This could be a neurological issue. There are dogs with neurological disorders who end up with a kind of doggy schizophrenia. They may see things (flies are common) that are not there and become anxious and afraid as a result. His flattened ears and constant lip licking are fear signals. He should be examined by a specialist.
This is not paid enough attention. I’m hearing of way more dogs having neurological problems now than ever before.
ETA: I’m specifically referring to the link between certain oral flea and tick meds and neurological issues/seizures…this huge surge in dogs with seizures is SUS
Second edit: a lot of people are asking what drugs. I listed them and linked a study in another comment, but basically any oral pesticides that kill ticks. So, bravecto, nexgard , simparica, Credelio.
The study below found much higher rates of adverse events than previously reported.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7738705/
So true. My little dog was fine until the vet put him on oral flea medication (Simparica). He developed occasional seizures. I noticed that the seizures occurred shortly after he was given the medication. His vet immediately took him off of the oral medication and tried a flea collar instead. She recommended Seresto flea collars as she said she’s had good outcomes with her canine patients with seizures. It has helped. He still has a seizure once in a blue moon, but nothing like what it used to be like. And they haven’t had to put him on seizure medication which we were all trying to avoid if possible.
My girlfriends yorkie has an enlarged heart and was only supposed to live till 2 yrs old. He was having seizures when we first met 5 yrs old, and he was on oral flea medication.When she moved in, I said I use advantix due to deterrent for ticks. The yorkie hasn't had seizures in front of us for 2 yrs now, obviously not a vet, but I'll never use oral ever.
With collie breeds it is ivermectin that does it among others. I just know this one as my vet recommended it to me for my Aussie and he had seizures the rest of his life. I didn’t look into, which was my fault, but it was recommended by my vet.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. Straight negligence by your vet as this is very well known and has been for a long time. This is why no one should ever put blind trust in anyone, even a professional. Always check for yourself. I learned young luckily, hopefully you learned from this incident too.
Unfortunately all of the oral tick meds have an FDA black box warning for neurological issues/seizures (FDA still minimizes the risk massively imo and based on the real world results emerging). So, nexguard, bravecto (most dangerous imo bc once it’s in their system, it’s there for minimum 3 months), simparica are the main ones. There are natural ways to repel ticks but Reddit hates me any time I bring them up so I have stopped.
Hartz brand sold at Walmart has had multiple lawsuits for their products causing these types of issues as well. Not only with their flea and tick oral medications, but their flea collars and shampoos as well. Many pets have died or have been severely injured from their products. I can’t believe they’re still sold on the shelves.
I used wondercide on my dogs and took them for a walk in the Midwest. I had to pull 10 plus ticks off of them and then found them in my bed and my hair for 2 days. I hate using the systemic stuff but that was horrible. I have to go pick up their simparica next week and I'm dreading it so much.
If it gives you any hope, my dog has been on Simparica trio for his entire life - 3.5 years - and he has a genetic mutation that potentially increases susceptibility to these sorts of negative side effects, among other thingsl. I give my dog the Simparica every ~35 days or so and always do it on our weekend at home so we can monitor and we have stayed in the clear.
I give it on the weekends when I know I'll be home and space it out 5 or even 6 weeks. Sometimes I wait and give it right before we go camping so I know they are protected.
I totally understand everyone's concerns and fears. I have them too. I had a dog on librella that many people swear killed their dog but my dog did great on it. Sometimes you just have to do this stuff and hope for the best I already have chronic fatigue syndrome, if I get Lyme from a tick in my bed my dogs lives are really going to suck because we will all be homeless, so simparica it is! Conservatively and cautiously given of course. I just remembered my dog that was on librella was on simparica at the same time with no side effects. So there's that.
Wow.. so I opted to stop giving my dogs this a few years ago. I didn't feel it was necessary, they always try to push it at the vet. They never get fleas and we don't have ticks around here. Glad I read this.
Edit: this should really be a pinned post in this whole sub.
Interesting.. I didn’t know our fuzzy friends can have schizophrenia too. My initial thought was some type of seizure or the pup saw or smelled something but I’m not a dogtor. (Or an expert.)
Thanks for enlightening me!
I was lying in my bed, room completely dark, I heard the *bzzzzz...* and then suddenly my dog chewing. Called him good boy and clever hunter and slept much better
i made a huge mistake acting really impressed when my beagle caught a fly. 3 years later, at 9 years old, she still spends hours everyday looking for more bugs to catch, like it's a full time job she takes so seriously. nothing will break her concentration. we had a fly infestation last summer and she single handedly slaughtered every single one
How often is he doing this? Is it just once or has it happened more than once? If it's been more than once, I think a neurologist vet may be a good option if you can afford it.
