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Maltipoo Question & Answer Blog
About this Q&A blog: In this blog section, the PetMaltipoo Team answers Maltipoo questions. You can leave comments and offer your thoughts and advice. Questions can range from quite serious to lighthearted ones in which you just want to receive some feedback. Have a question of your own? Great, we'd love to hear from you!
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Post #29 Maltipoo Acting Afraid with Cause Unknown
- By The Team
- •
- 22 Oct, 2016
- •
An owner is concerned about her Maltipoo acting afraid, but the cause is not known
Question:
My Maltipoo did something that caused me to be concerned. Within about a weeks’ time (or two weeks’ time) this happened to her three times. She was simply sitting close by and let out a yelp like something hurt her.
She acted very scared and ran, eventually coming to me with her ears down and a very scared look on her face. She hid by my feet and was trembling. Another time she was sitting close by while I was washing dishes. She saw sometime that scared her and watched it intently. It seemed to be her height. She got up quickly, clearly scared, backed up and eventually settled herself between my feet and the cabinet. She was trembling.
I picked her up and held her but when I went to put her down she was clinging to me and did not want to be put down. It was just weird. On all of these instances we were home alone. There was no other noise such as a radio or television. She is not a scary cat and has not acted like this prior or since.
Thank you, Sherry
Answer:
Hi Sherry,
We appreciate your question because this is actually very common with so many dogs and it really does leave owners scratching their heads. It’s almost as if our dogs can be scared of things that they see that we cannot; and it can be kind of scary for owners as well.
However, the answer may put your mind at rest, since technically, a dog does indeed sense things that are not there, but not in the way some may assume.
If a dog suddenly acts afraid of a certain room, that is a different story due to a range of factors including an unseen tumble or even new objects in the room. But with this, it is most often explained via a Maltipoo’s incredible sense of hearing and scent.
Dogs sense a wide array of things that we cannot with their amazing hearing. So, while we may be sitting in what seems like a quiet room, all sorts of sounds are being picked up by our Maltipoos. As like all other breeds, they have 18 ear muscles to control ear positioning as opposed to our 6, they can hear 4 times the distance we can and can pick up sounds on frequencies that we simply cannot (67 to 45,000 Hz compared to our limited 64 to 23,000 Hz).
Dogs almost never experience ‘quietness’.
In addition, canines can pick up odors from a very far distance. Did you know that males can smell female dogs in heat for up to 3 miles away?
Some reasons for a Maltipoo barking at seemingly nothing or following an unseen object can be a bird, squirrel or another animal that is outside the house, on the outside wall or on the roof. We've heard of this behavior quite a bit and in some instances, it turned out to be a mouse or chipmunk in the wall. The quick movement of the animal can make a dog startle, nervous or afraid.
Other possibilities are far away sirens, alarms, whistles or other noises that we cannot hear but can rile up a dog; a Maltipoo may cock their head or change positioning in order to better focus in on where the noise is coming from.
What you can do when your Maltipoo acts this way is to know that when a dog is not sure how to respond to something or automatically becomes scared, how the owner acts will help him form his opinion. These sorts of disturbances can be perceived by a dog as an intrusion into the home or a danger to his humans and/or his territory.
So, you will want to do 2 things if you are not doing this already: 1) do not speak in a soothing manner since this can reinforce the idea that a dog is correct to feel afraid and 2) act in a matter-of-fact manner to show that there is nothing to be overly concerned about.
It can also help to make sure that a Maltipoo understand that they do indeed have a safe place to retreat to, should things seem overwhelming. This includes any elements such as too many visitors to the house, etc.
This all said, it must be noted that yelping quickly as you described could be related to some sort of physical injury or illness. Just one example is patella luxation, in which if a dog turns the wrong way the kneecap can slip to cause him to let out a yelp; then he goes back to acting normal. So, if the yelping does not improve, do have the veterinarian perform an examination.
Love, Hugs & Maltipoo Kisses,
The PetMaltipoo Team
Has your Maltipoo ever acted afraid of something that you couldn't see or sense? Did you ever find out what it was? Leave your comments below!
My Maltipoo did something that caused me to be concerned. Within about a weeks’ time (or two weeks’ time) this happened to her three times. She was simply sitting close by and let out a yelp like something hurt her.
She acted very scared and ran, eventually coming to me with her ears down and a very scared look on her face. She hid by my feet and was trembling. Another time she was sitting close by while I was washing dishes. She saw sometime that scared her and watched it intently. It seemed to be her height. She got up quickly, clearly scared, backed up and eventually settled herself between my feet and the cabinet. She was trembling.
I picked her up and held her but when I went to put her down she was clinging to me and did not want to be put down. It was just weird. On all of these instances we were home alone. There was no other noise such as a radio or television. She is not a scary cat and has not acted like this prior or since.
Thank you, Sherry
Answer:
Hi Sherry,
We appreciate your question because this is actually very common with so many dogs and it really does leave owners scratching their heads. It’s almost as if our dogs can be scared of things that they see that we cannot; and it can be kind of scary for owners as well.
However, the answer may put your mind at rest, since technically, a dog does indeed sense things that are not there, but not in the way some may assume.
If a dog suddenly acts afraid of a certain room, that is a different story due to a range of factors including an unseen tumble or even new objects in the room. But with this, it is most often explained via a Maltipoo’s incredible sense of hearing and scent.
Dogs sense a wide array of things that we cannot with their amazing hearing. So, while we may be sitting in what seems like a quiet room, all sorts of sounds are being picked up by our Maltipoos. As like all other breeds, they have 18 ear muscles to control ear positioning as opposed to our 6, they can hear 4 times the distance we can and can pick up sounds on frequencies that we simply cannot (67 to 45,000 Hz compared to our limited 64 to 23,000 Hz).
Dogs almost never experience ‘quietness’.
In addition, canines can pick up odors from a very far distance. Did you know that males can smell female dogs in heat for up to 3 miles away?
Some reasons for a Maltipoo barking at seemingly nothing or following an unseen object can be a bird, squirrel or another animal that is outside the house, on the outside wall or on the roof. We've heard of this behavior quite a bit and in some instances, it turned out to be a mouse or chipmunk in the wall. The quick movement of the animal can make a dog startle, nervous or afraid.
Other possibilities are far away sirens, alarms, whistles or other noises that we cannot hear but can rile up a dog; a Maltipoo may cock their head or change positioning in order to better focus in on where the noise is coming from.
What you can do when your Maltipoo acts this way is to know that when a dog is not sure how to respond to something or automatically becomes scared, how the owner acts will help him form his opinion. These sorts of disturbances can be perceived by a dog as an intrusion into the home or a danger to his humans and/or his territory.
So, you will want to do 2 things if you are not doing this already: 1) do not speak in a soothing manner since this can reinforce the idea that a dog is correct to feel afraid and 2) act in a matter-of-fact manner to show that there is nothing to be overly concerned about.
It can also help to make sure that a Maltipoo understand that they do indeed have a safe place to retreat to, should things seem overwhelming. This includes any elements such as too many visitors to the house, etc.
This all said, it must be noted that yelping quickly as you described could be related to some sort of physical injury or illness. Just one example is patella luxation, in which if a dog turns the wrong way the kneecap can slip to cause him to let out a yelp; then he goes back to acting normal. So, if the yelping does not improve, do have the veterinarian perform an examination.
Love, Hugs & Maltipoo Kisses,
The PetMaltipoo Team
Has your Maltipoo ever acted afraid of something that you couldn't see or sense? Did you ever find out what it was? Leave your comments below!
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