Dogs Panic

     Our two dogs rarely react to the goings on that sometimes accur in the house. We had the growling fit of the younster a few weeks ago; but last night was quite different. The younger dog sleeps on the foot of the bed, whereas the older dog has a pillowed nest next to the heat register. I'm aware of the fact that both dogs will usually, some time during the night, go downstairs and get a drink. They rarely disturb us as they come and go. Last night the younster apparently got thirsty and went downstairs. My wife, a light sleeper, thought she could hear a dog barking but half asleep consigned it to our neighbors dog across the street. Keep in mind, this house is almost sound proof and a dog barking in the kitchen is only slightly noticeable in our bedroom. If the bedroom door would happen to be shut they would not be heard at all. Finally, my wife decided it was our younger dog and awakened me. "Somethings got Shadow upset", she said. I could vaguely hear barking coming from someplace. The barking got hysterical and our older dog went growling down the hall at a lope. Figuring something must be amiss, I got up, intending on going to see what the commotion was about. Before I got beyond the bed our older dog came dashing back and ran under the bed. Figuring that was not a good sign, I moved quickly down he hall to the rear stairs that lead down to the kitchen. As I went the barks sounded louder and hysterical, almost a scream. I hit the lights at the top of the stairs and started down, I didn't make it to the bottom of the stairs before my younger dog came careening around the corner out of the kitchen and up the stairs, past me and on, I assume back to the bedroom. Having no idea what was going on I continued on down and into the kitchen where I turned the overhead light on. The first thing I noticed was the wall clock showing a few minutes after 3 am. I checked the whole downstairs. I checked the doors, nothing was out of place. I went back upstairs where, of course, my wife wanted to know what was going on. Needless to say, I had absolutely no idea. What would scare a dog, well actually both dogs, that much? I can't see how it could have been anything bigger than a mouse. The dogs chase mice when they see them. But I haven't seen any recently since I put out mouse bait. The older dog might have gotten downstairs before he hightailed it back, but he certainly didn't stay down long. Did the younger one panic the older one? Whaton earth did she see or think she saw? Unfortunately dogs cannot tell you. A good episode to get the blood running and wreck a night sleep. But as to what caused it; I haven't the slightest idea.