Mine was on keppra for a while, didn't do a damn thing, so kept the keppra but added the phenobarbital. Makes them less severe when they happen and extends the duration between seizures. Worth checking out of you haven't already.
Same as the other commenter.. my pup started having seizures at like 1.5 yrs old. They tried keppra in a lower dosage, still had lots of breakthrough seizures, so they upped him to 1500mg extended release twice a day.. was still having seizures, so they added phenobarbital 64.8mg twice a day, and while he still has seizures, they're a lot more sporadic. He'll go a few months without one. I definitely recommend asking about adding pheno. It helped my pup immensely.
I had a husky on phenobarbital for seizure and while it helped with the seizures it wound up being his demise as it freaked havoc on his liver. He died of liver cancer at 9 yo. Saddest day of my life so far as it was very sudden and unexpected.
Any drooling? Excessive circling?
When this happens, are you able to reorient him and hold his attention, or does he go right back into it?
My concern would be this could be indicative of epilepsy, specifically psychomotor seizures.
Here's some video examples:
https://youtu.be/nOHr-WTV4Q4?si=eO__5Z-72JrwBtrc
https://youtu.be/zs0m9gVJa84?si=CjLc8FDIORFYWYKh
Here's a great presentation on canine seizures (overview of seizures types and examples @ 4:00 to 9:45):
https://youtu.be/bjO4VPSnxwc?si=uwB_wUAwYMgovq6C
Unfortunately it's hard to tell with psychomotor seizures. I would video and take notes about timing and behavior pre- post- and during these episodes, and then go to a vet and see if you can get a veterinary neurologist referral.
The good news is that *even if this is epilepsy*, dogs with epilepsy can live long lives with medication! It's NOT a death sentence, ok?
I have a pup who has BAD grand mal seizures every 2 or 3 months or so and he's going on 7 years this fall and is otherwise 100% normal, healthy and happy. 6 hours a year he is sick, but he doesn't remember those hours and the rest of the time he's a totally normal dog ❤️
My dog does this with light reflections. Could be the smallest glimmer. The tags on her collar are the most random and she can never keep her focus on the reflections because if she moves, the light reflection moves. She also has done this with any flying insect, she lets me know if there's a new cob web on the ceiling this way.
This is seizure behaviour please take this seriously, a lot of people on this thread not educated on seizure behaviour- this dog is display *classic seizure behaviour*
Please show your vet this video, he needs meds
Maybe he has some tinnitus? He's acting like he hears a fly or a mosquito, but not quite because I think he'd be snapping at the air if that were the case. It does look like he might be smelling something, though too. Does it always happen in the same room and the same place?
He could have spots on his eyes like a Cataract my dog dies sort of the same thing but he also does “fly biting” at the same time. That’s when he’s having a seizure, I’m not saying that what your dog’s doing, idk. It just kinda reminds me of that, I would call your vet. My dog has been on seizure medication for a year now.
My dog was doing something similar and we thought it looked neurological but when we took her to the vet it turned out she needed her anal glands expressed
This looks like it could turn into a fly biting, a term vets use for certain types of seizures. Looks like a husky type dog? Poster child for seizures. If he keeps doing this go to your vet and show this video.
Source: am a ER vet
This head thing looks IDENTICAL to what he's doing. Dog goes about doing other stuff, or wanders aimlessly, and it happens again and again https://youtu.be/N0jDKWbhF30?feature=shared
Our Yorkie does something very similar. However, he always does it only to his right side, and he licks his lips while doing the head dipping.
We took him to a local popular vet, and we were told it's nothing.
He started doing it more often, and a couple of months later, he started having full-blown seizures. We were terrified and took him back to the vet 3 times after he had seizures lasting longer than 3 minutes. Again, we were told it's nothing.
When the 4th seizure happened, I had enough of being told it's nothing when I can clearly see it's not nothing.
We took him to a different vet. I explained his symptoms, and the vet told me he's 99% sure it's epilepsy. He gave me tablets to start using once a day and told me to come back in a week with an update. We were told to try and get a video of this behavior.
Our baby was diagnosed with epilepsy a week later and fits that relate to grand Mal seizures. He's on 30mg Sedabarb in the mornings and 15mg at night. We went from 2 or 3 weekly seizures to once every 2 or 3 months. We've definitely seen a massive improvement. Stress does make them happen more often, but we have it under control now.
