My dog, AGAIN.

[Carrie12345]

3.5lb, 6.5yo chi-mutt.

So, last time his behavior issue was going psycho on people when they’d come near dh. This behavior has almost entirely ended. He’s overcome lots of negative behaviors over the past year since dd moved out, so I’m optimistic about continuing to make progress. But sometimes I’m just so tired and frustrated that I don’t know where to start!

The current issue is that he is barking to be let out in the middle of the night, nearly every night, usually more than once. I am 95% certain it’s just him wanting to be in our bed. I absolutely do not want him in our bed overnight.

Ive moved his last trip outside to later. He’s always able to go out early since I rarely ever sleep to 6am. We can’t sleep through his barking. I feel like I have an infant again. He wasn’t even this bad as a ~1lb puppy! Nothing about his crate/bed/toys/whatever has changed. Nothing about his eating habits are different. Daytime potty routine is normal.  It’s been less than 2 months since he had a work up at the vet.

Last night, I got up and took him outside around 2am, and dh took him outside around 4. It’s about 6:15 now and he’s been intermittently yapping since 5:30ish. I am losing my mind!  
Any thoughts?

[Pawz4me]

Any chance there some wildlife activity happening around your house?

[Carrie12345]

16 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Any chance there some wildlife activity happening around your house?

Every single day. We have, and always have had, everything there is to have in our area, from squirrels to bears.

[Carrie12345]

Just took him out in the light (!) and tried to see if there’s any increase in scat, trash cans out of place, or any other signs of more than usual activity, but nothing jumped out at me (visually or otherwise, lol.)

[ktgrok]

i'd have his urine checked, just to be sure. Dogs get bladder infections and bladder stones fairly often. And smaller animals are more prone to infection as their "bits and bobs" are right by the ground. Plus dogs lick their butt and then lick their other bits. 

But otherwise, ugh. 

[Pawz4me]

And just saying --

A little bit of Benadryl (or generic) will help most dogs sleep. Sometimes you just need to break the cycle, get them back in the habit of sleeping at night. Of course you'd need to be careful with dosing since he's so tiny. He'd need the baby/children's liquid, and you need to make sure it doesn't have any xylitol in it. Melatonin helps some dogs. Probably many of the calming supplements would help with sleep, although IME it's hit or miss which ones work for which dogs, and that can get spendy. Maybe try a Thunder Shirt?

One of my dogs (not Avatar Dog) is a . . quirky, stressy . . . little thing who will NOT sleep if the least thing is bothering her, and my vet is willing to keep me in a reasonable amount of Trazadone for her. Not enough to keep her on it all the time--she doesn't need that. But enough that I can use it to help her snap out of her weird spells.

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

And just saying --

A little bit of Benadryl (or generic) will help most dogs sleep. Sometimes you just need to break the cycle, get them back in the habit of sleeping at night. Of course you'd need to be careful with dosing since he's so tiny. He'd need the baby/children's liquid, and you need to make sure it doesn't have any xylitol in it. Melatonin helps some dogs. Probably many of the calming supplements would help with sleep, although IME it's hit or miss which ones work for which dogs, and that can get spendy. Maybe try a Thunder Shirt?

One of my dogs (not Avatar Dog) is a . . quirky, stressy . . . little thing who will NOT sleep if the least thing is bothering her, and my vet is willing to keep me in a reasonable amount of Trazadone for her. Not enough to keep her on it all the time--she doesn't need that. But enough that I can use it to help her snap out of her weird spells.

Agreed. But I'd check urine first. 

[Selkie]

I agree with a urine check. We’ve had two diabetic dogs and needing to go out more frequently at night was one of the first signs.

Is his crate in your room, or is he in a room by himself?

[MercyA]

Our Chi-mix started behaving similarly when he was older, but in his case it was joint pain / arthritis not allowing him to settle. He did the same thing every time he had any kind of upset stomach. And eventually a bit of dementia made it even worse. 

Any chance your dog pulled a muscle or has back pain or anything like that?

[SKL]

Does he sleep in a crate?  If not, you might try that.  We put a blanket over the side of the crate that faces the window.  So he has less awareness of whatever may be happening outside.

A reasonably healthy dog will never go potty in his right-sized crate.  So, assuming he is physically capable of waiting all night, you should be safe leaving him in there even if he barks.  You might want to cut his water off a couple hours before bed just in case.

[Spy Car]

A wellness/urine check is reasonable, but my mind immediately leaped to suggestions along the lines offered by SKL above.

Try a crate with blackout coverings.

