There are so many reasons that your dog may act weird and suddenly scared. Some of them are behavioral and others can be medical. The most important thing is that you should never ignore it. Some changes may be due to medical emergencies. Others may be behavioral, but the bottom line is that a dog acting weird is trying to communicate with you. Let’s explore those together.
Your dog is suddenly pacing: This one can be either behavioral or medical.
Medical causes of pacing can include bloat, which may fit the observation that “my dog keeps moving around and can’t get comfortable.” This one is a medical emergency and if you suspect this at all, immediately to an animal emergency center—call ahead to say you’re on the way.
Additional medical causes of pacing may include gastrointestinal discomfort such as digestive issues and doggy dementia or canine cognitive disorder (CCD). This last one more typically happens at night.
Behavioral causes of pacing can include anxiety over a sound, smell, or even a tactile concern; boredom; hunger; attention seeking; needing to go outside to eliminate. The context needs to be examined to determine what the cause is, but the most common reason listed here would be needing to eliminate.
Your dog is acting drunk: This is generally going to be medical.
Possible medical causes include ingestion of a substance that is toxic in some way, such as cannabis, psychotropic mushrooms, or alcohol. It could also be due to an inner ear infection, a stroke, vestibular disease, brain tumors, or head injuries. In these circumstances, medical treatment is necessary. In some of these circumstances, emergency medical treatment is necessary.
Your dog is restless: This is generally behavioral but can also fall into the medical category as well.
Behavioral causes of restlessness can include normal adolescent dogs who are getting insufficient enrichment and exercise. Restlessness from a behavioral cause will typically include being fussy/busy and attention seeking behavior, possible destructiveness as well as more zoomies than normal for your dog.
Medical causes of restlessness can include bloat, adrenal diseases including Addison’s and Cushing’s, and CCD. Pain can also cause restlessness.
Your dog is just acting weird: One would need to define weird. Out of the ordinary can be weird, but there are varying degrees of such. This can be either behavioral or medical.
Behavioral causes of acting weird can include loud noises like thunderstorms or fireworks, smelling something out of the ordinary that is frightening to your dog, environmental changes such as routines suddenly being different or even moving to a new home, general anxiety, or a lack of enrichment/exercise.
Medical causes of acting weird can include gastrointestinal distress, discomfort or pain, illnesses, CCD, abd failing senses.
The most important thing in determining whether your dog’s weird behavior is medical is behavioral is knowing your dog. Our dogs cannot tell us directly what is wrong. It behooves us as their caretakers to know what is and isn’t normal for our dogs.
From that starting point, we can examine the potential causes and determine whether a visit to the veterinarian is in order or whether to call in a behavior professional. Be mindful that some of the listed causes are medical emergencies. You are your dog’s voice. Take it from that point and decide.