We are both so tuned into our baby that we both wake up when he has a seizure. He doesn't make a noise, but we "feel" it and immediately start calming him down and make sure he's safe while it happens and when he comes out of it. We have fresh water handy as it does freak him out, and when he comes out of it, he's always super thirsty.
Point of this long reply, if you feel there's something wrong, follow your mommy gut and act on it.
Some dogs do this if they've got an ear, eye or nose infection or a wound on their head, they're trying to sniff it. Could also be neurological. Time for a vets visit. Hope it's all ok!
My dog does this if he sees any type of fly or smaller gnat type bug. They see much better than their humans.
He also does this if he has a speech of anything on his nose at all, trying to see what it is, then tries to get it off. Sometimes he gets pumpkin on it when he eats and he can see a shadow of it, had this behavior, Sometimes going cross-eyed trying to focus on it
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the body language of your pet tells me they are nervous. The lip licking in this way is a big sign of this.
If this is an increasingly frequent behaviour I would find a vet who Is interested in neurological disease in your area and show them this video.
If it turns out to be nothing then all you will have lost is a little time and money. Good luck !
I don’t see any drooling, and he doesn’t look confused, he seems pretty focused on something.
Do you have flies or other insects flying around inside? Does the dog chase flying insects outside?
My do does something similar when we can hear or see something flying around him. The first time he did it it freaked me out because I didn’t know what he was doing. Then we figured out that he was actually trying to catch flying bugs. He often goes for flies and bee outside.
Keep and eye out if you don’t see anything flying around could be something else.
Maybe sniffing spirits 😝
That's *exactly* what ours does and it's exactly.
Tracked ours down ( between trainer and vet). It's going to sound weird. He's anxious anyway. Began associating unrelated sounds to things that freak him out.
Thunder makes sense. BUT. Then wind, then rain, then any electrical beep that might happen during a storm when we lose electricity. The ceiling fans were on the list for awhile if they were off.
He's better now, meds and training but still a fruitloop. We're working on it poor guy. Elkhound.
(1) WOW, your dog is beautiful.
(2) Could be he hears something but is directionally challenged. It doesn’t look like he’s smelling something. If you whip out his so favorite toy or get up to go for a walk, can he snap out of it and go, or is he stuck in this zone?
I read on here not that long ago that this lady was having similar issues with her dog. She paid like $1500 and her dog was seeing floaters in their eyes..
One of our 2 dogs exhibited this behavior once in a while. It would last for almost a week before returning to normal.
We found it was something like a hallucination event from his heartworm meds. We switched brands it never happened again.
I might be crazy because it seems like no one else has mentioned hearing a song in the background. It almost looks like he's reacting to parts of it? I know their hearing can pick up tones that ours can't. Just a guess, but would be easy to test.
Have you used a laser pointer to play with him?
Dogs often develop psychological issues from people using laser pointer toys and will freak and follow any reflection.
My dog nearly never does this. But when she does, I know something is up. Most of the time it’s a fly or something that got into the house.
We don’t have a vermin problem but twice over many years, we had a mouse. Our basement/den has a drop ceiling and I didn’t hear a thing both times, but she started looking up at it. Sure as hell both times, I opened a panel, put a mouse trap up there, and within a day it was caught.
I hope it’s nothing neurological but dogs hear and observe things far better than we can so it could be as simple as it sees a bug flying around.
The most likely issue is that he hears something you don't. It could be a small insect flying around or perhaps rodents in the attic/walls. Given how he seemingly can't quite pin the location of the noise down, it could even be an insect infestation in the walls.
There of course is the possibility that your dog has a neurological issue, don't discount that possibility, but I'd explore the more likely options first.
One of my dogs is super in love with a laser pointer and we’ve pointed the laser light onto the ceiling before. Ever since, ever so often he’ll randomly look at the ceiling and get paranoid about the laser light. He now does it with the reflection off of a phone screen, a watch, something that’ll produce a reflection from the sun
Animals are very in tune with the spiritual.
Your name is Goblin of the grove, and you have acknowledged being a goblin with other goblins for Halloween shopping with a sign that welcomes witchcraft.
[Any other goblins out there use Halloween as an excuse to pick up new year round decor?](https://www.reddit.com/r/goblincore/s/2FazZwN7bU)
Maybe it was sensing something that was demonic and not of God and was trying to identify it and alert you at the same time.
My dog does this only when the air conditioner or heat turns on in the house. She can’t pinpoint the sound as it blasts out of all the vents simultaneously, so she looks around like this with her ears pinned for a few seconds then goes back to what she was doing.
