Nervous lab, ideas?

[PurplePickle]

We have a coming up 3 year old black lab. Hes from working stock and quite active.

Lovely lovely dog very well behaved but hes started to become nervous of everything, a cat jumps on the bed, hes panics and hides kind of nervous

Weirdly if he feels we are under threat or someones coming onto his territory hes quite brave

He hasnt been castrated but I spoke to the vet as I wondered if it was related to this, he didnt seem to think so.

We are worried as to why hes acting like this, we have another dog , terrier, who is a brave little ferret.

Any ideas?

 

[CorvusCorax]

Not a vet or behaviourist, but here are some ideas.....

Could anything have spooked him while you were out? It is unusual for this to come on suddenly.

Is there anything that could have happened at all that you might not have thought important/scary at the time?

Paraphrasing here, but in one of Cesar Milian's books he talks about a Dane who, as a puppy, slipped on a lino floor and hit his head on a cupboard. His owner, rather than give him a once-over and letting him get on with it, made a massive fuss of him.
The dog subsequently developed a phobia of shiny surfaces because the woman made such a massive deal out his fall - did your dog get a scare and maybe one of the family made a big fuss over him, so now he might identify it with fear or something bad?

Could it be neurological?

Sorry, massive rambling answer, just some thoughts!

 

[Tangaroo]

Have you had his eyes checked? Maybe he has a problem and doesnt see things in the same way as before, which makes him frightened.
Just an idea, probably totally wrong.

 

[sloulou]

What do you do when he reacts to somthing like that?

You need to make sure you are not re-inforcing the fear by fussing him when he appears nervous. Need to ignore him if he is nervous and fuss him when he isn't.

Also - you could try a DAP plug in? That acts as a calmer.

Can you pinpoint what triggered the behaviour?

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you had his eyes checked? Maybe he has a problem and doesnt see things in the same way as before, which makes him frightened.
Just an idea, probably totally wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

This was my immediate thought - eyes.

 

[Vizslak]

or ears, if cat jumps on bed and he hasnt heard her approach? Things may be startling him if he cant hear them and all of a sudden they are upon him with no warning?

 

[PurplePickle]

Thanks all, i think yes we are wrong as we do talk to him in a soppy voice, when hes nervous.

If the other dog is told off he thinks its him and hides as well, so I dont think its eyes, its seems to be more behavioural.

Its almost like hes expecting to be told off sometimes when hes called, the slightest tone in your voice and he thinks hes done something wrong.
He is one of the best behaved dogs we have had, so I would say hes never told off really.

I do notice he gets nervous around men, although we had him since 8 weeks old so not sure what might have triggered it. My husband and I treat dogs differently, me as dogs and him as best friends, which is fine but I think it confuses them.

Hope that makes sense