens give him a little squeeze thru ... check his back his legs and see if there is any tenderness anywhere

I wouldn't say the shaking is out of the ordinary, it is one of the fairly normal submissive fear responses. I thought about the idea that it could be from pain but neither I or two of the vets I've seen in the last week can find anything wrong with him. The shaking is the typical fear response, especially when grouped with his ears, the whinning/barking, lowered body and tail and the occasional urination. The big thing that really concerned me was the duration and that fact that he becomes pretty inconsolable.

He hasn't done it in the last couple days. I've talked to our maintenance guys about the apt underneath us trying to come up with what he could be reacting to. The only reasoning I've come up with at this point is that the people under us who recently moved out might have had one of those ultrasonic training devices. It makes sense the more that I think about it, because while he's a huge loud dog I've never heard him bark for more then a few seconds. Would make sense, since apparently it was confined pretty much under the area Winston goes crazy over. Far fetched, but its the only thing I can come up with to explain it (beyond my other family members insisting we have a ghost.)

[MeAndMyOlivia]

I guess a ghost is a more exciting answer than an electronic device!
I finally figured out that (sometimes) when Gracie barks, it is directed at the front door which has beveled glass. The headlights from cars coming down the street or even a few streets over in our neighborhood can shine through the beveled glass and I'm sure it looks strange to her.