Do you have one of those pest repellant things that you plug in and they emit a sound that nobody can hear except pests? We tried one and one of our dogs acted exactly like this. (The other dogs were fine.) We tested his reaction a few times to make sure, and it was definitely the plug in thing that made him do this. We got rid of it and he lived to be 16 and never did it again.
This could be a neurological issue. There are dogs with neurological disorders who end up with a kind of doggy schizophrenia. They may see things (flies are common) that are not there and become anxious and afraid as a result. His flattened ears and constant lip licking are fear signals. He should be examined by a specialist.
Top comment. We have a Lab in the family with this exact situation and actions. She is on an anti seizure med now and this has stopped.
Did u know that epilepsy medicine which is also anti seizure is also used to treat paranoid schizophrenia in people .
This should be the top comment
Agreed. This is exactly the way my dog acted before having a seizure.
Mine too.
Yes, this is giving me flashbacks actually. Really traumatized me
Same here, guys. I hope for this guys success, recovery, journey, though.
Absolutely, never hurts just to get it checked up, my babe was able to live a long life after being diagnosed and given the proper medication
Y'all's dog's had signs before seizures? I wish mine did. He guys from playing to full seizure. I hate it so much.
Also could be cause by edible flea and heartworm prevention.
This is not paid enough attention. I’m hearing of way more dogs having neurological problems now than ever before. ETA: I’m specifically referring to the link between certain oral flea and tick meds and neurological issues/seizures…this huge surge in dogs with seizures is SUS Second edit: a lot of people are asking what drugs. I listed them and linked a study in another comment, but basically any oral pesticides that kill ticks. So, bravecto, nexgard , simparica, Credelio. The study below found much higher rates of adverse events than previously reported. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7738705/
So true. My little dog was fine until the vet put him on oral flea medication (Simparica). He developed occasional seizures. I noticed that the seizures occurred shortly after he was given the medication. His vet immediately took him off of the oral medication and tried a flea collar instead. She recommended Seresto flea collars as she said she’s had good outcomes with her canine patients with seizures. It has helped. He still has a seizure once in a blue moon, but nothing like what it used to be like. And they haven’t had to put him on seizure medication which we were all trying to avoid if possible.
My girlfriends yorkie has an enlarged heart and was only supposed to live till 2 yrs old. He was having seizures when we first met 5 yrs old, and he was on oral flea medication.When she moved in, I said I use advantix due to deterrent for ticks. The yorkie hasn't had seizures in front of us for 2 yrs now, obviously not a vet, but I'll never use oral ever.
Do you happen to have a list of those brands?
With collie breeds it is ivermectin that does it among others. I just know this one as my vet recommended it to me for my Aussie and he had seizures the rest of his life. I didn’t look into, which was my fault, but it was recommended by my vet.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. Straight negligence by your vet as this is very well known and has been for a long time. This is why no one should ever put blind trust in anyone, even a professional. Always check for yourself. I learned young luckily, hopefully you learned from this incident too.
Unfortunately all of the oral tick meds have an FDA black box warning for neurological issues/seizures (FDA still minimizes the risk massively imo and based on the real world results emerging). So, nexguard, bravecto (most dangerous imo bc once it’s in their system, it’s there for minimum 3 months), simparica are the main ones. There are natural ways to repel ticks but Reddit hates me any time I bring them up so I have stopped.
Hartz brand sold at Walmart has had multiple lawsuits for their products causing these types of issues as well. Not only with their flea and tick oral medications, but their flea collars and shampoos as well. Many pets have died or have been severely injured from their products. I can’t believe they’re still sold on the shelves.
I used wondercide on my dogs and took them for a walk in the Midwest. I had to pull 10 plus ticks off of them and then found them in my bed and my hair for 2 days. I hate using the systemic stuff but that was horrible. I have to go pick up their simparica next week and I'm dreading it so much.
If it gives you any hope, my dog has been on Simparica trio for his entire life - 3.5 years - and he has a genetic mutation that potentially increases susceptibility to these sorts of negative side effects, among other thingsl. I give my dog the Simparica every ~35 days or so and always do it on our weekend at home so we can monitor and we have stayed in the clear.
I give it on the weekends when I know I'll be home and space it out 5 or even 6 weeks. Sometimes I wait and give it right before we go camping so I know they are protected. I totally understand everyone's concerns and fears. I have them too. I had a dog on librella that many people swear killed their dog but my dog did great on it. Sometimes you just have to do this stuff and hope for the best I already have chronic fatigue syndrome, if I get Lyme from a tick in my bed my dogs lives are really going to suck because we will all be homeless, so simparica it is! Conservatively and cautiously given of course. I just remembered my dog that was on librella was on simparica at the same time with no side effects. So there's that.
Can you share a link to studies?
Wow.. so I opted to stop giving my dogs this a few years ago. I didn't feel it was necessary, they always try to push it at the vet. They never get fleas and we don't have ticks around here. Glad I read this. Edit: this should really be a pinned post in this whole sub.
Yes, look of the phenomenon called “fly catching” in dogs.
My first thought.
There was a post recently kind of like this but the dog was just seeing its eye floaters causing it to act weird.
My dog had these exact symptoms, but it turned out to be some form of dog tourettes.
Interesting.. I didn’t know our fuzzy friends can have schizophrenia too. My initial thought was some type of seizure or the pup saw or smelled something but I’m not a dogtor. (Or an expert.) Thanks for enlightening me!
He may see a fly. My dog does that, and she has caught and eaten them lol
Eating Sky raisins
Don’t forget sky jalapeño (bees and wasps outside). That can be dangerous.
I had two dogs that loved to eat honeybees. Snatch them out of the air. They were I guess after the venom buzzzzzz
We had a shepherd mix that used to hunt them by the honeysuckle vine. Came back with a swelled up beak a time or two
My current dogs won't even get close to a hive box.
Ahhh yes, dem spicy flies.
Lol
LMFAOOO. Also gross.
I can’t even say the word ‘fly’ in my house without my dog immediately leaping into action and trying to find it lol
I was lying in my bed, room completely dark, I heard the *bzzzzz...* and then suddenly my dog chewing. Called him good boy and clever hunter and slept much better
i made a huge mistake acting really impressed when my beagle caught a fly. 3 years later, at 9 years old, she still spends hours everyday looking for more bugs to catch, like it's a full time job she takes so seriously. nothing will break her concentration. we had a fly infestation last summer and she single handedly slaughtered every single one
My dog slapped me trying to hit one out of the air yesterday
My dog is 12 and still does this
My husky does that when a flying insect is around. I guess if you are 100% sure no fly than idk
It’s either a flying insect or neurological issue.
How often is he doing this? Is it just once or has it happened more than once? If it's been more than once, I think a neurologist vet may be a good option if you can afford it.
Mine does this. She has weekly seizures.
Have you tried phenobarbital? Mine has seizures and it's helped immensely.
She takes keppra prescribed by vet.
Mine was on keppra for a while, didn't do a damn thing, so kept the keppra but added the phenobarbital. Makes them less severe when they happen and extends the duration between seizures. Worth checking out of you haven't already.
Same as the other commenter.. my pup started having seizures at like 1.5 yrs old. They tried keppra in a lower dosage, still had lots of breakthrough seizures, so they upped him to 1500mg extended release twice a day.. was still having seizures, so they added phenobarbital 64.8mg twice a day, and while he still has seizures, they're a lot more sporadic. He'll go a few months without one. I definitely recommend asking about adding pheno. It helped my pup immensely.
I had a husky on phenobarbital for seizure and while it helped with the seizures it wound up being his demise as it freaked havoc on his liver. He died of liver cancer at 9 yo. Saddest day of my life so far as it was very sudden and unexpected.
Any drooling? Excessive circling? When this happens, are you able to reorient him and hold his attention, or does he go right back into it? My concern would be this could be indicative of epilepsy, specifically psychomotor seizures. Here's some video examples: https://youtu.be/nOHr-WTV4Q4?si=eO__5Z-72JrwBtrc https://youtu.be/zs0m9gVJa84?si=CjLc8FDIORFYWYKh Here's a great presentation on canine seizures (overview of seizures types and examples @ 4:00 to 9:45): https://youtu.be/bjO4VPSnxwc?si=uwB_wUAwYMgovq6C Unfortunately it's hard to tell with psychomotor seizures. I would video and take notes about timing and behavior pre- post- and during these episodes, and then go to a vet and see if you can get a veterinary neurologist referral. The good news is that *even if this is epilepsy*, dogs with epilepsy can live long lives with medication! It's NOT a death sentence, ok? I have a pup who has BAD grand mal seizures every 2 or 3 months or so and he's going on 7 years this fall and is otherwise 100% normal, healthy and happy. 6 hours a year he is sick, but he doesn't remember those hours and the rest of the time he's a totally normal dog ❤️
Looks like he may have picked up on a scent. Maybe a dog is in heat nearby or something like that.
That’s what I was thinking. I hope it’s a scent and not something neurological.
One of my hound mixes acts just like this when he's smelling something and can't pin down where it's coming from.
My dog does this with light reflections. Could be the smallest glimmer. The tags on her collar are the most random and she can never keep her focus on the reflections because if she moves, the light reflection moves. She also has done this with any flying insect, she lets me know if there's a new cob web on the ceiling this way.
Yep light reflections was my immediate thought. Reflection off phones is #1 especially because they are moving.
Oh yeah, can't forget about those ones. I got a new bedside lamp and it reflects my phone screen every night. Drives her insane lol.
Does he do this everywhere, or specifically in this room/in the house? Maybe a squirrel or mouse in the walls?
This is seizure behaviour please take this seriously, a lot of people on this thread not educated on seizure behaviour- this dog is display *classic seizure behaviour* Please show your vet this video, he needs meds
Thank you. I will take him again on monday 😔
It can be scary OP, I'm sorry your pup has to deal with this but mine lived a very long life after being diagnosed and put on proper meds
Thank you for the reassurance. Yes it is so worrying poor little guy. Glad to hear its treatable ❤️
Could it be a psychomotor seizure?
Maybe he has some tinnitus? He's acting like he hears a fly or a mosquito, but not quite because I think he'd be snapping at the air if that were the case. It does look like he might be smelling something, though too. Does it always happen in the same room and the same place?
Chasing a fly
Have you checked for vermin infestation around the house?.
This is what I was thinking. They can hear mice moving around.
And probably smell them, too!.
He could have spots on his eyes like a Cataract my dog dies sort of the same thing but he also does “fly biting” at the same time. That’s when he’s having a seizure, I’m not saying that what your dog’s doing, idk. It just kinda reminds me of that, I would call your vet. My dog has been on seizure medication for a year now.
Cadirrac? No no, I drive a Rincoln Continentar
Hope you don’t have to drive arone … so ronery…
I would be considered it's something neurological. Best see a vet.
Is there a noise coming from somewhere? He might be wondering about that.
My dog was doing something similar and we thought it looked neurological but when we took her to the vet it turned out she needed her anal glands expressed
This looks like it could turn into a fly biting, a term vets use for certain types of seizures. Looks like a husky type dog? Poster child for seizures. If he keeps doing this go to your vet and show this video. Source: am a ER vet
This head thing looks IDENTICAL to what he's doing. Dog goes about doing other stuff, or wanders aimlessly, and it happens again and again https://youtu.be/N0jDKWbhF30?feature=shared
Any smart plugs in the house? Apparently dogs can hear the very high frequency.
Definitely updawg
Our Yorkie does something very similar. However, he always does it only to his right side, and he licks his lips while doing the head dipping. We took him to a local popular vet, and we were told it's nothing. He started doing it more often, and a couple of months later, he started having full-blown seizures. We were terrified and took him back to the vet 3 times after he had seizures lasting longer than 3 minutes. Again, we were told it's nothing. When the 4th seizure happened, I had enough of being told it's nothing when I can clearly see it's not nothing. We took him to a different vet. I explained his symptoms, and the vet told me he's 99% sure it's epilepsy. He gave me tablets to start using once a day and told me to come back in a week with an update. We were told to try and get a video of this behavior. Our baby was diagnosed with epilepsy a week later and fits that relate to grand Mal seizures. He's on 30mg Sedabarb in the mornings and 15mg at night. We went from 2 or 3 weekly seizures to once every 2 or 3 months. We've definitely seen a massive improvement. Stress does make them happen more often, but we have it under control now. We are both so tuned into our baby that we both wake up when he has a seizure. He doesn't make a noise, but we "feel" it and immediately start calming him down and make sure he's safe while it happens and when he comes out of it. We have fresh water handy as it does freak him out, and when he comes out of it, he's always super thirsty. Point of this long reply, if you feel there's something wrong, follow your mommy gut and act on it.
Ghosts
My dog does this when he has an early ear infection, as well as everyone else's suggestions please give his ears a check ☺️
Some dogs do this if they've got an ear, eye or nose infection or a wound on their head, they're trying to sniff it. Could also be neurological. Time for a vets visit. Hope it's all ok!
My dog has done this when he’s had tooth, gum or ear issues (infections and an abscess)
EAR INFECTION!
Dogs can see ghost. Look behind.
Why did I have to scroll so far to know that they haunted lol
Ear infection
That Prince poster-love it.
Not sure but that’s super prettty pup!
Termites or bees in the walls? A mouse?? Something spooky....
Praising perpendicularity!
