What is she barking at?

[Angel Puppy]

Angel has been acting a little weird lately...

She barks, but at what or who, no one knows....
She'll be alone in a room and she'll be barking and running towards something that isn't there...

Today, my brother went to see what was wrong, as she was barking very violently at "something" and she bit him and drew blood when he went up close to see what was wrong...After she bit him, she went to poo, and her poo was clean (no parasites)....

After this, she became very calm...but the barking is just weird...any ideas to why she's doing this? She's 3 months...

[Kade]

I don't really know, except that maybe it's not something in the room but a smell, sound, shadow, etc., that sets her off.

I'm sure someone else here can give you better advice.

In the future, I would get her attention and have her sit or lie down before approaching her if she's excited.

[mulroony]

I bet Kade is right, there is probably something you don't notice. Is it always in the same room? Do you have another dog or other animals living near by. Does she go to the room herself, or is she left there? (Maybe seperation anxiety) Does she act funny in that room when you are around? What is she running towards I mean is there a window or door or couch or anything? Have you had her hearing checked? (Long shot, but maybe it is going and she gets spooked because of that) Not sure what to tell you, but a little more info would help.

[Angel Puppy]

Thanks Kade,

You're right it may be a sound that is setting her off...but it just seems unlikely.

She's not much of a barker...Only time she barks is when we play chase, and the barking is really minimal. The only other time she'll bark is if she needs to be let out of her crate in the morning to go potty. Other than that she's a quiet puppy.

This behaviour is new however. It's as though there's a gjost in the room and that's who she's barking at. There's no other way to explain it, and it's a loud/assertive type of bark comming out of a 3lb pup.

[Angel Puppy]

Mulroony,

It happens in different rooms
Sometimes she's alone, sometimes she goes on her own, sometimes we are with her...

She doesnt run towards anything...there are couches, windows, tables in the room, but there are other rooms she does this in, and those rooms are empty (hallways).

Her hearing is good, the vet did a general checkup and she's fine.

[mulroony]

Well i think you stumpted me then. Is it possible you have mice or other small animals living in the walls or ceilings?? Other then that I got nothing. Sorry, I am sure someone will have something more for you. Good luck

[D.Schäferhund]

has she good eyesight???

[Ritz459]

Is it also possible she is seeing her reflection in something? I know that when I bring Rose inside, she is always really scared of "that other dog in the stero cabinet door". She doesn't bark, but she will crouch down and sneak up on it. And then when she sees it doing the same thing, she freaks out and backs away really quick. lol
And then when we still had the puppies, Sam (one of the pups) would bark at his reflection in the dishwasher.

[calgal]

It's quite possible it's a ghost. The old man we bought our house from died 2 weeks later and moved back in with us. We tolerate the things that go on, but we have also ask him many times to leave and go on to heaven. We don't actually see him but Zada, my 7 month old Yorkie does, but she doesn't greet him like she does everyone else. She's actually afraid most times. One day I was on the computer and she came screaming out of one bedroom, running, looking behind her and went from one bedroom to another till she finally came running to me. I picked her up and I swear I thought she was going to have heart failure as fast as it was beating and every muscle in her little body was so tense she felt like a little wooden dog, and she was shaking to pieces. Now she wont go into the bedrooms by herself, and when were downstairs watching TV in the evening (in the sunroom) she will sometime look up and into the living room very quickly and freeze up again, then try to get her face behind our back, or jumps down and quickly gets into her pouch. I have ask the old man to stop teasing or chaseing Zada. I know he loved dogs because he had a tiny one himself that he was nuts about.
So, if your problem continues, you may want to find out about who could be living with you and then try talking them into leaving. This is not saying you do have a ghost. It could even be the sun catching something that reflects a prism of light somewhere.

[Angel Puppy]

calgal-

I will admit to you, I wanted to ask directly, but didnt want anyone thinking i was some freak...

Angel has good eyesight, smell, hearing... she's healthy...so it's not her senses failing...

Mulroony could be right...I hope we dont have rats...that just creeps me out...I had a traumatic experience when i was younger with a rat in the house...it could be ants or something...but assuming it's not...because sometimes she'll bark at the pillow out of the blue when i'm holding her...it could be a "ghost"...

Im sorry if I have already posted about this somewhere else, but the reason we named our puppy Angel is because my father who passed away 5 years ago ADORED dogs...he grew up in a very poor family and he didnt have much, so his dog was his only true friend...he always wanted a dog, but because my mother feared them so much we never got one...This father's day however, as we were sitting down (mother, brother, and I) my mom said that she wanted to get a puppy in honor of his memory...She regrets never having gotten a pet when he was alive... so when we got our little puppy what better name than Angel?

So all this rambling to say...maybe she is sensing my dad's spirit? We keep a picture of him and a candle lit in the dining room...she dosnt bark there, her barking occurs close to my parents bedroom and the living room where she plays the most...but maybe she "senses" him...Maybe that's who she's barking at...because like i said before, when we play with her, she barks playfully...

[calgal]

At the times she is barking at what you may think is your father, then start talking to him. Ask him to find a way (in which you would know) to let you know that it is him. Have your camera handy at all times and when she barks, take pictures in the direction she is looking.
I love how you came to name her. That is so sweet.

[flyndog]

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, while we're on the subject, here a ghost story:

It's an old wives tale that dogs can see Death. They say that when your dog barks at something that's not there, it is because he is has gotten in between you and Death and is trying to scare Death away. They say not to stop the dog from trying to chase Death away, or it will get you.

I don't disagree with anybody's ideas about spirits, but I lean towards thinking that the dog is reacting to something physical. It's easy for us mere humans to forget how much better their hearing and sense of smell is than our own.

But I like Cal's idea of talking to your dad.

[bigdoglover]

I tend to agree with the ghost theory. Call me weird. I also believe that young children and infants can see or "sense" spirits. The reason for this is when my son was only 9 months old, I would hear him in his crib laughing and babbling. I would go in to check on him, and he would be looking at the chair, and pointing and laughing. I checked around, and the woman that lived there before us had a son (13years old) who was killed by a hit and run driver in the road right in front of the house. She told me he loved his younger brother and loved babies in general. I came to believe he was there entertaining my son!

[D.Schäferhund]

uhhh
that is creapy...
i started thinking about that....
Now i am thinking if it is a good sign that my dog doesn't bark a lot or a bad thing....
honestly i don't know what to think about ghosts, if they excist or not, but it might really make sense....

[Kade]

Darn it, stuff like this creeps me out!

I meant to come back and add that Winston today decided that a dried drip of paint on our floor was his nemesis... was attacking it and trying to kill it, LOL. So it doesn't take much to set them off...

That said, if Winston is barking at the corner, I guess I'll let him go on barking!