Sudden inappropriate fear of everything!

Question
Hello,
I hope that you can help.  We adopted a 2 year old black lab from a breeder about 18 months ago.  She turned out to be such a wonderful dog, we decided to get another one.  This time, we opted for a male.  When we got him, he was 14 months old.  He was crate trained and pretty much housebroken when we brought him home.
It is obvious that the female is the alpha as he seems to look to her for approval prior to doing things, but she has never ever shown him any aggression or vice versa.  They seem to have bonded in a short period of time, and he seemed to have settled in nicely.
About 3 weeks ago, our male started exhibiting some very strange behavior; he seems scared of everything.  He will come running to us when we come home, his tail is wagging and he seems happy, but when we go to pet him, he backs up.  When we let him out, he will not come back in unless we bribe him and sometimes that doesn't work.  If we didn't have an electric fence, he would run for sure.  When we have guests over, he hides under our bed.  Tonight, I was trying to look at his eyes with a flashlight, and he backed up so fast to get away, he bumped his head.  He suddenly acts like has has been abused, but I know for a fact, that he hasn't. I was wondering if he was having problems with his sight even though there aren't any obvious signs; he doesn't run in to things and he navigates easily. It is just very strange.  He even looks up at our ceiling fans with this horrible fear in his eyes, even when it isn't turned on.  We just don't know what to think.  Through all of this, he has not been aggressive or mean, he is just scared. Do you have any idea what could be causing that?  
Thank you so much for your help!
Julie  

Answer
I am not sure what is happening.  Younger dogs commonly go through fear stages, usually not beyond 14 months.  It might be easier if you said how long you have had him.  Start with a good vet exam sharing his problems with the vet.  

Try to give him all the attention he will accept.  Do not force yourself on him.  control you emotions.  He will read any stress and anxiety you have and that will make things worse.  You have allowed him to keep his crate?

Perhaps some of the confidence building things I suggest for submissive wetting would help.

Start with obedience training.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  As you praise the dog for following your commands, it will build its confidence.  

Play tug of war with the dog and lose.  However at the end of the game, take the rope or toy and put it up, less the dog becomes confused about who is top dog.
Ropes from the pets' store quickly turn to hazardous shreds.   Ones I made
lasted much better.   Go to a hardware or home center that sells rope by the
foot.  Buy 2' of 3/4" poly rope.   Melt the ends, and tie  knots in it.   Get
them as tight as possible, put it in a vise and pound it with a hammer.  Watch
carefully, and be ready to discard when it comes apart.

If you could, check back with where you got him.  They could have an experienced person that could help.