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Fire - dogs don't 'see' the way you or I do. For one, they're partially colourblind; they lack the long-wavelength cone cells that allow us to process red and green light. On top of that, they have a much higher ratio of rods to cones in their retinas. This allows them to see much better in low-light conditions, but further reduces colour sensitivity and also affects visual acuity - it's estimated that normal vision for a dog equates to roughly 20/75 vision in a human, which is considered practically blind for us. They are, however, much better at detecting and distinguishing movement than we are.
Also worth remembering is that dogs hear in a completely different spectrum than we do and they also have much more sensitive hearing - thus a near-ultrasonic sound at a low intensity may not even be noticeable to us, but might be both noticeable and very irksome to a dog.
And they also have a much more refined sense of smell, being able to pick up odours that are completely undetectable to humans.
Why do I bring this up? I'm just pointing out that the way Fido perceives the world is very different from the way you or I do. A dog might pick up on a scent, such as urine, which will make him hesitant to enter an area that might be viewed as somebody else's territory. There may have been coyotes, foxes, wolves or other canines in those woods who had marked the area, making the dogs wary of it, while you were completely unable to detect anything amiss. Or perhaps there were some high-tension wires or some other source emitting near-ultrasonic sounds. I've noticed that I can sometimes barely pick up these tones and that they tend to set my teeth on edge - sort of a buzzing or whining in my inner ear. Televisions have always been a strong source for me - I can always tell if a tv is on in the general vicinity. If I don't notice it at first however, I may simply realize that for some reason I'm feeling a bit jumpy (that 'being watched feeling') without knowing why. A noise of sufficient intensity would likely upset a dog as well and if it's just a few Hz higher than the human range, you may not consciously pick up on it.
I'm not saying there wasn't something funky going on in those woods. I'm just pointing out that there are other possible explanations. Me, I like to look for the natural ones before concluding that it must be the supernatural.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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