Barking @ Night

[Sticks1977]

I briefly covered this topic a few weeks ago and initially there was some success. But in the last few weeks it has progressively become worse!

Henry is around 8 months of age (chocolate labrador puppy) and I find that he barks often at night - minutes after he is put to bed in the laundry. His bedding in the laundry is a raised Snooza bed which did have a multi-mat on it - before he chewed through the velcro straps and took it outside...!

He also has access to the backyard through a dog door on the external laundry door. We leave the main laundry door open (internal door) and there is a baby gate across the doorway so that he is able to see into the rest of the house. Unfortunately I am unable to block off the dog door with a cover (which I was able to do a few weeks ago) due to Henry chewing the top of the frame of the dog door where the cover latched onto.

I have asked some neighbours whether Henry barks during the day while myself and my wife are at work and they hardly hear anything out of him. Yet at night it is a way different story. He will bark and carry on for over 30 minutes - our bedroom is at the front of the house and we can still hear him in the backyard!

Firstly I do not condone his barking or am surprised that he does... I get that dogs bark and I am happy for him to do so if someone is walking past (like an alert bark?) but his barking at night is constant...

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night. He is also allowed on our bed when we are watching television and is also allowed up onto the couch if we invite him up. If he gets up onto the couch himself we correct him and give a stern "No!" and tell him to get on his matt that is between the two couches in the living room.

So far I am at a loss as to what to do in regards to his barking at night - I have tried taking him on a walk just before bed, ignoring his barking completely, feeding him dinner before he goes to bed, having a big play and training session before bed, giving him a bone to chew on as he goes to bed (which he takes outside), and also staying up for 10-15 minutes once he has gone to bed and I have shut the baby gate (he is still able to see me in the living room from the laundry).

I am thinking to help what I have mentioned above to record either a video or audio recording of him barking once he has been put to bed. He has a rather loud and deep bark (something he got from his mother, his father had a high pitched bark for a labrador...) and I would rather address the isuse now that he is young than let it continue and annoy the neighbours further...

Any advice would be appreciated - I am open to trying anything and even advancing my training or techniques to combat the problem. I have tried to teach him "speak" but so far there has been no progress. I have even wondered whether I should be looking into getting a behaviourist around at night to combat the ever increasing problem.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I will have a YouTube clip or something up soon!

Regards, Shaun (Sticks1977)

[Nekhbet]

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night. He is also allowed on our bed when we are watching television and is also allowed up onto the couch if we invite him up.

you invite close comforting contact then you separate him from yourselves so he's alone at night - he's probably stressing and not understanding why bed time means separation.

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night.

he's comfortable in the ensuite, then he's back to laundry (ie pack separation) again for no reason (in his mind)

answer? Get a crate, put it inside the house and he sleeps in that. Sounds like he spends all day by himself, which to him is not a problem, but the added night separation is a bit much for him. If you add it up he spends, what, 5 - 6 hours out of 24 with you, round about? Not much really for a pack animal that technically would barely spend time on its own.

[Jacquiboss&scoop]

Is it just mindless barking or is there a possum or cat wondering around at that time , both of these animals can be teases . Can you shut his access to the backyard at night , at his age he should be able to hold on all night long without needing to go to the loo

[Genabee]

My pup doesn't bark in the night, but the last couple of weeks she has started scratching on the door to be let out.... So I get up and toilet her (she usually goes and that is fine) and then put her back to be in the laundry.... and five minutes later she is scratching again. I was ignoring it for the first few nights ( I would always toilet it her once though, then ignore her), but after a couple of weeks of it, I was ready to kill her.

Against what I originally wanted, I put her crate in to our room and BINGO!!! She sleeps right through (until about 6amish).

This is my second dog that has done this.

He wants company. Is it really a major issue to have him in the ensuite at night?

[PAX]

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night. He is also allowed on our bed when we are watching television and is also allowed up onto the couch if we invite him up.

you invite close comforting contact then you separate him from yourselves so he's alone at night - he's probably stressing and not understanding why bed time means separation.

