Help with a panicked dog!!

Question
Please help me, I'm at wits end!  I am sitting here in tears because I don't know how to help my 3 yr old Aussie/Lab mix. Hopefully you can help! We adopted him from a rescue last February and we knew from the start that he'd need a lot of love and affection to bring him out of his shell. He was very shy and took a long time to trust us. My husband and I are "dog people" and showered him with love and affection, hoping he would know he was safe and loved. Since we've had him, he has suffered what can only be called panic attacks. It's not separation anxiety, because he is fine when we leave, and fine when we return. But sometimes he'll be lying there, calm as can be, and suddenly start pacing, whining, drooling incessantly, and basically freaking out. No amount of calming words, petting, etc will calm him. He also tries to get into small areas, too. For example, under the kitchen table, under my desk at the computer, under my nightstand by my bed, and so on. Almost like he's hiding from some unseen thing, the way he looks around at something only he can see. It just breaks my heart to see him freak out like this, and there is nothing I can do to calm him. Please know, most of the time he's quite the love bug, playing with his "sister", or my husband and myself. We have tried the DAP diffuser, and it seems to help somewhat, but not all the time. Also, he has varied reactions to people visiting our house. Sometimes he's a guests best friend, sitting on their feet, asking for hugs and treats, then other times when they visit he shows aggression. It's so hard to have friends over, but I know it's more important to get him happy and healthy. We have had a vet check him out, and found nothing wrong physically. Our vet suggested a behaviorist at a college about 150 miles away. Frankly I'm not in a position to afford that right now, and I'm trying to do a lot of this on my own. Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time!!

Answer
The first thing I would have advised you to do is to go and have a consultation with your veterinarian, and I'm glad you did.  This may be panic, but it still could be seizure activity.  If your dog is an Aussie mix, that makes me all the more suspicious, since some lines in that breed are prone to epilepsy.  If the vet rules out seizures or neurological problems, then you may want to take him to a holistic veterinarian for a consultation - I had a client whose dog had seizures, was treated holistically (I believe with homeopathic med - belladonna?), and has not had any more seizures for two years now.  

A veterinary behaviorist who can prescribe medications that may make it easier for the dog to cope and have a happy life is a viable solution for any dog that experiences panic or stereotypical behaviors - please save up and do that if the other option fails.

As to the aggression with guests, sounds like pretty typical Aussie behavior to me.  They aren't always everyone's friend (breed standard states that this is a dog with "strong herding and guarding instinct", and the best you can do is to contain the dog when unfamiliar guests are present, or acclimate him to a muzzle so no one gets hurt.