Harley turns 1 year on the 30th of September 2017. So currently she is just over 11 months. In the last week or so I have noticed that she has been a little more alert (best word) to noises and activity from the neighbourhood. Yesterday she barked at our housekeeper when she saw her through the window, it wasn't an aggressive bark, more of a who are you? bark and she was a bit nervous when she did it. I have noticed that she growls at the noises the neighbours chickens make - she has heard them, and even met one when it flew over the fence once, her whole life with us and they have never been an issue or even a curiosity for her. The Haadeedaws (Sacred Ibis's) are very precocious birds and if she hears them she gets upset, if she is outside she chases them - there is nothing scared about them, they fly off and shout at her from the nearest perch. We have just been observing this slight change in behaviour and it feels like she is going through something similar to a "fear" stage she went through when she was younger. Then today, she was asleep on the bed with myself and her older cat brother and DH phoned to say he was on his way home early from work. So when I heard his car I told Harley that he was here so that she wouldn't startle her brother by leaping off the bed. I told her "Daddy is here" and went with her to go greet. She ran through the kitchen and into the diningroom, I knew that DH was already through the front room and coming through the lounge. Everyday I ask her to "find" daddy and she runs off, tail wagging to go greet ahead of me. Unfortunately, today he came around the corner as she was heading that way and she got a HUGE fright! She barked and spun around, hackles up and even urinated a bit. We all got a huge fright because no one was expecting that. DH immediately consoled her and she was frantically trying to lick up the mess she made so I called her and calmly stroked her while he cleaned up the couple of drops and very small puddle (about a tablespoon). She may have had a full bladder because she was sleeping on the bed all morning. He then rinsed her backend quickly and we took her outside for some fetch and play. She seems okay but I have NEVER seen her get such a fright. She has seemed a little more alert on walks, but we haven't come across other dogs but the dogs in yards have had a little more attention from her. But she always comes back to me (attention wise- these are on lead walks) and has been okay. Should I do anything? We didn't have class last week so this afternoon is our first time back and THAT BC may be there. Could that interaction be what has caused her to be more edgy? I thought we had passed through the last nig fear stage and that everything was more or less okay? DH is coming with to class today to help with my anxiety. I bought her a car hammock yesterday and only installed it last night so she hasn't been in it. I don't think it will bother her and it should make the car more confortable for her but should we rather remove it? Luckily I bought some ostrich meat (nice and gamey) and I braised that up for her so it is flavourful, so she will have extra special treats today, and we are trying some new Orijen treats (cost a fortune but I think worth it) and her normal much loved cheese and Hill's Duck and Pumpkin soft baked naturals. also have some tasty sausage and I made her some extra yummy frozen kongs for the car. So, if nother else she should be excited by her treats. I gave her half her breakfast this morning so that she wont be stuffed for class. Gosh...reading this I can see I am over compensating but I missed a minor eye infection in one of the cats this week and I feel like a useless pet parent right now. I don't want to miss something with Harls too.
I sympathise with your concern about Harley getting a fright from what appears to be an everyday occurrence. As you know we have problem with Homer and his anxiety to noises. It could just be that she was not expecting to see him there. I'd love to be able to give more advice. My feeling would be to carry on as usual but try to be aware of anything that could be unusual and treat her. And relax, you're doing a great job as a pet parent.
Hmmmm, it's difficult to know whether this is something to worry about but taken as a single incident, it might just be that she got a fright and there's nothing more serious going on. I remember posting in a panic when Jess was a bit younger because she had reacted to a border collie barking at her from a window - she got a fright and reacted very strongly, hackles up, snarling, lunging. I thought that my sweet little dog was becoming aggressive, but it was a total one-off, she's never done anything like it since. She just got a fright and reacted, as any dog has the potential to do. In your case, the fact that it was in Harley's house also seems relevant - she must have thought there was a stranger in the house, which any dog is likely to take exception to. So, as @Jes72 says, I'd probably just carry on as usual. One point might be to think about trigger stacking though - if Harley's had a fright today and is still a bit stressed, then she might be more easily stressed at training. Remember you can always leave the class if you think she's stressed out - I wish I'd done that in some of Jess's early training classes.
When Ella became a bit nervous (I think it was at about the same age as Harley) we went right back to the puppy socialisation days and started exposing her to all sorts of different places/people/situations again and rewarding for calm behaviour in those situations. It definitely helped us. However, I'd still say that's Ella's adult personality is slightly more cautious and 'barky' than her puppy self.
We went back to socializing Duggan as well when he went through this stage, We tend to get complacent and settle into routines. It helped some but he will let out one or two alert barks when someone or something comes in the yard.
