Bucephalus
New member
Bo has been acting a little strange lately. For the past month he has been becoming suddenly afraid of things on our normal walking routes about 75% of the time. Sometimes it's obvious what makes him afraid (hoses/ rope/ certain cars), but other times it seems like a smell will set him off and then he goes wild sniffing the ground the whole way home, much more intensely and frequently than usual. We initially thought it was a fear phase, but he is almost 20 months (do fear phases continue to happen after 18 months in large breeds?), and the fearfulness has been going on for quite a while and seems to be getting worse. On walks now, he often stops on the sidewalk behind me because he doesn't like something ahead of us. I can usually get him to move a few steps, but he'll keep stopping until we shift direction (this has been occurring just in the past week). If our friends' dogs join us on a walk, he is fine. If my husband and I walk him together he does pretty well, but if it's one of us alone he gets scared.
He has also been eating grass almost every morning when we let him out back to pee, then vomiting it up about 50% of the time.
This morning, his poop had a thick mucus membrane on half of it (the second part). He has had poo problems (mushy) on and off since we adopted him. It varies from morning to evening, even!
I posted a while back about how much he barks at the TV, and that seems to be getting worse. When we move him to a time out, he barks and growls and swings his head around like he's going to bite (but doesn't). Seems like a regression to adolescent behavior. He's also not listening as well when we practice obedience at home or in class.
Obviously a blood test should be done to rule out thyroid problems and we plan on getting him to the vet soon. But does this sound like thyroid? Fear phase? Pain from elbow and hip dysplasia? Something to do with eyesight (he is blind in one eye)? Allergies causing him discomfort? I'm just curious if any of these symptoms stick out to any of you as being connected so we can have some idea of what to test first.
**I should also mention that some of the behavior (fear and barking at the TV) seems to have gotten worse since we had a foster in the house, with whom Bo did not get along exceedingly well. They tolerated each other and played some, but she was very dominant with him (lots of mounting, growling, neck biting, etc.) He had terrible food aggression with her and tried to attack her (fortunately they were separated with a babygate). We ended up having to walk them separately and feed one while the other was out of the house. And we have fed Bo with our friends dogs, side by side, without a problem. Sorry this is so long, I'm just trying to figure out what the underlying causes might be...
Thanks!
He has also been eating grass almost every morning when we let him out back to pee, then vomiting it up about 50% of the time.
This morning, his poop had a thick mucus membrane on half of it (the second part). He has had poo problems (mushy) on and off since we adopted him. It varies from morning to evening, even!
I posted a while back about how much he barks at the TV, and that seems to be getting worse. When we move him to a time out, he barks and growls and swings his head around like he's going to bite (but doesn't). Seems like a regression to adolescent behavior. He's also not listening as well when we practice obedience at home or in class.
Obviously a blood test should be done to rule out thyroid problems and we plan on getting him to the vet soon. But does this sound like thyroid? Fear phase? Pain from elbow and hip dysplasia? Something to do with eyesight (he is blind in one eye)? Allergies causing him discomfort? I'm just curious if any of these symptoms stick out to any of you as being connected so we can have some idea of what to test first.
**I should also mention that some of the behavior (fear and barking at the TV) seems to have gotten worse since we had a foster in the house, with whom Bo did not get along exceedingly well. They tolerated each other and played some, but she was very dominant with him (lots of mounting, growling, neck biting, etc.) He had terrible food aggression with her and tried to attack her (fortunately they were separated with a babygate). We ended up having to walk them separately and feed one while the other was out of the house. And we have fed Bo with our friends dogs, side by side, without a problem. Sorry this is so long, I'm just trying to figure out what the underlying causes might be...
Thanks!
Last edited:
