Our Lucy is a little nervous nellie lately. She has been a little more skittish the last couple of weeks and when DH brought home some mylar balloons 2 weeks ago she freaked - wouldn't come in the house, even for dinner, until they were out of sight. Several nights in the last week she has cried in her crate which is VERY unusual for her - I opened her crate and she crawled under my bed and slept there peacefully for the rest of the night. Finally, the last couple of days I have noticed she's been licking at a wound on her rear leg - it started out as a little cut but now she has a sore about the diameter of a pencil. I'm not sure if she is obsessively licking or just caring for a wound but I'm thinking these could all be related.

I wonder if this might, in part, be a normal developmental period for her? She is probably about 16 - 18 months old.

Aw, poor Lucy. I hope whatever is going on with her resolves itself. Stress is no fun for people or doggies.

Nutmeg certainly has her nervous Nellie moments, and we're still working through them. It may well be an age thing too. Have you read The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell? It's more of a booklet rather than a full book, but it's great. Of course, I seem to have lost it in the move...

I'd probably have a vet check her out.

Hmmmm, anything new in her life? I wonder if there was some noise that spooked her when you weren't around. Maybe somebody trying to get in? wooooooo. I'm saying this because it only was after Frieda died that I saw tooth marks on the window of a side door in the laundry room where Frieda stayed during our absence. This is a room she frantically tried to escape and ate through the frame (and a wall). I am now convinced that somebody may have come to that door and spooked Frieda. Lucy may have had a similar experience to cause her to be nervous.

You could do a blood test to see if all her systems are OK. She may be lacking in a vitamin. That can cause anxiety in people, too.

In the meantime, try giving her a tablet of Calms Forte (health food store).
For the licking I just heard about something called Bitter Yuck. It is alcohol free. You can put a little around that sore she is licking to discourage the habit. Or a tiny bit of Vicks Vapo Rub is supposed to work because of the smell.

Try to give her extra walks to tire her out, too.

They Mylar baloons are shiny. I can understand how they could freak her out. My two galoots won't come near me when I drag out the camera and I've discovered it is the silver shine that scares them away! My black 35 MM has no affect on them! Kids! Always keeping us on our toes!

Claire - thanks for the suggestions. I was wondering if our recent earthquake might have scared her - we weren't home when it happened and she was in her crate. She didn't act wierd when I got home that day but I think that certainly coul dhave been a trigger.

She's licking a little less over the past 2 days - I've been watching her like a hawk and giving her a little correction when she does it and giving her other things to occupy her mouth.

I will try to find the Calmes Forte - I have read about that before but never tried it - and work on some more "mind-occupying" activities for my little anxious girl.

House Flies cause Taffy to have fits. I don't know if it's the noise the flies make buzzing around, or if she remembers maybe being bit by flies that makes her so spooked. They make her nervous as heck and she gets real close to me, like save me Momma. Taffy's our picky eater, flies in the house is usually a cause for her to refuse her dinner.

My guys' breeder has mentioned to me that when dogs are between a year and two they sometimes go through a fear stage and act nervous around stuff for seemingly no reason. In fact I've heard of a couple of people mention it. If there seems to be nothing medically wrong with Lucy, maybe its just that sort of stage?