No suggestions but my girl is the same with flys, she gets anxious and constantly looking around for them… I am dreading spring coming.
could you set up a safe space in another room? Until she is happier to come in she settles down.
She will also be picking up on how your feeling so try and brush it off and maybe sit with her in another room?
Hopefully someone else will come along with some advice.

 

Thank you. We have given her spare room for now. I have maybe been fussing round her rather much.

 

Has she always been anxious? If this is a big change in behaviour I would suggest a vet visit.

 

We rehomed her 5 months ago so we are still getting to know her properly. She can be quite an anxious dog. Records we got do say she is frightened of flys/wasps indoors but we were taken aback by severity of fear.

 

Hi my border terrier has also just started looking up at the ceiling and gets really agitated and looks for a quite place to sit, we are also baffled as to why he is acting like this. He loves people and is really sociable he is 3 years old. Its sounds like you have a similar problem to us. So we also need suggestions too. It's so upsetting seeing them anxious if they could only tell us. Good luck with Beebs and I hope someone can help my Ted too.

 

Beebs has, in the last week, gotten all out of sorts. She used to love her bed, she now won't go near it. She would snuggle on the sofa with us, now she is desperate to get out of the room. She is in a state of anxiety, looking for somewhere to settle but not finding it. Eventually she settles but then it all starts up again hours later. I have tried her usual comfort of a blanket over her nose, petting her, leaving her, giving her a safe den, letting her have the run of the house but she just isn't happy.
The only thing we can link it to is she was spooked by a fly! She was terrified of it, last week. I got rid of it and I thought that would be it but it seems not.
She is now sat out in the garden, in the cold and wet refusing to come in, not even for food. I think we are going to have to carry her in eventually.
Any suggestions please?

We get horse flies here and they can really hurt when they bite you. Most animals learn to HATE them, horses will buck, and our dogs all get really stressed by them.
To help, I use a cue to let them know a) I know about the fly, and b) I'll watch out for them. With the dogs it's simply wiping my hand along their back and rump, like wiping the fly off. This helps them know the fly isn't on them, and that I can get it off before it bites.
If there's a fly or wasp in the house I kill it with the fly swatter and show the dog the dead insect. The fly swatter then becomes the cue that I know and I'm handling it.
It takes several repetitions obviously, but this system has worked with multiple dogs.

 

When Jack developed a sudden fear of the ping of the microwave, I managed to turn the noise into a positive by plying him with treats when I used it.

First in the other room, eventually in the kitchen close to it.

That worked so well, I then had to train him off expecting a treat ever time I went in the kitchen! 🤣