I have a Jack Russell, and used to have a Shephard . . . both smart dogs. They both also have done the same weird thing, and I'm wondering if anyone knows why.

There are certain spots in the yard he won't normally go. He's a fiend for his ball, and even at 10 yrs old, would play it 24 X 7 if people would comply. But, if his ball goes on the side of the house, he will just stand there and look at it. Some days he'll go there, but most he won't.

Then when I'm throwing the ball in the yard, suddenly he won't take a certain route any more. He'll run through the space to get the ball, but will practically do a figure 8 to avoid coming back that way.

Usually he drops the ball right straight at my feet, but when there is a "spot" he doesn't like, he will walk around a semi-circle to bring it to me, but won't walk across an area. Sometimes that area gets bigger as we play.

Most of the time, nothing matters . . . he'll chase in the rain, mud, dark . . . he doesn't care. Other times he gets weird.

I thought maybe it was a "hot spot" of some sort (a dead body buried next to the house, radiactivity . . . ).

Cherie

no idea was going to say it smells something or hears something but you just mention the area gets bigger, so that shoots my idea down, my other answer is cause its a dog

my answer would be because dogs (and animals) sense things we don't and without getting weird - the dog must sense something that you don't - long story short - lived for a time in an area that was behind a place where kids hung out - one day as I was taking dog out a young man ran past me screaming for me to call the cops - the guys chasing him were going to kill him - they jumped him and started beating him up before the cops got there - I still had dog on leash - she went to the spot where this has just occurred and every hair on her body stood up and she started shaking and drooling - would never go out there again as long as she lived -

i'dw have to say the dog is sensing something in that area ... maybe the dog has esp ... i don't know ... if you figure out why let us know ...

Cherie I was wondering if there were any water or sewage pipes under that area maybe the dog is hearing the water

I watched animal planet and the animals sometimes have OCD and weird disorders like us believe it or not.
I find that interesting

Better be careful I saw a movie once where giant spiders or scorpions big as a house come out of................

My dog does something kinda like that. She will only walk up the walkway
to go up the back steps into the house. Instead of walking
straight thru the yard she kinda goes around to get to the walkway.

Does that make sense??? It cracks me up to see her go out of her way
to trot down the walk.

My thought exactly Frank. We used to have a cat that was afraid of stripes and cords. If you got an electrical cord too close to her foot, she'd go straight up like a rocket to get past it. If DH was wearing his striped robe she was afraid of him.

You know something must have happened to cause these things, same with your dog, but good luck figuring it out Cherie.

It might be smell of some sort, Frank. They say that a dog's sense of smell is as much as 100,000 times what a human's is.

You are right, KarenM. My dog knows when I am heading into an attack, and will sleep at my door from before, till after I have one. Otherwise he is much happier sleeping in his bed, or with my youngest on her bed.

When I had a particularly bad attack, he would park himself in front of my bedroom door whenever I went in there.

He did this in our other house, where we lived for the first 8 yrs of his life. There was no area that he wouldn't go in, but he did avoid certain "spots" in the yard as he came back with the ball. If I moved down further, he would come straight back to me, but if I went back to the same spot, he would do his little semi-circle to get to me.

We moved into this house last year, and he has never liked the side. It is a clear area and is grassed, so there is no logical reason. In fact, he will go in there sometimes, but he still won't pick up his ball when he does. Anywhere else and he will retrieve it even if it is wedged in a small space . . . he is one determined dog, normally!

There could be, Frank. We don't have a septic tank or anything, but chances are that the main line follows along that route as the main sewage (at the road) is on that side of the house at the front. (I only know that because they are putting in new pipes, etc. as we speak...).

Come to think of it, there is a stream that used to run through this area at one time, and is not covered over about 3 blocks down the road. I think this area was quite boggy at one time, and there is a very large bog not far from my house. Maybe the stream runs under that spot in the yard . . .

Cherie