Dog People

[zoobie]

We have a 7-8 year old female golden retriever and a 4 year old male mutt (Boxer mixed with squirrel? No idea.). They've been waking up multiple times a night and barking like mad to go outside. It's been going on for 2-3 weeks, and it feels like having a newborn. I am SO TIRED. DH is the one who usually goes and lets them out/in, and he's beyond tired. I have to wake him up to do it, but he wanted the dogs, so...have fun, buddy! There's nothing unusual outside happening that we know of unless there are clowns on the loose here? No new foods. No new routines. We've tried crating them instead of letting them sleep on the couches, but that didn't help. They're not having weird bodily fluid issues. They got a clean bill of health at the vet about 6 weeks ago. They're neutered/spayed. They take turns barking to wake us. They're not getting less attention than normal. I have no idea why they're doing this unless it's to drive me completely over the edge. Any thoughts? Anyone want some exceedingly stupid (but sweet) dogs?

[Guest]

Our dogs do this sometimes. Usually when they've encountered some interesting critter they're convinced is still out there. Once we're sure no one has a belly upset or bladder infection or something judged by no accidents in the house, I lay down the law. They bark, I yell LAY DOWN. Usually just takes a couple of times to break the habit, because that's all it usually is. A new habit and the thrill of hunting critters in the dark! At least that's what's worked for us.

[zoobie]

Do you live in a populated area?  Could one of your neighbors be out and about at night for some reason?  My dogs used to pick up on things like car doors shutting, lights coming on, voices.  Things that I would have slept through, but they couldn't.  Because it was at night, it was unusual, and made them start barking.

 

We're in a suburban neighborhood on a fairly private lot. No new neighbors or unusual comings/goings from our usual neighbors. Good idea though! :)

[zoobie]

Our dogs do this sometimes. Usually when they've encountered some interesting critter they're convinced is still out there. Once we're sure no one has a belly upset or bladder infection or something judged by no accidents in the house, I lay down the law. They bark, I yell LAY DOWN. Usually just takes a couple of times to break the habit, because that's all it usually is. A new habit and the thrill of hunting critters in the dark! At least that's what's worked for us.

 

They've always wanted to see Texas. Can I send them to you for whipping into shape? ;)

[Pawz4me]

My guess is that some critter(s) is walking around your yard leaving all sorts of delicious scents. And the dogs' hearing my even be good enough that they can hear it roaming at night. Maybe there's a raccoon rattling your trash can or something? Like Texasmom33 said, as long as you're reasonably certain they don't need to go out it's okay to tell them to knock it off. Unfortunately, once something triggers a nightly outing it can very quickly become a habit. After all, they can sleep almost any time so (from their perspective) why shouldn't they have a fun, interesting sniff around the yard in the middle of the night?

Edited October 6, 2016 by Pawz4me

[gingersmom]

My dog went through this several months ago. She was up at 2 and 4. Went outside and then would reuse to come in. I was sleep walking through the day.

 

After a week of crazy I just refused to let her out in the middle if the night. She stared at me intently for about 10 minutes before going back to sleep.

 

Thankfully she is over it completely.

[Guest]

They've always wanted to see Texas. Can I send them to you for whipping into shape? ;)

Sure! They can learn all sorts of country dog things from my dogs too like eating horse poop and small birds and rodents. :)

 

But yeah I totally sympathize. We have this problem off and on- I think like said in another post above, they get on a scent and become obsessed. They would go out and bark at the horses like they were some new invention and otherwise just be obnoxious idiots on a midnight outing. I seriously nipped it in the bud when they came back in at 2am with several pink baby possums in their mouths. So not fun. Just sound mean and serious. They slink back to their beds. Oh no. Mom's MAD! If only it worked that well on my kids.

[mmasc]

I agree with PPs. Your dogs probably just discovered how fun it is to be out at night. If it was just once a night around the same time, I'd say they've formed a new habit where their internal clocks are waking them up. But several times a night? Nope, they just hear something, *anything*, and realize dad will let them out to investigate and goof around. ;) I'd do two things to break this cycle:

1) Tell them LAY DOWN (or similar) like texasmom said. And don't cave on letting them out!

2) Put a loud fan or white noise machine where they sleep.

I know dogs have excellent hearing, but having a noise machine seems to help my high-alert little girl not be so, well...high alert! :)

Hope you get better rest soon!

[sheryl]

Hmmm, I don't know.  I know that our soon to be 13 year old lab (birthday this Saturday) :)   will now bark when she's downstairs and walk upstairs for something.  She doesn't like to be alone.  Maybe her hearing and vision are somewhat going.  Anyway, this is when you sleep.  Do they drink water before bed?  What time do you feed them?  Early enough to go potty before bed but late enough to carry them through to morning.  Do they hear noises like owls, raccoons, or deer, etc?  We have deer that habitat our neighborhood and quite often visit us.  Today we had 2 bucks take a rest in our backyard!  Animals have superior hearing.