You may be wondering why your dog keeps looking around the room in your home.
Chances are, he had perceived some unfamiliar scent or heard something that caught his attention, and he was doing his investigation.
You see, dogs have a phenomenal sense of smell and can detect scent from miles away. They can also hear things which you can’t even detect with your ear.
Of course, these are not going to be the only reasons…
Your dog keeps looking around the room because there is an unfamiliar scent or weird sounds that triggers his curiosity. Changes in the room lighting or layout could also be responsible for this behavior. He could be searching for his ideal resting place, looking for you or exploring his new home.
There’s A New Scent In The Room
Did you do any touch up (such as painting of the walls, ceiling or changing of new carpet) in any of your rooms lately?
That could leave an unfamiliar scent that triggers your dog’s curiosity.
Make sure that you use only odorless paint if you are doing any paint job as that will keep your dog from getting stimulated by the new paint.
Of course, he could also be attracted by the scent of the new furniture or new carpet or even from the new perfume spray that you have left on your dressing table in the room.
You shouldn’t really get too worried about these cases as once your dog is “used to” the scent, he will be back to his normal self.
So, don’t sweat over it. Just let your dog do his investigation and start to sniff around your newly painted room or any other room that has been recently remodeled.
Weird Sounds Arise In The Room
Apart from the extremely sensitive scent of smell, dogs also possess an acute sense of hearing. They can even hear a pin drop in a crowded room.
Amazing right?
That is why, whenever there are any activities going on in a room, your dog will be able to perceive that sound even if he is far away on the other side of the house.
For example, he could have heard termites chewing on the woodwork in the room or small insects such as lizards, cockroaches or flies buzzing in the room.
All these sounds will be transmitted through the air and reach his ears.
He will then react to these sounds and start roaming in the room looking for the source.
Room Lighting Changes
Does your dog only react in this manner during the night when the room lights are on? If that’s the case, he could be attracted by the light.
If you have changed to a different lighting color for the room recently, that could explain his unusual behavior.
Or, it could be the case that he has sensed that the lighting of the room is getting brighter or darker, and he wants to find out more.
If you are using a dimmer to control the room lighting, try to maintain a constant level of illumination throughout the night.
Changes To Room Layout
Your dog is reacting to something in the room which has changed.
Perhaps you have moved the furniture (bed or dressing table) to another side of the room or put a new chair in the room?
These changes could cause your dog to be stressed and make him uncomfortable as he finds himself in an environment that he is no longer familiar with.
In this case, you would probably see him exhibiting some body language such as cowering, hiding, licking or scratching himself, which would indicate his anxiety.
These are all normal body language signals your dog gives off when he is stressed. This is why it is so important to pay attention to his body language.
Your dog is probably scared since the change in the room was quite a bit of a shock to him.
To help him feel more at ease in his surroundings, I would suggest that you should not make any abrupt changes to the room.
Instead, do them over a period of time so that your dog will become accustomed to the changes.
After all, you don’t want him to be stressed out and uncomfortable just because you moved some furniture around in the room, do you?
Remember, your goal is to give him enough time to get used to the changes that you have made.
In Search Of A PERFECT Resting Place
Your dog is probably looking for his “ideal” hiding or resting place in the house.
You see, your dog is certainly going to need a place where he feels safe and sound at home.
If you have not provided him with one, he is going to find his own personal “safe haven”.
You will need to fulfill your role as his pack leader and provide him with a safe and secure habitat in your home.
His resting or hiding place should be a place that is cozy and completely free of dangerous or unpleasant things.
You must create this “ideal” safe place for him and nothing beats the use of a crate.
In a way, a crate is like your dog’s “fortified room” inside the house.
A place where he can retreat to when he needs some “personal time” and will give him the sense of having a “personal hideaway” in the house.
Of course, to make your dog feel comfortable staying in the crate, you will need to start him on a crate training program.
Get him to “grow” his liking for the crate by placing his food and water bowls in the crate, along with a warm blanket and some of his favorite toys (he’ll love that).
Then, each time he goes into his crate, you will reward him with a little praise and some high value treats.
Your goal is to get your dog to believe that good things will happen when he is in his crate.
Your Absence Is Felt By Him
Do not be surprised that your dog could be looking around the room just to hunt for you and the moment he sees you, he humps at you.
This is especially so when he is still adapting to his new home, and you are the ONLY one that he can depend on.
So, when you are out of his sight, that triggers his anxiety and he will hunt high and low for you in the house, searching all the rooms.
You would also likely see him scratching his mouth as a way to calm his nerves.
What you would need to do is to find ways to calm his anxiety.
Make him feel confident to be alone and that nothing BAD will happen whenever he is by himself.
In other words, make him feel safe and secure so that he will stop worrying about being alone and will instead start to learn to accept being on his own.
To accomplish this task, you would need to start introducing him to his crate immediately!
After all, what could be more comforting and safe than his crate?
He Is Experiencing A Hallucination
Your dog could be experiencing depression and that will cause him to suffer from hallucinations.
A hallucination is when your dog is experiencing something that isn’t real.
For example, he might be hearing his old companion (which could have passed away or moved out of your home) barking in the room and thinking that he is back, but in actual fact, that is just his hallucination.
This can cause a lot of anxiety for your dog and that can lead to further depression.
It’s very important that you recognize this early and get him treated as soon as possible.
There are certain drugs that can treat this condition and prevent your dog from going through a long-drawn-out period.
Get in touch with your vet for him to prescribe the medication.
If his depression is the result of the loss of a companion, you can get him another dog to take the place of the one that has passed away.
This way, he will have someone to keep him company and play with him. This will help to ease his feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Getting To Know His New Environment
You see, when your dog first comes home with you, he will want to check out the entire house.
He will want to see where he is going to sleep, his eating place and the playground.
So it will be natural for him to roam around the house, looking at all the rooms, kitchen and toilets to do his familiarization.
Usually, after a few days, he will get used to the scent and sight of each and every corner of the house and will no longer be curious about his surroundings.
However, if he is still doing it after one week, it could be due to other reasons and not just because he doesn’t know the house yet.
There could be other factors involved, and you would need to find out the truth.