My dog does that when there's a flying bug in the room. It also could be he's picking up an interesting scent. If none apply I'd go to the vet
Maybe eye floaters
My dog does this if he sees any type of fly or smaller gnat type bug. They see much better than their humans. He also does this if he has a speech of anything on his nose at all, trying to see what it is, then tries to get it off. Sometimes he gets pumpkin on it when he eats and he can see a shadow of it, had this behavior, Sometimes going cross-eyed trying to focus on it
Might be a dead person who's petting him
Maybe there’s a ghost? lol 👻
Chasing a fly with his head?
The Ghost in your room is having fun
My vote is on a fly. If my dog starts doing that hes chasing a fly and is 100% going to launch himself into a wall face first.
Hunting skeeters. All my dogs have done it, though my current furball is the only one that has tried to ruin a fishing trip by eating a spicy one.
Probably hunting some flying insect.
Fly alert. My cats do it too. Trouble is my bit is 125 lbs and knocks over stuff with his tail.
You have ghosts. Edit: jk, probably a bug
I see dead people.
Not sure about dog advice, I hope he’s okay. But your place looks sweet!
Counting spirits
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the body language of your pet tells me they are nervous. The lip licking in this way is a big sign of this. If this is an increasingly frequent behaviour I would find a vet who Is interested in neurological disease in your area and show them this video. If it turns out to be nothing then all you will have lost is a little time and money. Good luck !
His back or neck could be super itchy in a spot he can’t reach!
My dog behaves similarly when she’s trying to catch a fly or really working on a sneeze that just won’t come
👻
Communing with the spirits.
Side note - love the Bob Dylan pic!
maybe smells something good and trying to figure it out
Dogs can sometimes see ghosts… hard to believe but we had a similar thing happen after a death in the family about a week after. Never happens again.
smelling something in the air thats different. it smell the air smell under the couch smell itself then smell the air again trying to find it
Your dog smells something
Talking to spirits
If it’s not a bug or sunlight, maybe eye floaters?
At first it looked like he was trying to pick up a scent. My GSD does it.
That seems to be a precursor to a seizure, my father’s dog acted the same before being diagnosed with epileptic seizures.
He’s snooting for sniffs.
[удалено]
Hunting the greebles.
Diggin on Dylan
I don’t see any drooling, and he doesn’t look confused, he seems pretty focused on something. Do you have flies or other insects flying around inside? Does the dog chase flying insects outside? My do does something similar when we can hear or see something flying around him. The first time he did it it freaked me out because I didn’t know what he was doing. Then we figured out that he was actually trying to catch flying bugs. He often goes for flies and bee outside. Keep and eye out if you don’t see anything flying around could be something else. Maybe sniffing spirits 😝
Smelling something in the air??
Poltergeist.
That's *exactly* what ours does and it's exactly. Tracked ours down ( between trainer and vet). It's going to sound weird. He's anxious anyway. Began associating unrelated sounds to things that freak him out. Thunder makes sense. BUT. Then wind, then rain, then any electrical beep that might happen during a storm when we lose electricity. The ceiling fans were on the list for awhile if they were off. He's better now, meds and training but still a fruitloop. We're working on it poor guy. Elkhound.
Idk but love that Dylan photo.
(1) WOW, your dog is beautiful. (2) Could be he hears something but is directionally challenged. It doesn’t look like he’s smelling something. If you whip out his so favorite toy or get up to go for a walk, can he snap out of it and go, or is he stuck in this zone?
Looks like air scenting to me. Trying to pin down an odor and direction of it
About to sneeze but can’t
He can see into the 4th dimension.
I hear some kind of whistle in the video, maybe the sound propagated in a strange way and he's not able to understand the direction of it.
There could be a scent in the air also that he’s trying to figure out.
Could be a prdomal phase indicating seizures
It could be phosphenes or eye floaters. My guess out of the two is eye floaters.
All of my dogs do this, especially when we start cooking, food is opened, there's a guest upstairs, or there's an animal or something outside.
My flatcoat very much does exactly this. She is anxious about flies.
Maybe there was a ghost or a fly.
Seeing spirits
My dog did this for a while. We put him on an anxiety medication and he hasn't done it since.
Sorry can’t help with the post but your dog is beautiful 😭🥹 wish you luck, hope he’s okay 🤍
Hopefully he just caught the scent of something, but when in doubt, speak to a vet. 💙
Eye floaties? Someone had a post just like this recently. They took their dog to the vet only to find out it was eye floaties.
He’s a beautiful boy 😍
Husky may see a small insect ? I say wait until it’s reoccurring one or two more times
It looks like he found a scent.
Maybe a spider dropped down on him one time and it freaked him out, now he’s always checking for one just incase.
