Yorkie growling at nothing
 

Hello all,

So the past couple nights Maddie has taken to sometimes growling at random stuff/nothing, like the back door and the bathroom. I was like is there something outside? I turned the lights on and saw nothing, so just closed the shades and walked away. She barked again...wtf.

Then tonight she started growling in the hallway and then a little in the master bathroom, again with seemingly nothing in sight. I googled this stuff and found a bunch of possible explanations like ghosts and shadows/bugs, and was curious what you guys on this forum thought.

Btw she also growled at a big fat dove in the yard during the day too, so it's not just a night thing lol.

So I just thought maybe I fed her too much tonight...she was running around and playing all crazy even at 10pm.

My yorkies do that too. It used to scare me but now I just tell them to hush and they normally do. They have better hearing than we do so any little creak, twig breaking, wind gusts, or neighbors will wake them and make them defensive. I know it can be annoying but one day it might just be a real alarm.

How long have you had your little one?

I've had her since Dec 8th, so almost 3 months. She was born on Oct 8th 2012.

The reason I asked that is that some dogs don't begin to seriously guard their premises until they have taken ownership of it. Once a dog has been around long enough to think of his home as his very own territory, the territory where his own pack resides and his leader lives, he will begin to exhibit true guarding tendencies. Not just wild barking as they do many times when you get a new dog, barking to say to the world "hello, there" or "hey, I'm here" or "watch it, I'm new and I'm unsure" or barking at other critters. And some new dogs only bark for a day or so, if at all, at first, then go quiet - until the day they come to see their new home as their territory. From then on, things that don't seem right or might scare them such as wind or the smell of a cat outside, a stray dog in the yard, the dog next door whining or someone walking around outside, can be reasons to begin guarding. Or it can be as simple as someone blowing on an ultrasonic dog whistle, maybe a kid from a house or two away. But likely he's just taken over security for his territory. And a growl is a lot more serious response to a threat than is barking usually.

At night Bella in bed Bella Rose started staring at me and growling and barking at me for no reason. Finally figured out she was barking at my shadow on the wall behind me. Silly girl!!

Oops for misworded message lol

Yeah, she does the growl during bath time now too. I don't encourage that and make sure to ignore her for awhile when she starts with the growling.

KS does that too. I can usually say quiet and she settles down.

Trust me, she isn't barking at "nothing". It's just nothing that you see or sense. Perhaps you have a poltergeist living with you? Or maybe by the time you investigate the critter she is growling at is gone.

Really not much advice to offer, but that reminded me of a beagle my dad had, would bark and growl and leaves and bugs, so it could be worse than a fat dove. ;)

Animals do sense things we do not or cannot see so it could be something along that line. My grandfather passed away when I was 13. Prior to his death he had promised to come see our new home on his way home from the hospital. He passed away in the hospital. The evening after he died we were in the living room. Our Lhasa Apso was resting at the front door. All of a sudden his head popped up, he never barked, never got up, but he kept watching like he was following someone walk through the living room and then to the back of the house. When "they were out of eye sight" he just laid his head back down. Toby was the type of dog that would not bark at people he knew. To this day we are all convinced it was my grandfather keeping his promise.

Or it could just be a silly stage, :confuse2: take your pick.

Well, I hope you don't have any spirits living in your home with you.:eek: Let's pray for good angels at the very least.:confused:

Gracie does a sound in her throat that is kind of like a growl but slower when she is trying to "talk" to me and tell me something. I have to then try to decide what she is saying. Her growl is more like a purr, much faster and more excited than her "talking" voice.

It does sound like your puppy is seeing something that is upsetting. Eventually he will either show you what it is or decide to ignore it.

The first thing, I thought of was a ghost! :eek: Or someone watching over your home. Dogs are very sensitive to spirits. Not to spook you but we believe we had one watching over us a few years back. I opened my home to a troubled teen and when she began living here, odd things began to happen......radios, tvs would turn on at odd times, unexplained noises, etc. Not to get into details but when the girls left, everything stopped! She had been stealing money and items from us....I believe the "being" was trying to protect us! So what made her leave? She had a night, where while she slept, she had what felt like a weight sitting on her stomach and it was trying to choke her!

