# Dog afraid of house



## Riverdiva (May 1, 2007)

Our dog Neva (pit/chow) is like our child. She's 7 years old and never had any problems being left at home all day, etc. We go to the river every weekend and she's inside the house in the A/C all day when it's too hot for her on the boat. Never gives us any greif. We would leave her alone all day at our last house and she was also fine there. We moved into our current home a little over a year ago and she hasn't liked the place since day 1. I'm not sure what it is but she's afraid of something. 

She sleeps in the closet once it gets dark and comes back out when the sun comes up. She has eaten screens, ripped up my vertical blinds on numerous occasions, pushed screens out and jumped out of bottom floor windows. We tried leaving her in the backyard and she started jumping the fence and laying on the front driveway till we got home. We started making sure all of the windows were closed and one day my roommate forgot to close his window on the second story. She pushed out the screen and jumped out the second story window. He had said she was acting very strange, practically crawling on her belly following him around the house, however he forgot his phone when he left and didn't make an effort to call and worn us. She didn't hurt herself...just shattered her duclaw. Since then my boyfriend has been taking her to work with him to avoid the heartache. She is also very attached to him and is getting more attached as she grows older. She recently had a stroke and has been recovering from that (blood pressure pills, vet visits, etc). So I would venture to say she's been a little more than spoiled lately. Nevertheless, my boyfriend left town this week for business and we had it worked out where I went to work and around 9:30 or so my boyfriends mother would come pick up Neva and keep her all day and I would pick her up after work. Well I left around 8 and she was acting very pushy trying to come with me this morning. My new roommate left after us and didn't think about the window rule. I got a call around 9 from a neighbor that saw her plunge again from the same second story window, then proceed to jump our fence and run off down the street. I rushed home from work and found her shortly after. She found an open garage that nobody was in and layed on a couch to wait for her ride. She was not hurt again, just shattered a back nail. 

So my question is: What could be causing her to be so afraid of this house? Is it possible there's a scent left in the house, a noise she hears, is this just a tantrum, could there possibly be some wierd energy in this house that she can sense? I'm just lost about what to do at this point. I can't fathom what is spooking her so bad. She's not a timid dog by any means. 

Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Maybe the house is haunted. I've heard that dogs don't like that.

Some (probably Doberman_07) will poo-poo that idea, but we had some mighty strange things happen with our lab while my mother-in-law's ashes were parked on top of the entertainment center in the basement family room. I didn't know a 120-pound dog (or any dog) could go up a flight of stairs backwards.

The ashes are now interred more appropriately, but our new dog still eyes up the entertainment center very suspiciously and sometimes growls at it.


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## Riverdiva (May 1, 2007)

RonE said:


> Maybe the house is haunted. I've heard that dogs don't like that.
> 
> Some (probably Doberman_07) will poo-poo that idea, but we had some mighty strange things happen with our lab while my mother-in-law's ashes were parked on top of the entertainment center in the basement family room. I didn't know a 120-pound dog (or any dog) could go up a flight of stairs backwards.
> 
> The ashes are now interred more appropriately, but our new dog still eyes up the entertainment center very suspiciously and sometimes growls at it.


That's the thing that keeps coming back to my mind. I can't imagine what else it could be. It's not exactly separation anxiety. Well it may be partly, but it's limited to one house. 

That's very funy about the dog going backwards up the stairs.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Riverdiva said:


> That's very funy about the dog going backwards up the stairs.


It's funny enough now but, at the time, it was a bit like seeing Linda Blair's head do a 360 in _The Exorcist._

That dog was never afraid of anything before. He got halfway down the stairs to eat his breakfast, his fur went up, her growled a little and he quickly backed up the stairs. At the end of the day, he still hadn't gone down there to eat. I had to go with him.

That made a believer out of me. Dogs don't have imaginations. I had been dismissing odd reports from my kids because they DO have imaginations.

On the other hand, maybe they used some kind of funky carpet cleaner and your dog doesn't like the smell.


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## iwantmypup (Jan 6, 2007)

I actually agree with RonE very much... Dogs (almost like children) tend to sense these things . But yeah....ghost , spirits or the unknown you could have in your house... 

Ali


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## Riverdiva (May 1, 2007)

RonE said:


> On the other hand, maybe they used some kind of funky carpet cleaner and your dog doesn't like the smell.


We've been there for over a year...I think all the odorizor products would have taken over whatever scent. I've been thinking it's possible the house has a spirit also. Now do I have to have ghost hunters over my house? Do i just move? Should I just live on having my stuff trashed and worrying about my dog smashing a window next time and hanging from the glass? She's quite strong and boy watch out when she gets determined about something.


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