Dog afraid of low flying birds such as robins and swallows

Question
I have a 5 year old female springer spaniel not spayed.  She is very a very smart, energetic, loving dog.  She is however an anxious dog.  She is a trained  bird dog.  Each fall goes on hunts for pheasant.   I live on the edge of a small rural community with many open fields near a river.  We have spent many hours going on unleashed walks by the river and in the wild.  She loves it. Beginning just last week she became afraid of low frying birds especially robins and swallows who are protecting their nests.  I first noticed her fear when she started finding routes to avoid the birds when going on our walks. The last few days she has been afraid to leave our breezeway where she is bedded. She tries to go out but quickly returns to the breezeway cowering in the corner.  She is afraid to even relieve herself.  I feel so bad for her and am desperate to help her through this.  Do you have any good advise?

Answer
Diane, a sudden behavioral change in a 5 year old dog is cause for a vet exam.  Be sure that her eyes are healthy and there's nothing medical that could be causing this sudden onset of anxiety.  Sometimes just not feeling good can cause a dog to be fearful of leaving a safe place.

It sounds like she's generalized her fear of the birds to anything outside the breezeway.  Can you find a way to alter your pattern of leaving the breezeway?  If you always leave and go out the front, can you go out the back instead and circle around the house; can you take her through a garage or the house?  

This type of anxiety can be helped through desensitization (gradual exposure to the trigger) and counter-conditioning (changing the dog's mind about the trigger by associating it with something pleasant).  Once you can get her out of the breezeway without too much anxiety, find a way to expose her to birds that aren't threatening.  If she tends to look up in the sky for birds, watch for that and when there is a bird in sight, say, in a very happy tone of voice, "birdie!" (or whatever else feels right for you, but it's hard NOT to say "birdie" in anything but a happy voice) and feed her the most scrumptious treats she can imagine - boiled chicken, liver, cheese, anything she really likes.  (Dog treats won't cut it when dealing with fear issues.)  The treats can be very small, but be generous with them.  Feed her a half dozen treats, one right after the other when she does spot a bird.  If she won't take the treats, she's over threshold, meaning that you're too close to the trigger stimulus.  Find a way to make more distance if possible.

Stay away from places where she's been frightened before.  Find new areas to walk that don't have the nesting birds right now.  Develop new walking patterns and keep her on leash as necessary.  She may be more comfortable in a harness that might give her a sense of security knowing she's attached to you.

Rescue Remedy, Calming Caps, Thundershirts, DAP Collars are all products you can Google to get more information on how they work on fearful dogs.  The Calming Cap might be your best bet because the stimulus is visual.  

If your dog responds to certain cues, you can also have training sessions using the high-value treats just outside the breezeway to build her confidence and give her something she knows how to do rather than worry about the birds.  Will she chase a ball, find treats using her nose?  Giving her a "job" to do will help while you're working on the desensitization process.

Please let me know if you have specific questions about anything I recommended.  Good luck!