Barking at the wind - hmm

[balkis]

Hi Mike,

On any given evening while all 3 of my dogs and myself are either laying down or sleeping -with no noticable consistency, ryhme or reason (one a human might see anyway) my 10 year old beagle, hound mix Milo will suddenly either 1. jump up and start barking in a high pitched tone OR 2. start a low growl that moves into a bark. This in turn, gets the other two dogs jumping up and running upstairs barking like maniacs (to the outside through their doggy door) - while Milo stands at the bottom of the steps like he just played some sort of pracitcal joke.

Do you have any idea what this is about and what I can do to stop it?? I've been sufficiently scared enough times (LOL) that I don't need this to happen any more.

Right now the only thing I do is tell Milo "no, go lay down" and try not to make too big of a deal about the commotion. But I am wondering, is there something else I should be doing? More importantly, is this an indication of possibly something else going on or just them being dogs with super sonic hearing?

Thanks

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

lol! Those strange barks are sometimes hard to pinpoint the source. The one thing that seems for sure is that whatever it is he seems a little surprised and panicked if it is a high pitched bark and he is staying put- those are generally the kind that are basically calling the rest of the pack for back-up.

Could be that he has good hearing or even the opposite - that it is going and thinks he hears something but is unsure and worried by his inability to confirm what he thinks he might have saw or even felt through vibrations.

I would say the first place to troubleshoot would be health. Take a good look in his ears and if it is really a big concern have his hearing checked.

If he is just having some trouble with impulse control - I would say be sure he is eating high quality proteins and try some fish oil.

But, does sound like a tricky one that might work itself all the way up our troubleshooting model to 'management' where a noise maker at night might help drown out the faint sounds. I have one that makes cricket sounds, the ocean, white noise, rain, etc.

[balkis]

Hi Mike,

Milo (the barker) is in good health and is on a good diet (Cal Nat, Eagle Pack, Nat Bal). Good point re: fish oils, I just started all of us on that!

In Oct he is due for his yearly check-up so I will ask the vet about checking his hearing. Otherwise, from an external inspection of his ears there doesn't seem to be any problem. Also, this is actually something he has been doing as long as I've had him and yes, it is like he is calling the pack in for back up.

Right now it isn't horrible but I will keep in mind the suggestion of a noise machine.