Bill

[Carrie12345]

So, the vet doesn’t have any non-emergency appointments for another week. Before taking on an emergency surcharge, we did an experiment last night. Dh slept on the couch with the dog. Dog slept from 9/9:30pm to past 6:30 this morning.

I’ll keep the regular appointment for now, but I REALLY think he’s just being an asshat!  He’s slept in his crate, in our living room, for the better part of a year now, but it’s like he’s reverting back to when he always slept with dd.

[Pawz4me]

Is it possible he's a little cold in his crate, now that fall is approaching?

You have my sympathy. We've been through this so much with Not Avatar dog. She's an adorable but quirky little rescue who came to us in March 2020 as a foster and who we decided to adopt a few months later. More than likely she was used in some BYB type thing. She was in really poor heath--needed to be spayed, had multiple mammary tumors, needed lots of dental work, weighed about half of what she should, etc. So the first few months while we were getting her back to health she slept like a log. Beginning in September 2020 . . she didn't. She started not sleeping. Like really, really not sleeping. On multiple occasions she went 36+ hours without sleeping a wink. Not at night, not during the day. One of us was with her all the time, night and day. And the dog Did. Not. Sleep. It occurred to us that the not-sleeping-issue could have been why she was dumped. We spent right around $1,000 doing an extensive health work up--on top of what she'd already had done by the rescue group--to figure out any possible reasons. We found a couple of minor health things to treat that kinda-sorta-maybe could be causing her issues if we squinted really hard. That's also when the Trazadone I mentioned above came into our lives. We still haven't figured out what all of her triggers are, but mostly (with the help of Benadryl and occasionally Trazadone) we all sleep the majority of most nights now. And she DOES sleep on the bed with us, so it's definitely not (lack of) that. Anyhow, I didn't want to derail your post yesterday by typing out our saga, but now I thought it might be worthwhile just to show some sympathy and let you know you're not alone in dealing with this issue. Perhaps you'll also find it interesting that we've found that often when she can't/won't sleep on the bed she settles down fine if one of us comes into the living room with her. We say it's a good thing she's so cute, and other than that little not-sleeping-issue she's an easy dog to live with. 😉 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Pawz4me

[Carrie12345]

15 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Is it possible he's a little cold in his crate, now that fall is approaching?

Hm. That is entirely possible! We’ve been dropping into the 50s the past few nights. It’s actually only 50 right now at 8am!  Of course the house isn’t *that cold inside, but certainly cooler than less than 2 weeks ago.  
I’ll try out some warmer, comfier things tonight and see how that goes. His blanket bed needs a hole patched. While his alternate beds provide some serious insulation around and below, they don’t have a cover like his blankey one.

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

So, the vet doesn’t have any non-emergency appointments for another week. Before taking on an emergency surcharge, we did an experiment last night. Dh slept on the couch with the dog. Dog slept from 9/9:30pm to past 6:30 this morning.

I’ll keep the regular appointment for now, but I REALLY think he’s just being an asshat!  He’s slept in his crate, in our living room, for the better part of a year now, but it’s like he’s reverting back to when he always slept with dd.

Can you move his crate into your room? Dogs are pack animals, and certainly do prefer to sleep where they can hear and smell their pack. Without DD around, you are the pack 🙂

 

[Carrie12345]

29 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Can you move his crate into your room? Dogs are pack animals, and certainly do prefer to sleep where they can hear and smell their pack. Without DD around, you are the pack 🙂

 

I could attempt to make space as a last resort. It would mean moving it up and down every day so he still has an easy safe space when he can’t be supervised. I definitely don’t like the idea of adding a second one for potential buyers to have to walk around, though we do actually plan to have two when we move... Maybe I can bite the bullet and just fold one up every morning while we’re an active listing. I can risk a broken toe if it means sleeping through the night, lol.

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I could attempt to make space as a last resort. It would mean moving it up and down every day so he still has an easy safe space when he can’t be supervised. I definitely don’t like the idea of adding a second one for potential buyers to have to walk around, though we do actually plan to have two when we move... Maybe I can bite the bullet and just fold one up every morning while we’re an active listing. I can risk a broken toe if it means sleeping through the night, lol.

Isn't he a little dog? Or am I remembering wrong?

[Carrie12345]

Just now, ktgrok said:

Isn't he a little dog? Or am I remembering wrong?

Yes, he is, but I have a terrible bedroom layout, lol.

[ktgrok]

34 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Yes, he is, but I have a terrible bedroom layout, lol.

Would a small crate fit under something, or you could put it in a closet when showing the house? 

Or one with a handle you can carry back and forth more easily?