Hi guys, this has only just happened and I am concerned. Suddenly my boy is refusing to sleep on his bed rugs and has tried repeatedly getting on beds for sleep. He is unusually alert and unsettled. He wants to be perched on something. At the moment he is sat next to me on the couch in my lounge at 01:18am as this is what seems to settle him.He seems still alert though. He has never done this before, and I don't feel like it is rebellious behaviour.

He usually sleeps on his rugs by my door in the hallway and is locked out of all other rooms.He will even sleep on my mothers rug until I call him to bed. He did so for awhile then suddenly opened the door to my parents room and jumped on their bed.

He may want something with more cushion. Some times dogs get a little sore. I don't know for sure though. My girl likes oodles of cool blankets to sleep on.

I have had dogs in the past that pick up on weather changes, large storms coming, etc...Kenzi gets antsy before big electrical storms move into the area, sometimes a couple days before they hit. We had an earthquake a few years ago that my old dog was really weird before as well. There's a lot of things that could make them act different, from being uncomfortable, to sensing changes or simply not feeling well. Has it been going on a week or basically just start yesterday? Any major exercise changes that might have made him sore? Or perhaps lack of exercise?

It just happened last night and it frightened me alittle. He slept with me in my room after he's settled down, I moved his bed/blanket into my room. I think he was spooked by something as he was very reactive to sounds. I thought I heard a fox yowling and a dog barking too.

I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly. I've seen my boy go through weird phases as he matures, some of which were fear stages. Meaning suddenly things that were completely okay, freaked him out. He developed a fear of the microwave for a while.   Every time I turned it on, he'd give it the stink eye and slink out of the room. Although within a couple weeks of that, it died and we had to get a new one, so I'm thinking it may have been emitting a weird noise that I couldn't hear. Also our microwave sits on top of our refrigerator and when the compressor for the fridge would turn on, that would also freak him out and he'd leave the room. I got him over it by standing in front of it and giving him treats, then having him sit and running the microwave. Also started keeping little bits of cheese within easy reach in the fridge, so I could just open the door and give him a piece if he started to get worried by it. He got over it really quick once I got the cheese involved.

Around 7 months, he was suddenly freaked out by those large postal service mail boxes. For a while he was scared of doors into basement cellars (they are all over the place in the city, in front of just about every business and building). Then, trash bags on the sidewalk, or trash cans on the street corners. He got over that once he realized he could pee on them. Just these weird fears would pop up, hang around anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks, and then he'd get over it. The best thing you can do for stuff like this is just work on confidence building. If he seems anxious, just pull out some treats and work on some basic training stuff, like sit, down, tricks, etc. and act like nothing is wrong. If you find a specific trigger, then work on desensitizing his fears related to that trigger (like I did with the microwave). If he spooks at something outside, be patient and allow him to approach it on his own terms, and check it out, then give him lots of praise and treats when he does.

Most importantly is that you stay calm. If he gets a little freaked out, and you get worried, or weirded out by it, or show him extra affection, it will make him feel like his fear is justified, and there is indeed a reason to be nervous. Distract him with training, or a fun, playful activity, and it will help him relax.

I definitely agree with what Jenn said about storms, it could definitely be he is sensing something environmentally that got him worked up. Do you have a crate for him? It might be good to crate train so he feels like he has a safe comfy den to hang out in. Pups that aren't raised by humans are usually in a very, small, cramped, cozy den space, and recreating that for them as adults can be very reassuring. Dizzy loves his, I never lock the door any more, but he loves to go to the very back and curl up. I have it covered on all sides but where the door is, so it is very den like.