Heidi has been acting really strange late at night during the past week. Between around 1AM and 5AM, she starts getting really nervous. She'll jump up on the bed like she wants to go out. Then, I'll take her out and she'll just walk around (sometimes peeing and pooping, but not always).

Last night was the worst though. At 3AM, she woke us up by jumping on the bed. We normally don't let her on the bed, but we did tonight because we thought maybe we'd get some sleep if she was up there with us. She couldn't relax though and kept staring at us, acting like she was listening for something, and then she sniffed both of our faces and jumped off the bed.

From that point on, she's been really restless, roaming the house, whining, staring. My husband has to get up for work in the morning, so I went in the other room so he could get some sleep (she normally follows me everywhere).

But she is still nervous, wandering around the house, and I found her in the bathroom twice just staring at the toilet! And she rarely goes into the bathroom because she is nervous walking on the linoleum. Three and a half hours later (at 6:30 AM), she's still pacing, whining, staring at me and hitting me with her nose.

She has had a couple of episodes like this in the past. Both times, it lasted a couple of days and then stopped. This time, it's worse and what's weird is that she seems her normal self during the daytime but in the late hours, she turns into a nervous wreck!

At first I was wondering if something was wrong with her physically, but it seems more like something is scaring her.

Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong with her and any suggestions to get her to calm down and let us get some sleep? This is getting to be a real pain!

Have you read this one:
http://germanshepherdhome.net/forum/ubbt..._in_#Post197155

Lots in that thread!

I just had a person I work with look at cholodin for herself. I have not seen anyone use it on a dog long-term as far as I know.

I'm going to quote Val & Chris from a different thread (hope they don't mind). I was just reading that one and came to this one and thought the thing they say about night time would be helpful to you.





Quotes are from; http://germanshepherdhome.net/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/197842/First_failed_recall

Maybe she is actually hearing something that you are not. I'm wondering if a safe place at night time, like a crate, might be helpful?

Is your house haunted? I have never been one to believe in ghosts myself but maybe there is a presence in the house?

Thanks for the replies! I've got some serious reading to do!

I've been wondering about the "haunted house" aspect too, although we've had her for four years and this is the first time she's had these nighttime issues. She doesn't seem to be scared of going outside at all, although she's very alert when we go out there because we do have raccoons and possums passing through sometimes. In fact, the second time I took her out at 2AM (on leash so she doesn't start barking and disturb the neighbors), she grabbed her cuz in her mouth to take it outside with her. If she was really, really scared or sick, it doesn't seem like she would have done that.

We were wondering if she was hearing something too. Last month, one of our smoke detectors went off (dead battery) and she was shaking like crazy and trying to hide. She was fine after we took out the battery and took her for a walk. She is a VERY sensitive girl!

It's very confusing. And it doesn't happen every night. The night before last, she laid down on her pad and slept the entire night there.

And now, she seems to be fine. She's outside acting normal, and when she's inside, she's not pacing around and doing all of that other stuff.

do you have a peeper outside? a few months ago we had a guy and his girlfriend who would walk the neighborhood looking for unlocked doors or open windows.even if the folks were hom esleeping, they would break in (well, technically they never broke in) and grab whatever they could and leave. t hey ddid this for 4 months before they got caught. they didnt come everysingle night, however, every night several homes were robbed. there was at least two times when we actaully heard the doorknob turn. by then we started locking the door and closing the windows. of course, if we had had the dogs then they would have only tried once.

also we have wild turkeys in the nieghborhood and sometimes they land on the roof at night. creepy sounding. the dogs often go crazy then. and last but not least. maybe you have mice? skunks are pretty active now, maybe one passses by outside ??? we also have giant barn owls that must live somewhere close by. they start and end thier hunts in our trees. late at night they will call and screech to each other and again the dogs are always then restless...

Or another possibilty, mice or other critters in the attic?

No peepers that I'm aware of! And I'm pretty sure Heidi would bark ferociously at them if they (or any critters) dared to get too close to the house!

But I just checked and there were a couple of small earthquakes in Northern California in the early morning hours last night. And one of them was said to be pretty shallow (I don't know if that means you'd feel it more). I have a feeling that might have been what it was. Next time she does this, I'm going to pay better attention to the time so I can get a better idea. I actually kind of hope that this is what it is because it's better than the alternatives!

Could it be that Heidi was responding to the seismic activity? GSDs are so sensitive, and they feel responsible for the safety of their human flock. I could well believe that the tremors were sensed by her and that she was aware and letting you know. The restlessness, whining, staring-- kinda might make sense, know? Good call! I hope that is all that it was. Good girl, Heidi!

I hope it does turn out that Heidi's behavior changes are due to earthquakes. I hear some animals are very sensitive to them.

You may want to drop off a urine sample and have it checked for a uti. Skye's weird behaviors escalated when she had an infection.

