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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Neurotic Dog/Afraid of Flickering

2 replies

NuttyNewDog · 06/09/2012 21:26

Brief history: in April, I bought a lovely labrador cross (possibly collie?) from a family who couldn't give her enough time and exercise. She is about 18 months old. She was very calm to start with, excellent recall, didn't want to stray far from me and was afraid of water and other animals.

She's come on leaps and bounds (and does actually leap and bound very high!), loves swimming and will walk for hours at a time. She now tries to round up cows and horses but is fine with other dogs. She reacts very aggressively to any animals on tv, even cartoons.

The only real issue I have is she is terrified of shadows and flickering lights. I spent the first week sitting in the dark with no tv because she'd be whimpering, barking and jumping up at the source of the light. We have a skylight in the kitchen and she tries to reach her reflection whilst barking loudly. It does seem to be fear rather than aggression. She can't cope with patterns on the ceiling from lamps or sunlight. The glass fronted kitchen cupboard upsets her. I've followed all the advice about ignoring it and not trying to soothe her, but it's got no better. The previous owner has stayed in touch and said she's always behaved this way.

Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? She seems genuinely terrified and I feel like I'm letting her down.

OP posts:
Cuebill · 07/09/2012 19:44

Contact APDT. This is very common behaviour in collies and spaniels (plus other breeds). An APDT trainer would need to she her in action to determine the reason for the behaviour - most of them will have experience with this and be able to give you a behavioural plan for you to work with.

I think that this does need some action as you are correct your dog is stressed anxious, frightened etc and would make her life much happier if she learnt to deal with this.

NuttyNewDog · 07/09/2012 20:41

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

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