Aww you just reminded me of what Mia used to be like - if ANYTHING outside was different from yesterday it got SCREAMED at - even if it was just a paper bag on the path

Good news is she is pretty much fine now
I think she got over it herself quite alot, I also did a whole lot of free shaping with the clicker and different objects - so she gets rewarded for doing random tricks with new things and they stop being scary

although
Bad news it when I was trying to do flatpacked furniture with two dogs trying to out do each other for trying to find new and inventive ways to pertch on the new stuff

Thankfully inanimate stuff is easier to deal with than the blooming stray dogs charging up to us far too often on walks

also wanted to add Ben hit another fear period around 9 months when he totaly freaked out at any new floor surfaces - he wouldnt walk from one room to the other if the floor was different, he wouldnt walk on decking, all sorts of things. I just dropped the lead and let him got on with it and he figured it out for himself without fussing from me

I would be tempted to ask your vet for a full thyroid panel and get it sent of to Hemopet in California.

In the interim explore whether the vet would be willing for your dog to be put on thyroxine for 6 weeks to see if this changes any of her behaviour, you have nothing to lose.

Thanks fuzzy, she sounds similar to Mia!
Objects that she is fine with like the table and chairs we can shape on but if I try with anything she is nervy of she will just get in a fluster I think, will give it a go though!

Thanks sb, I will have to ask the vet what kind of blood panel he ran last time, there was T4 etc I think. Is it possible it wasn't comprehensive enough then? Can you miss a thyroid problem from just the generic tests?
I will chat to my vet about thyroxine and see what he thinks. Can it harm a dog that does not hav thyroid issues?

It's strange because she is often ok, but her fear threshold is just so low and unpredictable. Some things that you would imagine her to be scared of like the drill or walking on tables she is fine with. But some little things just really worry her at random intervals.

Is her behavior strange even from a standard nervous case dog? I have given up thinking she will ever be happy go lucky but it would be nice for her not to create new problems too!

The problem is that the vast majority of vets believe that serum T4 alone is adequate as the first screening for a thyroid problem and only if T4 is abnormal should further testing be pursued. This is incorrect.

This, according to Jean Dodds, is a huge obstacle to accurately diagnosing thyroid disorders.

Jean Dodds says in her book, dogs with thyroid related behavioural isues exhibit reduced metabolism and clearance of cortisol as well as suppressed TSH output, the latter lowers the production of thyroid hormones.

At the same time, constantly elevated levels of cortisol in the blood mimic the condition of being in a constant state of stress this impairs mental function.

You can ask the vet to draw blood sample and you can send it off to Hemopet yourself, if they are not willing to.

A 6 week course of thyroxine is unlikely to be harmful to the long term health of your dog.

I would certainly pursue this a bit further with your dog in order that you can PROPERLY dismiss this and if necessary then concentrate on behavioural modification, if appropriate.

That is usually a form of OCD, and therefore it isn't the persons fault and it certainly not how they CHOOSE to be, and they do not 'bring it upon themselves'.

Thanks SB I will chat to my vet when I see him on Thursday for my thyroid cat and see whether it is something he would be willing to try.
Will look up more of Jean Dodd's thyroid work too. Thanks, will keep you updated as to what he says.

http://www.hemopet.org/

I really empathise. Dexter reacts very fearfully to anything that looks 'strange' to him.

e.g. he has no issue with prams, but at the park today he saw someone pushing a pram across the grass... he'd never seen this before and he kicked off, barking and running towards the people. I was able to recall him, and he soon calmed down, but it can happen with lots of things.

I agree with - I think it was Sarah? - that the more 'sympathetic' one sounds with the dog's fear, the worse it can make it, almost as though it confirms TO the dog that yes, there IS something to be scared of.

What happens if you simply ignore Kestral's behaviour - I mean totally ignore?

Bless Dexter!

Whether I ignore her or not totally depends on the situation;

ie when she freaks out round traffic I ignore her - nothing I can do to help.

when she freaks out round people I have to remove her from the situation or it escalates.

when she freaks out round random objects indoors I either ignore her and leave her to it, call her away to stop her getting worked up, or move the object.

I am never sympathetic, it happens so much. Tbh from what I see she doesn't seem to feed off me; whether I am calm, nervous, frustrated, jolly.. she acts the same. She zones in on her own fear so I am pretty irrelevant!