Thanks for the question.

Your dog's behaviour sounds like a variant of Star Gazing Syndrome. { strange name I know }

Star Gazing Syndrome { also called Fly Catchers Syndrome } is nothing I can diagnose over the internet but I am glad to talk you through all I know about this disease. I have both diagnosed and treated it on a number of occasions.

This disease seems to affect small dogs as opposed to large breeds, the breed I have personally seen it in most in is the king charles but I have heard of it in your breed as well. There is a suspicion that this may be an inherited disease but as far as I know this has not been verified. In its classical form these dogs appear to be staring fixedly at objects far in the distance or watching imaginary flies buzzing in front of its face and then trying to bite the flies, they can spend a considerable amount of time engaging in this behaviour. From the literature the possible listed causes are :

1. A compulsive disorder of some kind, this could be treated with behavioural therapy or drugs such as prozac.

2. Some form of petit mal epilepsy, this could be treated with anti-convulsive drugs such as phenobarbitone.

3. Some form of neck / spinal problem, the disease syringomyelia has been implicated in some breeds. This could be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs.

While the above are all the listed causes I know of, from my personal experience this can be a very difficult disease to treat. There is not really any scope for home treatment here so my advice has to be that you should have a vet check your dog over and if appropriate prescribe some treatment.

Here is a link to a web page which covers this subject : LINK

If I have not covered your question fully enough or you would like to ask more I will be online for the next hour or so and I will be at your disposal.

Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS

Hello again,

Yes in my experience this can be a disease that can suddenly strike out of nowhere, it can start in a split second ...

Regards,

Scott

Hello again,

This would not be a front runner but it is possible that a neck injury could trigger this syndrome, if this is the case anti-inflammatory drugs such as steroids from your vet could possibly help.

I would doubt if the colour of the whites of your dog's eyes would be related but again this is something for your vet to check out.

Regards,

Scott