Strange behavior

Hi all , hope you are all keeping well .
Missy Moo has grown into a beautiful young lady ( nearly 2 YO ) who is doing really well , but in the last 3 months we have seen a very odd behavior that we just cant figure out , Missy loves to go out to the park everyday for walks , every walk looks like her first as she is just so happy to go running and playing , the only thing that tops this is chasing her ball , but on a few occasions now for absolutely no apparent reason she just stops having any interest , looks a little scared and just wants to go home , the first 2 times this happened we had a ball thrower , something we rarely use so thought she might be scared of it , but it happened tonight and we had no thrower with us , the only other thing that is common in all cases is that its her second time out in the day and its late evening and starting to get dark but not actually dark .
Has anyone any thoughts on this on why this might be happening and how to try fix it ?
Many Thanks
BRIAN

It just may be the dark,I have known many dogs that are not fond of the dark.Just see if she acts the same in good daylight.

Nothing like this has ever happened during the day , so it could be it starting to get dark , but we are talking well before dusk , i would say still bright , but again it is all i can think of .

Misty isn't keen on the dark either. Could it be that Missy just gets bored of the game? Misty adores tennis balls and will chase for ages but when she's had enough she will walk to the ball and not even attempt to pick it up. If we throw it again she will ignore it completely.

I dont think its boredom as once she gets home she will stat playing with the ball again , although essentially still bright im starting to lean towards it being heading to dusk being the reason , ill start walking her around this time but on a leash so she feels more secure and build her confidence up .

I don't suppose she's limping at all? Maybe a slight strain is pulling her up short & it scares her a bit?

No , no limping or anything like that , she definitely gets scared in some way of something , if it happens again ill try get a video of he reaction .

hi beecee another factor to consider not only the dark the change in temperature as well staffies hate the cold maybe buy a coat and on a late evening use it see if it makes a diference.

So this has now happened two days in a row , both during full daylight so that rules out the dark being an issue , it would appear as if she gets scared all of a sudden of the ball , and some times it does look like she is just extremely bored of it all , but definitely more a look of fear , ive walked her in different parts of the park in case i missed an incident ( dont see how but i guess anything is possible ) that she might be afraid of happening again in the same area . I will take her out tomorrow and film the walk , it happened very quickly today so i should be able to catch it happening .
PLEASE do keep the thoughts on this coming as i dont want to overlook anything , cheers folks .

Odd... So darkness is ruled out, injury is out and ball playing is also out. Now just throwing something out there, do you go to the same park albeit different parts each day? The reason I ask is that my girl gets bored with the same park even if we go in via each of the 4 different gates! She just seems to be bored with the place.

Is missy different if you pop her in the car and go somewhere different?

It might be worth a quick vet check. It's possible that there's a sudden pain caused during exercise that is worrying her. It's something that I'd want to rule out.

I'd also keep a diary of exactly where you were, exactly what she was doing, what other dogs, people, etc were around, etc. Also, watch her body language really carefully on walks to see if there are any other tiny signs of anything.

Something else you could try is going on completely different walks - maybe driving somewhere that you haven't been for a while - to see if you get the same reaction. If you do you know it's not related to where you are.

Great stuff folks , today ill do what i normally do and hope to capture it on camera so you can see whats happening and hopefully be able to help some more advice , tomorrow ill take her somewhere new and see if it happens , ill not let it go on much longer , then ill go to vets to see if there might be a medical reason for this , thanks again folks .

Hi , so i took Missy out and it happened on camera , not the best example of her doing it but she does do it all the same , the vid is 8 mins long but i think you need to watch all of it to get a good idea of what is happening , as you see her playing and then cowering a little and then playing again etc , at least this time she didnt just run all the way home .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaNT2kkl8ao

firstly, wow, she's gorgeous!

To be honest, she looks at times to be seeking reassurance for some reason. Is there any noise or movements that might be worrying her?

I short no , the park was basically empty when the video was made , i dont think i could be more verbal with her than i am , im thinking there might me a medical reason , could be a nerve issue or her teeth , ill be bringing her for a walk somewhere else shortly , if the behavior happens there then ill know its not location , if it does happen ill take her to the vets tomorrow to see if there is any medical issues .

beecee wrote:i dont think i could be more verbal with her than i am

I would try being less verbal. One thing that I felt was that you're so keen for her to be her normal self that you're putting pressure on her, which might in fact be blocking her. If you're tense and worried, she will pick up on that. My personal thought - and it is just that - would be to hold onto the ball when you first get to the park so she doesn't have it all the time, being quiet and relaxed as you're walking, play with her but don't throw the ball too far (it looked like she was more uncertain when she was further away, at least to start off with), and to mix periods of quieter with periods of play.

I'd also be inclined to pop her on a long line to limit how far she can go while still allowing her freedom to bumble. At the moment, if she's not wanting to play for some reason, she can just head off home and you can't do much about it. These things can become habits very quickly, even if any underlying reason behind the initial behaviour is no longer there.

And do try a walk without the ball even ( ) somewhere else. It might in part be that she's just growing up and is feeling less like chasing a ball the whole time.

I didn't see anything that would indicate physical to me, she's moving well and there was no sign of an ouch, even small. I wouldn't entirely rule it out but it wouldn't be my first thought.

Thanks LizP .

These are from today , in a different park , she has been here a few times in the last year , 1st vid is just Missy being her playful self , its gives you an idea of how she normally is , the second is where after about 40 mins of fun i introduce the ball , and its business as usual , zero issues , so im thinking as suggested she just might be bored of the same walk same ball same everything , she has been in super form since we came home too .
https://youtu.be/46wjNfGPEVs

https://youtu.be/wsthUeFR_Go

I looked at your vids earlier Brian, Missy looks absolutely fine in herself. I wonder if it Is over familiarisation with the same place. I guess if its the same smells, the same dogs and the same place it could get quiet boring. I know for sure that my little lass gets bored with the same old places which is why I mix it up.

Im going to walk her in a varied a location for a while and then try her in the usual park again and see what happens . Thanks ALL for the input and advice .

Hi all , a little update ( should have gotten back sooner ) , this behavior stopped as quick as it started and i cant honestly say why it started or ended as nothing obvious has changed , im always on the lookout for it to begin again in the hope that i spot something , many thanks for all the input .

Thanks for letting us know!

They do get us wondering, don't they?

Thanks for the update Brian, they can be funny things at times

Love our staffies

This happened to my boy a couple of times before I found out he had suddenly become afraid of contrails. He would be racing for his ball and suddenly stop and put his ears back and his tail down on the strength of a plane flying five miles above his head, totally soundless, just the sight of it. Then he would leave his ball and come sit on my foot like he does when he's anxious. Sometimes he would even cower and set off back for home, constantly stopping and looking back at me to get me to follow. This lasted about three months at the start of last year (when the skies were clear, of course, which isn't very often up here in the Lakes) and stopped as quickly as it started. He still looks up at contrails but he's not worried by them any more. Staffies are very sensitive and sometimes the slightest thing can get them started.

One thing for future reference, I found that if I tried to play ball when him when he was anxious, he would associate the ball with his fear and so make him worse. Trying to calm him made him worse too, as did offering him treats, and I found the best solution was just to give him a shoulder rub for a few minutes and not say anything, then he would normally improve and at least be ready to walk.