Hi,

Your dog probably isn't going crazy. There could be many explanations for this and here are some questions that may help you start to find the answer to your question. Please realize that there is a real, scientific, physical or measurable issue taking place that is causing your dog to react in this way. Dogs are not dumb and you don't want to understimate your dog's intelligence by simply writing this off.

Is your dog a particular breed? Certain breeds can have some genetic predispositions to intense or ritualized repetitive behavior. Certain illnesses can also cause ritualized repetitive behavior.

For example, I have a herding dog who will go bananas chasing insects if ever one appears in the house. Since he doesn't have any cattle to herd at my house, he goes bananas trying to herd squirels that run from tree top to tree top in the backyard.

A friend of mine had a border collie and lived in a city. The border collie was bored in the apartment and would look for things to hunt/herd in the apartment. Since he couldn't find much, he would intensely stare and give the eye to things such as a dripping water faucet for hours at a time because that particular dog wasn't getting enough enrichment and outdoor exercise. So the dog was chasing and hunting imaginary insects in the apartment out of boredom. The owner enrolled the dog in agility classes and the dog was much more content and less bored and stopped much of the obsessive apartment behavior.

A dog's hearing is quite acute and your dog might be hearing things that you can't. I once had a dog who barked incessantly at a wall in a summer home/cabin. It turned out that the wall got infested by termites and the dog was hearing the termites chew on the wood and the damage wasn't visible at first. The dog detected the problem way before I noticed something was amiss. It took awhile to figure that out. You may want to have your place checked for things such as insect infestations or small critters.

Dogs can also predict/sense earthquakes, other vibrational disturbances, and seismic activity miles down in the earth that a human wouldn't notice until something huge is happening. Dog's detect/sense these things way, way before a human will sense them. Is your house on a seismic area or are there any structural problems in the house such as a shifting foundation? Could you have moles or other burrowing creatures under the foundation? If so, your dog will actually hear/sense the burrowing critters moving about and the dog could be trying to warn you to defend the household.

Is anyone doing mining nearby or underground excavation nearby? Is your house located in an area over old abandoned mine shafts or oil excavation areas? These underground things-- your dog would sense them and you wouldn't.

Finally, how old is your dog and in what kind of health is your dog? Sometimes an animal can develop what seems to be a behavioral issue that is directly related to a medical problem. For example, I had a cat who was 17 years old and he started to get what I described as senile, he'd forget where his food dish was and that I just fed him, and was acting, obsessive, neurotic, loud and upset. Since he was not acting like he had previously and his behavior dramatically changed all of a sudden, I took him to the vet and told the vet about his unusual behavior. It turned out that the cat has a tumor that was pressing on his brain and it was making him have 'cognitive disfunction' making him yowl, howl, and do things that seemed highly neurotic. You might want to make a vet appointment to discuss this wall barking behavior with the vet to rule out that there isn't anything going on of a physical nature that would cause erratic behavior. I'm not trying to scare you or anything -- I just hope that you'll take the example of the cat that I once had as evidence that sometimes there is a physical or chemical issue that we can't see in a pet's physiology that can manifest itself with behavioral issues. So have your vet rule out a physical cause for the behavior.

Do you have nearby neighbors -- a nearby neighbor using a sonic anti bark device which emits hi frequency pitches can definitely upset your dog and make it bark at the walls. Or, if you are near anything that is causing hi frequency pitches outside that your dog can hear that you can't-- that will make your dog bark at the walls too! A hearing aid emitting feedback is something that your dog could hear (in an apartment building) that you wouldn't. Or if a neighbor is using amplified instruments or items that make feedback -- your dog would hear that and you wouldn't. Again -- you didn't mention how close your neighbors are so maybe if the are close -- this could be possible. Are you near radio equipment or telecommunications equipment (cordless phones/baby monitors) that could be making a disturbance that the dog can hear but you can't?

If it isn't a physical medical condition, then have the house and environment checked for things that could be amiss. And you could always invite in an animal behaviorist to figure this out because I'm sure that there is a logical, measurable, and factual explanation for your pet's behavior.

Good Luck. I'm not a vet or anything -- I just have had many pets over the years and much personal experience with raising dogs.

Best regards,
Anna Lisa