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night.

he's comfortable in the ensuite, then he's back to laundry (ie pack separation) again for no reason (in his mind)

answer? Get a crate, put it inside the house and he sleeps in that. Sounds like he spends all day by himself, which to him is not a problem, but the added night separation is a bit much for him. If you add it up he spends, what, 5 - 6 hours out of 24 with you, round about? Not much really for a pack animal that technically would barely spend time on its own.

Exactly, crate him inside with you. You can gradually move his crate to a more prefered area. All my dogs sleep inside in crates, no noise.

[poodlefan]

If the dog is quiet inside at night, it wouldn't be high on my list to figure out why he barks outside.

Keep him in. Where you sleep him is up to you but keeping him quiet would be my priority. He's safer that way.

[Stitch]

As others have said, get a big wire crate & crate train him - problem solved!!!

I don't know why there is a resistance to crate training by new puppy owners, is it perceived as cruel????

It is by far the most reassuring & relaxing thing for a pup as long as the crate training is done with positive reinforcement not punishment!!

And it is certainly not cruel!!

It is EASY to achieve and it is also so stress free for the new owners - no barking at night when you and the neighbours are trying to sleep!

As the dog gets older the crate becomes their safe den, my older dogs put themselves to bed at night when they are ready themselves.

All I do now is give the going to sleep cookie!!

[Kavik]

Another vote for crate him inside

Much easier and quieter that way!

[macka]

The only way around it so far has been to move him into our ensuite (there is also a baby gate covering the doorway to the ensuite) and have him sleep in there - once he is in the ensuite and indoors we do not hear a peep out of him all night.

Sounds like a simple solution to me!

If you don't want him in the ensuite long term start looking for another safe/warm area he can be locked in for the night.

I love crates as you can put them pretty much anywhere in the house and you do not hear a peep out of them once they are in there.

[Miranda]

Yes definitely crate inside, all my dogs are confined overnight and I don't hear a peep out of them. One of them would dearly love to stay outside hunting possums and whinge and bark all night, however there's no way I'd put up with the noise and neither would I inflict in on my neighbours.

[Sticks1977]

Thanks to all for your replies so far - this forum is always very supportive and always lends a hand when I have a few questions.

Have had Henry in the ensuite the past night or two and we do not hear a peep out of him. After talking about it with my wife she prefers Henry to stay in the ensuite anyway. As some have mentioned at least I know he is safe and will not be getting up to any mischief during the night either in the laundry or outside.

It is actually comforting knowing that he is near us at night - last night as I dozed off to sleep I heard him in the ensuite give a big sigh and a huge exhale of breath before he settled for the night.

One last question, should I have a bowl of water in there with him during the night or can he go the night without water?

Thanks again everyone for your support, I might look into getting a crate for the laundry as we are going away on our overdue honeymoon in late September and will be having a house sitter (wife's sister) looking after the house and Henry while we are gone for two weeks.

Regards, Shaun (Sticks1977)

[aussielover]

Personally I would leave a heavy ceramic bowl or something similar that he won't be able to knock over and play with.

Many trainers recommend withholding water overnight for toilet training reasons but I don't actually agree with this, I think my puppy got a UTI whe we tried this

[RiverStar-Aura]

I know my 13 month old puppy barks at night when I haven't exercised him enough and I've come to realise that it's stupid of me to expect a pup as lively and active as he to sleep through the night with all that energy burning away inside. He's an outside dog because my mum won't let him in the house but I'm curious about this "crate training". I've seen the term around the forums a lot and am wondering what exactly it is. Is it just like teaching a dog to sleep in a closed kennel (but made of something less solid than wood I assume) and is it as easy as it sounds?

Zeus is pretty good though because at night we have him on a 10m long lead, which is attached to the wall and he knows once the lead is on and he's had his dinner that it's bedtime. He can reach water and sleep in his kennel comfortably, the only thing the lead does is stop him running to the side of the house and barking at everything that moves.

Do you think the lead is overkill and that perhaps he shouldn't be "chained" at night? We all just feel that by stopping him from ratting around the backyard actually staying close to kennel is better.