It is worth trying - Skye's test was only $8.00 and clearing it did help for awhile, although her symptoms, while less severe are back.

Hugs to Heidi - she is very young, so my vote is for her hearing or sensing something her humans are missing!

Thanks for the comments, Patti and Bonnie. Yes, I'm hoping it's a response to the earthquakes. She is very, very sensitive and her hearing is amazing. When a certain dog she doesn't like is being walked in front of our house--even if he's on the other side of the sidewalk and even if she's in the back of the house with all the doors and windows closed, she will rush out to the front window to bark at him!

Bonnie, that's a good idea about checking into a UTI. By the way, apparently I haven't updated my profile in quite a while because Heidi is now about 6 years old, not 4!

Heidi hopefully really is only responding to the seismic vibrations, but, good idea Bonnie about getting Heidi checked for a UTI. You never know. My goodness, Heidi is 6! Big sweet girl now!

Poor Heidi, she sounds so worried by something.

No chance of coyotes or similar around?

Here is a site that lists every earthquake in the world so maybe if it continues you can check against the list?

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

Well, last night was weird. At 1:00 a.m., Heidi got up and started pacing around. Dave let her come up on the bed and she was still acting worried. She came up to us, sniffed both our faces, hit me with her nose a couple of times, and then laid down on TOP of me, facing the door to the bedroom while sniffing the air. That was really weird because she is not a dog that likes to be too close to anyone. That was the first time she's ever actually laid down on top of me!

Something is definitely unnerving her and we felt almost like she was trying to protect me. I have never felt like we had any ghostly presence in this house but I have to admit, I was a little unnerved myself!!

But she slept the rest of the night, thank goodness, her body pressed close to both of us! This really can't continue though because we have a queen-size bed and she hogs it!

No coyotes around here (I live in the city), but quite a few other critters like raccoons, possums, rats. But Heidi has a huge prey drive, so I think she'd be interested, not scared. And I checked the earthquake list (thanks, Bianca) and no earthquake at that time.

Ugh! Back to square one!

We found out last year that we had birds living in the attic. We never heard them, but Kaiser would act really strange. We noticed it at night because that's when we were quiet and he was supposed to be sleeping. But often he'd pace or lay down and sort of stare. He wouldn't do this all the time, but enough for us to notice and we eventually found the birds and the nest.

Maybe you have some sort of nocturnal animals/birds in your attic - maybe above the bathroom - that she can hear but you can't? Or maybe there is something in your plumbing being that she was staring at the toilet the one time and then sniffing the air the other time? I've heard of snakes coming up the toilet! Not sure if any other critter could live in the pipes -

The other thing I thought of is maybe her night vision is decreasing for some reason? Maybe try sleeping with a night light on in the bathroom and see if that makes a difference? Maybe she's smelling your faces to make sure you're still there and then laying with you for reassurance? Or maybe she's protecting you from that snake in the toilet!!

well, prey drive wouldnt "kick in" until the prey is moving. if she smells something in her house i am not thinking that she would tear your plumbing up to get to it. scared, well, not that either. but worried... maybe.

but the whole laying down on you ... that WOULD BE UNNERVING.

I've heard of snakes in the toilet too. EEKKK!!! We did have a rat in one of our outdoor drains once... And yes, it is possible that there are critters in our attic or our basement. I guess maybe the prey drive might not be in effect if she doesn't know what it is making the noise.

Another thing I was wondering about is road construction noise that they do really late at night. We had that a while back and could hear it for a couple of weeks, but not lately. Maybe that's what is happening now. I know that she is petrified of fireworks--which also happens regularly at night in the summer, from where, I don't know! Maybe there are some firework-like sounds coming from some night-time road construction.

We'll see what she does tonight. I have her in doggie daycare all day today in the hopes that it will tire her out so much that she'll sleep all night.

Thanks for all the comments and thoughts!

The road construction could be causing vibrations that are unnerving. We had that here when the neighbors had attic insulation blown in, the dogs went nutso while it was happening and you could feel the vibrations.

I also vote for the possibility of little critters. Leyna and Levi don't settle very well sometimes and I know we have had a problem with chipmunks in the house (we started a chipmunk relocation program...ah the joys of living in the forest).

I live in a suburb of Portland and I would have said the same thing, until the morning I saw a Coyote trotting down the road!!
Took me a minute to figure out what it was, at first I thought it was just a really odd looking dog and in my head was cursing the owners that would have their dog out loose at 5:30 AM!

I hope you get it figured out soon!

so, any conclusions??

Don't know how I missed this --- The late Barker the Elder would behave this way if she needed my attention to something. (Once it was nestling birds getting restless in the wall.) There is something going on that she needs your "help" with. You may not hear it but she does. It could be carpenter ants or termites even. Also - rats can come up via toilets. (personal experience) And coyotes live in urban settings! Trickster is very adaptable.

Yes, I want to know what has happened, too!