[HyKing]

Recently my dog has been hiding in my closet whenever i'm not in the room with him, he's never done anything like this before, what should i do?
When i enter the room he stays in the closet until i come over there and then leaves and starts panting, otherwise though he seems fine: he is still loving, eats normally, and occasionally plays.

I'm worried about him because it seems like he might be scared or be having anxiety... but he is fine as soon as he sees me and nothing else seems wrong... its just this behavior that worries me.

FYI he is a brindle lab/pitbull mix and is 5 years old


Edit: Also in the mornings when i'm getting ready he is acting different... idk how to describe it, he pants and paces a little bit around the room and normally i let him lick my plate after i'm done eating breakfast but lately he has been less enthusiastic to eat the food. (any other time of the day though he seems perfectly normal... except when i'm gone)

 

[Rain]

First I'd get him vet checked if this has been going on for more then a few days. Make sure that he's not in any type of pain, or just feeling sick. My dog will hide due to either of those two. Just this past week he spent 2 days hiding and I strongly suspect that he was doing so because his back was bothering him. If he had continued to hide I'd have taken him to the vet.

If he's cleared medically then some things to consider is have y'all moved recently, or anything in your household change like a person moving out or in, or getting a new cat or dog? Is there construction or something else going on that could be scaring him? Have y'all been having something like thunderstorms going though and he's afraid of thunder? Did you adopt him in the past 3 months to a year?

If he's becoming fearful stressed when you leave and it's causing him to hide, then figuring out why he is will help to figure out how to best handle it. If something outside is frightening him, then leaving a radio, or TV on a bit loud might help to drown out the noise. If y'all just moved, or something changed in the household, then a bit of time might help him settle down. If you just got him recently then he might be developing separation anxiety and you'll need to teach him that he's safe, you come back. My boy also hides when he's scared, depending on what sent him into the doggy protection program, aka under the bed or couch, I either leave him alone, or if I know somethings coming that will scare him like thunderstorms I give him his anxiety medicine, wait for the noise and start feeding him treats (where he's hiding) every time the frightening sound happens.