Dog just rencetly became scared of all kinds of stuu?

My dog skeeter is 6 years old, just in the last 2 months he has become so skidish around so many things that he's lived with for years. He is usually a hyper/in motion dog we call him a spider dog cause he just jumps from chair to chair. Any advice?

When a dog's behavior changes suddenly, the first thing to do is visit your veterinarian. Changes in a dog's hearing or eyesight can cause a dog to be anxious or fearful. Pain can cause unusual behavior, too.A traumatic event can cause a dog to be afraid. Construction near your home, a very loud noise or other very unusual and scary event from your dog's point of view can really shake a dog up.Give some thought to whether something like this may have happened. Consider whether anything related to thunderstorms may have taken place when you were away, since they are common at this time of year.In summary, the first step is to rule out a physical, medical cause. If your dog is ok, then do some detective work to determine whether something may have frightened him. Once the trigger is identified, you can hire a dog trainer to help you gently desensitize your dog to whatever is scaring him (or scared him.)You can find a well educated dog trainer at this website:www.ccpdt.orgIf neither of these are found (a medical cause or a specific fear-trigger) I recommend a trip to a veterinary behaviorist. You can find a board certified veterinary behaviorist at this website:http://www.dacvb.org/resources/find/Veterinary behaviorists can help dogs who are very anxious about things we can't identify. They are much like dog psychiatrists, in that they have veterinary degrees and specialized training in behavior, too.I hope this information and the websites mentioned help you and your dog so he is feeling like his happy, confident self soon.Best regards,Diane Podolsky, CPDT-KA, CTCThe Cultured Canine, LLChttp://www.theculturedcanine.com

Sounds like he may have had a stroke or other head injury. There may also be some problem with his eyes or his sight. It's not too likely that a vet could diagnosis an injury to the brain unless they have equipment to run an EEG. You might want to get the veterinarians advice anyway.