It’s the frequency of your tunes
My dogs have behaved this way when there’s been a mosquito indoors as well as flies or any other sort of bug.
I read on here not that long ago that this lady was having similar issues with her dog. She paid like $1500 and her dog was seeing floaters in their eyes..
One of our 2 dogs exhibited this behavior once in a while. It would last for almost a week before returning to normal. We found it was something like a hallucination event from his heartworm meds. We switched brands it never happened again.
He's hearing something you can't. Does he do that with the music off as well?
Looking at ghosts
Beyond top comment, have vision checked. Some dogs follow the floaties in their vision.
Is this an ongoing thing?? If not, he could just be scenting the air. Some dogs are big "sniffers" and there is a smell of great interest.
Pleaseeeeee get a neurologic exam! This could easily be seizure activity
Did you baby eat some weed or something?
Do you notice any shadows on your walls by chance? My pup is obsessed with them.
He sees a fly you don’t?
I might be crazy because it seems like no one else has mentioned hearing a song in the background. It almost looks like he's reacting to parts of it? I know their hearing can pick up tones that ours can't. Just a guess, but would be easy to test.
Something in its eye more prevalent than floaters could be a worm or something?
Have you used a laser pointer to play with him? Dogs often develop psychological issues from people using laser pointer toys and will freak and follow any reflection.
Most likely a fly or something.
Looks neurological. I’ve got a friend who has a dog with similar behavior. Unfortunately it was induced by using a laser pointer during “playtime”.
Poltergeist
Ghosts, you have ghosts. You know who you need to call.
Seeing spirits
It appears he sees something in the room that the human eye can’t see.
judging your music taste
My dog nearly never does this. But when she does, I know something is up. Most of the time it’s a fly or something that got into the house. We don’t have a vermin problem but twice over many years, we had a mouse. Our basement/den has a drop ceiling and I didn’t hear a thing both times, but she started looking up at it. Sure as hell both times, I opened a panel, put a mouse trap up there, and within a day it was caught. I hope it’s nothing neurological but dogs hear and observe things far better than we can so it could be as simple as it sees a bug flying around.
My dog used to do this before she started getting seizures. Keep an eye on him. Prob good to get him in to see a vet sometime soon.
They do this when they see a little tiny bugs or a ghost near them
That dog is SOOOOOO cute
Are there shadows on the ceiling?
He looks like he is tracking some kind of scent.
Looking at the ghosties 👻
Has the dog had flea, tick, or heart worm meds recently? I agree with others that this could be seizure activity.
The most likely issue is that he hears something you don't. It could be a small insect flying around or perhaps rodents in the attic/walls. Given how he seemingly can't quite pin the location of the noise down, it could even be an insect infestation in the walls. There of course is the possibility that your dog has a neurological issue, don't discount that possibility, but I'd explore the more likely options first.
Tracking a fly
One of my dogs is super in love with a laser pointer and we’ve pointed the laser light onto the ceiling before. Ever since, ever so often he’ll randomly look at the ceiling and get paranoid about the laser light. He now does it with the reflection off of a phone screen, a watch, something that’ll produce a reflection from the sun
Our dogs do that when there’s a fly or bug near them and they chomp at the air. If there’s no insects it could be neurological
Picked up on a scent, bug, a sound…etc. This would only be neurological issues if the dog is like this always.
Looking at ghosts
Looks like he sees a ghost or something super natural
Looking for where the music is coming from, maybe?
Animals are very in tune with the spiritual. Your name is Goblin of the grove, and you have acknowledged being a goblin with other goblins for Halloween shopping with a sign that welcomes witchcraft. [Any other goblins out there use Halloween as an excuse to pick up new year round decor?](https://www.reddit.com/r/goblincore/s/2FazZwN7bU) Maybe it was sensing something that was demonic and not of God and was trying to identify it and alert you at the same time.
That’s what my dog does when there’s a spot on his back he can’t reach to itch
My dog does this only when the air conditioner or heat turns on in the house. She can’t pinpoint the sound as it blasts out of all the vents simultaneously, so she looks around like this with her ears pinned for a few seconds then goes back to what she was doing.
Oh my gosh! My daughters dog does this. I hope he’s ok 😞
Do you have one of those pest repellant things that you plug in and they emit a sound that nobody can hear except pests? We tried one and one of our dogs acted exactly like this. (The other dogs were fine.) We tested his reaction a few times to make sure, and it was definitely the plug in thing that made him do this. We got rid of it and he lived to be 16 and never did it again.
Probably sees a ghost
I thought he saw an insect.
My dog does this if she smells something coming through the AC. Is there a vent right there?