Hi,

We live in Shanghai and have a 1 year old Siberian (we've had him since he was 3 months old). He's a very confident and playful dog and obviously likes going for walks, etc. However over the past week he has been getting scared on walks. It's only in certain areas though (usually the same areas but sometimes it changes).

I think it must be a smell because he usually stops to sniff the air then puts his tail down and tries to run and pull on the lead. I have never seen anything or smelt anything strange whenever this happens and nothing weird has ever happened on a walk that could have set this off. He'll usually calm down after a few hundred metres and goes back to normal.

Anyone ever experienced this behaviour before? I heard sometimes dogs are really scared of the smell of lamb? but we live in China, so although a lot of people cook on the street it's never lamb.

Should I take him to the vet? if so what do I tell the vet?... that he randomly gets scared of smells?!

Gus used to be terrified of our condo lobby. I don't know what it was either... maybe the shiny tiles?? Anyways, what we did was to desensitize him to that fear, regardless of what it was. After each walk, we would sit in the lobby with him, and wait for him to calm down. Once he was calm, i treated him, and continued to treat him intermittently as long as he stayed calm. We pretty much did this with him until he didn't react to the condo lobby. He's fine now

I wouldn't talk to him when he is reacting to whatever is scaring him though. As in, don't be like, "what is it? it's ok!" Just ignore and wait, and if it really gets out of hand, maybe try to redirect his attention towards you with a treat instead.

This happened to me once when I was in the woods with my dog. She smelled the air and BOOKED for home. I think she smelled something in the woods that I didn't see and her reaction was fight or flight- I'm outta here! haha So maybe he's going through something similar. Like Maggie said though- I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Just wait for him to calm down and move on. He'll will most likely get over it eventually

Thanks for the replies and advice. Good to know other Huskies get just as wimpy!