Doggie anxiety?

[Kary, Sparty & Stella]

My doodle is nine months old. He has for the most part been the perfect dog. We had company tonight and he was terrified of them, he barked at them from about three feet away and shied away like a scardy cat whenever they even moved in their seats. Now mind you, this is the dog who goes everywhere with us, soccer games, dogie daycare, walks around our neighborhood every day. Is this a phase?

[Kary, Sparty & Stella]

Well, it was my in laws..., part of me doesn't blame him, but it is such a 180 for him, I am concerned.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Dogs react much differently to people (and everything else, really) depending on the situation, and to a dog, having unfamiliar people coming into their home is very, very different than seeing unfamiliar people anywhere else. Do you often have visitors over, and this is the first time he reacted this way? 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree with Karen....dogs can feel very different about their own territory.  I'd try to "gently" expose him to other visitors as often as possible so that he begins to get used to it and becomes more comfortable.

[Kary, Sparty & Stella]

Karen, that is what I found so strange...we have people here often. Last Thursday I had a Thirty One party and we had 25 people here. He was Mr Funny, wanting to meet everyone. Last night, boom...scared and barky.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Since you have had many people in the home before, I wonder if it is the second fear stage? 

I'm actually glad it has never happened before and that you HAVE had other people in your home without incident.

Here is a link to one article I found on the second fear stage.  Note, all  kinds of dates and times about that second fear stage so do a search and read a few different articles to get an idea.

http://www.recycler.com/blog/pets/the-second-fear-stage.php

At this point, is there a way your FIL could have sat lower on the floor?  If it happens again and you have a cooperative participant, have the person sit on the floor, no eye contact, calm demeanor ( read about what a dog deems a threat in human body language) and surround them in cookies.  The dog may or may not approach. Don't force. Just let that be a start.

If it gets worse, I might seek out a trainer who teaches protection training to canines.  Possibly he is beginning to be territorial in the home.  When we went through this, we found a GSD trainer who taught protection to other dogs, to help us deal with a dog who already was being inappropriately protective.   The idea was to teach not to be protective in situations.  The idea was to teach us how to deal with a dog who was fearful in the home and may feel they needed to protect whatever was threatening.... etc.

Note: that would only be needed if his fears become aggressive. Not all dogs display aggression after showing a lot of fear.  But, it does happen

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hats? Unusual gait? Scary (to a dog) voice? Clancy is fearful (barking, growling, backing up from) of guys with a 'rolling' gait or a strut.  We have a friend that sometimes uses a crutch or cane and sometimes doesn't need it.  When he comes over using the cane or crutch, Clancy barks, growls, backs away from him.  When he doesn't have either, Clancy is fine with him.  My bil 'struts' and Clancy treats him the same way - yet this bil might bring another person with him that Clancy is fine with even though he is a stranger.   Both our friend and our bil are dog savvy guys who have happily owned dogs for years.  So.......