Hello, My girl is now 4 years old and things have been ok in the night for years, just the occasional need for a night-time toilet break but usually just fine, sleeping through with no problems or disturbances. However, in the last few months she has woken up at anywhere between 12.30am - 5.30am and sometimes more than once, for say 5 out of 7 nights per week. We have a night-time routine which is exactly the same, no changes in bed/bed position, etc., always goes into the garden to do her business (both!) last thing at night, settles down straight away; this has worked since she was quite young. Now she does all this as normal, then barks... once. Then twice, three times. Ten times. It is as if she is calling us rather than barking at an intruder, say. When we eventually go down to her, sometimes she appears to want to go out to relieve herself and other times she just sits on her bed, looking at us standing at the back door beckoning to her to go out! She can be a monkey at times generally so we try to ignore the barking to see if she stops but sometimes she doesn't give up - we are worried we will disturb our neighbours so we have to relent often (we have a kitchen with lots of glass windows and there can be quite an echo with loud sounds). We do not fuss or pet her when we get up and keep talking to a minimum so as to try not to reward her, but are at a loss as to what to try now. It is having an adverse effect on our health/mood/stress levels now as we are not getting enough sleep! We have checked our cupboards to see if there are any mice which might be disturbing her, although we live in the country so it is quite likely that she has heard something - then again, she has always lived here and should be used to the sounds of the house (with or without the mice?) . We live in a very quiet area at a dead end by a field and so there isn't noise from traffic or passers by to disturb her. I think she is probably just playing us - she has regular check ups at the vets and is healthy. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, we'd be eternally grateful. Many thanks! Lilydog and me
Here is a link of an interesting method that is sans bark collar *link removed as it refers to an aversive method of training contrary to the forums policy* Moderator Note: This forum supports and promotes positive reinforcement training. Members may not advise others to use painful punishments on their dogs, nor promote the use of punishment in dog training by posting anecdotes or images which endorse the use of such punishment. We don’t want to create a situation where people cannot even mention the word ‘aversive’ or discuss the way in which aversives are generally used in dog training. But if such discussions are dominating the group or creating bad feeling, moderators may remove the entire thread. Please note: Moderators have the right to remove any content they deem inappropriate or in breach of these rules, without explanation. Members that repost deleted content will be banned from responding to the thread in question.
Sorry I was in a hurry above! The article in summary, whilst interesting, does suggest a method of barking control which entails folding your hand over a dog's muzzle, and pressing down whilst you say "quiet". The article does refer to what could be considered fairly out-dated references to the "pack leader" whilst this is applicable to wild dog packs I am sure, however probably not in line with current evidence-based training methods. Whilst we are more than happy to discuss on the forum, it is worth noting that this technique is not in line with the forum ethos.
