Why Is my Dog Suddenly Afraid of Everything from Hats to Street Signs?

When she was about one year old, my dog Ralph the Girl started barking at strange men in the street. She’d never had a problem with men in the past—in fact, my dad and brothers were her favorite people on earth!—but suddenly, she was skittish around them, especially men wearing hats.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Ralph was going through her adolescent fear period.