Question:
I have a 2 year old mini schaunzer. He has started acting strange. He looks
up and over his shoulders like he hears or sees something sometime he will
continue to do this for a long period of time. Sometime he breathing becomes
rapid and his heart beat speeds up. Does any one know what might be causing this.

DoreenW

Answer:
Dogs can hear sounds that we can't. Does he look in a particular direction or just any direction, but over his shoulder? Have you looked into his ears for any signs of inflammation, redness? How long does this last? How often? How long has he been doing this? Does he pant afterwards? Drool? Just questions to try to understand what is going on. Has he been to a vet?

Answer:
He has been doing this for about a week. Most the time he is looks upward.
I have checked his ears they are clean and pink. Some times he pants and
breathes hard does not drool. He seems to be fine he eats well, plays alot
he seems to be in great health.

Answer:
What is he doing immediately prior to these episodes? At rest? excited? Is there unusual activity going on?

Doreen, I just realized you're only about 10-12 miles away from me.

Answer:
My cats do that too especially at night!!! I live alone and sometimes this scares the hell out of me (I love horror movies but extremely afraid of ghosts, don't ask me why, never see one before - luckily - but still). Mama loves to sleep on my bed beside me and Sabrina right next to my bed, so I have to leave the bedroom door open so they can go to the litter box. Sometimes, when I take a peek at them to see what they are doing, I see them both looking out the bedroom door into the dark living room! Sometimes I just put my book in front of my face and pretend I don't see anything, but sometimes I get so scared I start to talk to myself to calm myself down...haha

I AM NOT CRAZY I SWEAR!!!

Answer:
VCheng,you are just a bit crazy,like most of us are
All three of my cats sleep with me,I can be reading peacefully in bed and all of a sudden all three will perk up and look towards another room or the ceiling,often I get up to check if there is a prowler
Cats and I suppose dogs,hear everything(except maybe their names being called!)even the footsteps of a mouse in the attic or a fly in the room,but it can be scary,until they relax and go back to sleep.

Answer:
Was there by any chance a storm on the way? My newest girl knows approx. 1 hour before it hits us. She starts with the panting, then pawing, then listening....

Heather

Answer:
I was just thinking of my Mishka(RIP)when she would let out a"stinky"and boy,did they stink!! Hers we could hear,but maybe your dog has silent ones, Mishka would look behind her with a confused look,listening,wandering what happened

Answer:
Puss-Puss would do that too and I figured out she was hearing birds on our roof.

Guess I was thinking back to my toy poodle that I had before Den-Den. When he was about 2yo, he began to have epileptic, petit-mal seizures. At first, it was frightening and he would have several at a time. Then I realized he was conscious enough to understand me and I would just act normal and pick him up and carry him around. I would talk to him and say things like, "Are there any kitties over there? No, no kitties there! Let's see if we can find any birdies up here. etc, etc". He would look but for a time couldn't respond. Because I acted normal, he calmed down and his seizures became much less severe and more and more infrequent. The fear was gone because we treated it as normal. He didn't have to go on meds and the last several years, the seizures quit entirely. Anxiety seemed to bring them on, such as the anticipation of a doggie bag to be opened, too much stimulation, etc. I understand it's common in small breeds and back yard breeding. (Not to imply anything about Max, Doreen, just relating to previous experience)

Answer: