The better I get to know Joey, the more I wonder what the poor little guy must have been through as a pup. His reaction to anything "new" (and by "new" I mean not only anything he's never seen before, but also anything that's even been MOVED since the last time he saw it) is more like a really really schizy horse than any dog I've ever seen.
For example, if he runs out into the yard and the golf cart is parked in a different place than it was last time he saw it, he completely freaks out, barking and carrying on like we are under attack.
This morning while Joey was outside, a new bedspread I ordered arrived and I laid the spread, still in its plastic package, on the bed to see how it would look with the wall color. When I let Joey in he ran through and jumped up on the bed as he always does, but when he saw that spread laying on the pillow he did an absolutely incredible double-take, fell backward off the bed, jumped up and ran backward until he ran into the wall -- all the while not just barking, but absolutely shreeking!! What on earth could have hurt him enough to make him that terrified of something as inert as a bedspread!!!
Cesar Millan advises not to fuss over him or do any "poor baby" kind of thing when he loses it like that because that encourages that behavior, but rather to assertively make him calm down. So that's what I try to do. But why is he like that? He's been in a safe place since he was rescued at 6 months old. Why?
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