Hello everyone
I've got a problem with my Flat-coated retriever that I'd love some help with.

She's 16 months old, bouncy, friendly and bubbly like all flat-coats. Last night on her walk, she spent a long time smelling some ground near a small copse of trees on our usual route. There's nothing particularly unusual about that, but after she came back towards me, her tail was between her legs and she was very spooked. After that point, she started barking at people she saw, even at very long distances, and a woman near us, who'd had no attention until that point, was the subject of a lot of barking and growling. The dog then proceeded to continue barking, turning round, staring and growling at the woman, a man, a skip, a pushchair and some men carrying a plank of wood. For 30 minutes I couldn't even get eye contact with her; she was just somewhere else.
This morning on her walk she was only a little bit better and this lunchtime i took her outside the front of the house to see what she was like - and again she was a little bit spooked and had a bit of a bark at nothing much.
This is a dog who never normally barks at all, and is never, ever aggressive.
Can anyone shed light on this phenomenon for me?

BTW - she's fine with fox poo, so I don't think it's that

Hi there im studying aggression at the moment but would not really advice over the net, how old is the dog and as this just started is there anything at all that has spoked her i would keep a close eye on her and keep her on the lead on walk if she is showing this kind of aggresstion, it could be fear we need to ask ourselfs she is doing it for a reason but whats the reason, i would take her back on the same walk and watch her body language to see if you see it change if she is nervouse then take her away from the situation as it will only make things worse then maybe get a local behaviourist on a one to one to look at her behaviour x

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hello staflove
thank you for that. as i say, she's 16 months old. she seems to be better now, was fine on the walk last night. so fingers crossed!

How odd, I'd love to know what upset her so much.

Were any of the trees nearby charred? Were there any indentations in the ground? It could be a U.F.O landing site that has scared her. Best get her checked for radioactivity. Have you noticed her glowing in the dark at all?






















But seriously now folks..... how odd!

colliepoodle - now you come to mention it...

*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*
*must not make joke about anal probes and thermometres*

__________________
~ Roro and Lolo ~

www.dogmablog.com
rowan@dogmablog.com
Twitter: @dogmablog

Ahem.

I guess you would've known if there was an animal there that spooked her? Like a hedgehog (?!). I don't have any experience of a dog getting so spooked by a smell.

It's a really fascinating one. At least she's ok now.

~ Ro

__________________
~ Roro and Lolo ~

www.dogmablog.com
rowan@dogmablog.com
Twitter: @dogmablog

Yes, it's an odd. she's still a little teeny bit odd, barking at people hundreds of metres away. but she's largely okay again. she's got more on her mind this week anyway, with yesterday's arrival of our new flat coat pup: Juno, our new dog - a set on Flickr