Watch your dog, stay quiet and look around or listen to any unusual noises. We were laying on the couch, he woke up, and looked at my stairs 10 times. It is very possible that your dog heard a noise that you could not detect. Accidentally stepping on your dog’s tail or paws also might make your dog terrified all of a sudden. Your dog might even get shy around strangers if they remind Rover of somebody who abused him. If you are the owner of a dog, you may have asked yourself at some point if your pup can see things you can’t. I know it is hard to fathom, but maybe, just maybe, your dog is looking around the room because it's a dog? If your dog stares intently at a wall, door, ceiling or a corner of the house, put your investigative hat on and try to see if there's something triggering such behavior. Particular smells, tone of voice, or hand gestures also could trigger an episode of sudden fear. It may be some degree of confusion after a sleep. It s like he see something out of the corner or his eye. Mixing up the kind of people your dog is around will eventually help them to realize people will be friendly to them. He is going to the vet in a couple days but I want to know … Some dogs that suddenly collapse will actually lose consciousness. Of course all I can find on the web is along the lines of paranormal stuff. A good place to start is grabbing a chair and sitting next to your dog. I couldn't possibly be anything else. Allow your dog to interact with all different types of people. I mean, sometimes pups will stand somewhere in a house and bark at seemingly nothing. Other than that he is perfectly normal. I had this happen. 5. It’s even spookier when the dog is looking directly at a wall or area of a room while barking, and you see nothing. Dogs have much better hearing than humans do in order to hear their prey. Help. https://www.petmd.com/dog/behavior/dog-staring-everything-you-want-know It took me weeks to figure out why my dog was barking at the ceiling once in a while. I would like to know why my dog randomly keeps looking at my stairs. Dogs do that; they are animals. This is called fainting or syncope. If it happened immediately after he woke up and now he is back to normal I think there is nothing to worry about. Then one day, I heard scratching. To get to unwanted critters! Why won't my dog stop smelling my friends? Like other animals, dogs get tons of information about their environment based on what they smell. Yes, because if you don't know what your dog is looking at, it HAS to be a ghost. He is a 9 year old westie. Sitting up and staring in that direction is a way to concentrate and “listen” better to determine what it was your dog heard. It may be that there is a mouse in the ceiling and while you can not hear it, he can hear scratching or tiny squeaks. Sometimes it will scare him and he will run. He will be sitting down and looks around the room like something is here. Hell, my dog is constantly looking around the room. This will also help them from forming a bond with just certain people while still being fearful of others. This includes children, seniors, men, women, etc. In other words, a lingering look may indicate that your dog is processing matching emotional signals that you're giving him, such as a smile and pat on the head. Acute collapse is a sudden loss of strength causing your dog to fall and be unable to rise.