Hello! For the past several weeks my now 8-month-old black lab has begun waking up in the middle of the night between 2 & 5 a.m. and will. not. stop. barking until my husband or I let her out. She doesn't even need to go potty most of the time. She just wants to be on the couch in her spot. When we let her out, she chews on her toy for a bit (her teeth seem to be bothering her lately), and then falls asleep.... but ONLY if one of us is there on the couch with her. From the day we brought her home she she has happily "kenneled up" and slept in her crate (she is downstairs - our room is upstairs). It wasn't until around 7 months (ish) that she started this "early waking." We tried moving the crate to our bedroom - but that only made the barking start immediately. We have tried to let her "bark it out," but she's very strong-willed. Her current record is two hours without pause. Barking it out can only go so long, as we have close neighbors who complain. I realize we have started a bad habit with the whole couch situation, so I need some advice (other than letting her bark it out) to start to reverse this. Please help!!!
Hi, I'm probably way off the mark but.... When my old Lab was younger he took to waking us up at around 3 or 4 a.m. barking. I used to go out with him and he would just run around the garden whining a bit or barking at the shadows. I sat upstairs a few nights to see if what might be the reason and it was a fox, it would come into the garden and set the dog off, then it would either pass through or sit on the shed roof, if it came back it set the dog off again. If I stayed downstairs he would just settle down or want to play. The fox was watching for rats from a neighbours shed, once they were killed the fox left us alone.
Once you have established there is nothing waking her or she is cold/hungry I think you have to make nighttime as boring as possible. Go to her, don’t put any lights on, put her on a lead and take her into the garden for a wee. After a couple of minutes whether she has been or not bring her back into her bed and leave. No treats no toys no interaction. Yes she will probably bark for a couple more nights but I think she will soon get bored. It might be worth explaining to the neighbours.Flowers/wine should help!!
We discovered that our neighbor wakes up around 4 a.m. for his morning run. Could him leaving the house be what's waking her? I wonder why she won't fall back asleep though.
It can't hurt to act on this. Can you move her crate so it doesn't face the window or door and cover it with a blanket or bedspread? This should help muffle sound and prevent her from seeing lights or reflections. What happens if you move bedtime to 45 minutes later, aside from you being more tired? Have you tried calling from upstairs when she barks, something like "it's OK", or "thank you good night"? Is it her normal bark? I think J.D. gave you the best suggestion but I will admit when Maggie had a run of 3:30 to 4AM awakenings around 4 months of age, I was so exhausted I got a blanket and went to sleep on the sofa. After I regained some sanity, I stretched out the time before I came down to let her out and eventually she followed my lead. Like you we have neighbors next door and worse, Maggie has a shattering loud bark and was persistent as well. If you do take J.D.'s advice, and I second the flowers & wine, I would speak to them and explain what you're doing and that you're doing this with the expectation that the barking will stop, but not immediately and that you appreciate their patience. If this doesn't work I would bring in a trainer for a one to one session in home.