I think she's practicing for when a bad person is really there. LOL Sorry I couldn't help myself. Afraid I don't have any good suggestions. Best of luck breaking this habit.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:!!!!
Dogs can see ghosts!

I find Wallee growls and barks way more as it get dark. He actually started as the winter came on and it started to get dark on our walks. He would walk fine in the morning and growl and bark in the same walk at dusk. At night and in the morning, I have to make sure that when he is up, the room is lit or he will growl and bark at everything. He's the same way outside in the wind. I just assumed he was fearful.

How is her vision and hearing?

Our house is haunted. Jasmin will growl and bark for no reason. when we watch tv she will stand on top of couch to stare in the kitchen. One time,jasmin and I were home while DH was outside. She kept growling and growling at something in the hallway. I got scared. Anyways our house is weird. We hear noises. One time we heard soft music from basement, knocks on back door at 2 in the morning. I saw shadow in hallway once and thought it was DH. We hear jasmin's toys when we are showering and she is in there with us with no toys.

Mia barks at nothing too. Sometimes growls but mostly barks. Last night my boyfriend brought a new coat home and hung it on the chair. Well Mia barked at it many times then would run to a different room, then run out and bark at it again! I reassured her that it was ok and she chilled out. Then when we were going to bed she kept stairing at the alarm clock and would bark when it would change! Oh puppies!

Theme music from a horror movie....It could be practice barking, or maybe she heard some sound you can't hear or sees some thing you can't see, feels something you can't feel or some faraway smell you can't smell. This behavior is pretty common in young pups. I would stay calm and after 3 warning barks give a cue word for her to be quiet (we use Enough). If you become nervous she will sense this too. Now that I gave you sensible advice, I can stop typing and rub my goose bumps !

I was so thinking spirits too. My cats watch them all the time. Oh by the way yes my house has spirits. It is built in 1784. And it has been continually occupied since then.:cool:

Long ago when I was in my early twenties I lived in a place that had weird sounds and movement of various objects. It is real. It was one of the few times in my life that I did not have an animal so I don't really know how they react to such places.

I have enough with Gracie barking at real things like cats and her toys! I'm glad she hasn't found any invisible beings to bark at!

Oh man, you guys are scaring me lol. I got some sage and will be burning it to try and clear the house of spirits.

LOL. Not spirits. People and critters all grow tenser and more alert and watchful after dark out of instinct. In the wild, canines and humans must preserve self and pack after dark when mountain lions, coyotes, fox and other predators hunt.

Terriers were bred to catch vermin and other nocturnal critters and they must therefore be more alert after dark when those animals are active. Our dogs sense our tenseness when we hear an unusual sound after dark -one not nearly so ominous when it happens during the day - and after this happens a couple of times, it becomes a patten of tension the dog picks up on and learns. He responds and becomes tenser. He begins to subtly connect that this usually happens after darkness. All canines tend to be more unsure after dark, when shadows loom and their vision isn't quite as sure and they tend to go more on what they smell and movement that they can see. They have far more light receptor rods which pick up motion/movement and larger pupils that let in more light so they see better than we do but even their vision isn't quite as good after dark. So they are necessarily more alert when one of their senses is a bit diminished. And if the dog is suffering any loss of vision at all with age or illness, night will increase that problem. And you get a tenser dog - a dog ready to growl and alert.

So take their canine instincts to be alert after dark on top of the tension they sense from us at night, terrier heritage to hunt nocturnal critters, slightly diminished eyesight and you get protective and guarding type behavior.

During the day my Tibbe hardly ever has any reaction to subtle things going on outside. After dark, he will alert to people coming and going near our property, neighborhood cats out and about and even wind, house-creaking, etc. He's a far different dog after dark and it is that instinct that makes a good watchdog.