# Barking at Night



## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Hello there, me again. I wondered if you had any advice please.

For the last few weeks Monty (almost 8 months) has started to bark at night. We started off ignoring him but now he seems to have got his stamina and barks for ages. It's waking the kids up who go down and tell him to be quiet (not very politely!)  When we do go down to him he's sitting on his bed wagging his tai looking very pleased to see us 

We have tried everything to ignoring him, spraying a bit of water at him, covering him completely with a blanket (amazing how your brain works when youre sleep deprived!), covering up the lights on the dishwasher, etc etc. We spoke to the trainer who told us to ignore him which worked at the beginning but now he goes on and on and on and on and on. 

We're so tired, the kids are tired, the neighbours must be going bonkers and probably tired too and we're desperate. Any help gratefully received.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

He wants to be with you at night. You could give in and let him sleep in your room. Mine do, they sleep like logs when they are with us and never disturb us.


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## lady amanda (Nov 26, 2010)

Lady was such an ealy riser. we gave in to letting her sleep in our room. she now thinks the king size bed is hers....but she shares it wonderfully....and sleeps in some days which is fantastic!!


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

what time does he start barking at 

what time do you put him to bed 

has anything chainged eg walks or feeding times. 


you could try goign down, not talking to him leaving a lead on him take him out the the garden, again not talking or touching him. then putting him back, again not talking or touching. that way he isnt realy getting any attention but you can check he realy doesnt need to pee or anything. in some cases this can work as they get fed up not getting made a fuss of. 

or put a kong in thing some frozen goodies in it so it takes him longer to get thrugh it.


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Thank you for your responses. OH doesn't want him to sleep in our room but with a couple more nights of Monty's constant barking he might change his mind. Anything for a quiet life and a decent nights sleep!

He goes outside and then straight to bed at 11pm. OH gets up for work at 6.30am and I walk him for 30 minutes at 6.45am and he's walked again for 45-60 minutes in the afternoon. His feed times are 7.30am and 6pm. Nothing has changed in his routine apart from us getting a bit stricter on the discipline after the Dog behaviourists visit. Could it be adolescence and he's trying it on a bit? 

X


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

how long after being put to bed dese he start barking. does he sleep for a bit then start or is he protesting to being put to bed.


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Hiya. He goes to bed absolutely fine but it's normally between 2am - 5am that it starts. X :argh:


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

My OH was adamant that mine wouldn't sleep in our room too! He also didnt want a second poo. (Or a first one really tee hee!)


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

It could be that you have started to get regular night time visitors to your garden? Foxes, badgers, cats? Monty can sense heir presence and this could be why he started barking. Just a thought?

Even the kids going down to him and telling him off is a reward (attention) so if you are going to wait it out and ignore him then you will have to stop them going down to him.

You could try moving his crate to a different room in the house? Or may be leaving the radio on really low?


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## Mogdog (Feb 6, 2011)

How long after the kids go down do you go down? Both are a reward for his barking I'm afraid.

I guess, either be firmer and not have anyone go down, or give in and put his bed in your room! It's not easy, I know .... amazing how loud barking is in the middle of the night. Maybe earplugs?!

S x


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Oh it's so hard. It's been going on for three weeks now and we're so tired!! It's like having a newborn baby all over again. 

Last night he started earlier at midnight and we ignored his constant barking until 1.30am, then he got a quick spray of water which stopped him for 15 minutes and then off he went again at 1.50am for another 40 minutes when I'm afraid I moved him out of the kitchen and .. I can hardly bear to say it .. Shut him in the downstairs loo with his bed and blankets.  I know, I know, this wasn't very nice of me but it's been going on a while but once in the downstairs loo (not actually in it obviously) he didn't make another sound. :tapedshut: 

Don't know if he actually realised that he was in deep trouble or whatever was upsetting him in the kitchen wasn't upsetting him in the toilet but we didn't hear from again until 6.30am when my OH went to let him out and had to wake him up. 

Will see what happens to tonight. XX


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## susanb (Jan 19, 2012)

That is interesting! We had exactly the same thing. We decided to let him sleep upstairs on our bedroom floor & now we all get a really good sleep & often a lie-in too!! Not what we had planned but we were getting so desperate for sleep!!


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## Mogdog (Feb 6, 2011)

It's strange it's only happened for the last few weeks ... can he see out into the back garden from the kitchen, and possibly see a fox visiting? Is he in a crate? Maybe drape a blanket over if he is.

Good luck for tonight. x


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## Hfd (Aug 19, 2011)

Billy slept through the night in his crate from 9 weeks and had always gone in around 11pm till 7am with no problems. At around 9 months he woke up one night and randomly barked for ages - as it was so out of the ordinary we obviously went to check on him etc. this then carried on the next night - for around 1.5 weeks. After a couple of nights we just started to ignore him he eventually stopped. At nearly 18 months it hasn't happened again so we put it down to adolescence and his way of trying to get out of the crate! If that's where you want him to sleep then persevere (I know it's hard) and they soon get the message. Good luck
H x


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Thank you so much. He can see into the garden from the kitchen as we have French doors but last night I blacked them out (can you tell how desperate I am?!) and to our knowledge he only barked for 15 minutes and we managed to doze through it. It's a real insistent, urgent bark not the odd woof. 

Fingers crossed for tonight. X


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## Mogdog (Feb 6, 2011)

Very muddy said:


> Thank you so much. He can see into the garden from the kitchen as we have French doors but last night I blacked them out (can you tell how desperate I am?!) and to our knowledge he only barked for 15 minutes and we managed to doze through it. It's a real insistent, urgent bark not the odd woof.
> 
> Fingers crossed for tonight. X


Oh that's good, it would be great if something so simple to resolve it for you. We have French doors in the kitchen but have curtains which are closed at night. During the evening we leave one curtain open so we can let them out easily into the garden ... they do look through to the garden and will bark if they see a cat or bird (or even their own reflection sometimes!).

Hope tonights goes well. x


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## Beth Watkins (Jun 11, 2012)

I posted not so long ago about barking- and now Minnie has started to bark constantly when put in her crate at night :rant: to the extent she howls! From day one she has been fine going in her crate but the last week it has started! She's almost 8 months now and feel like I'm going backwards . I make sure she has been to the loo before she goes into her crate, she's got water, toys, her kong but she won't budge! She has 2 long walks per day, I'm so upset with it all  we were doing so well for months and now i feel she's gone back to early puppy days! 
I have ignored her and eventually she goes off to sleep- but I feel like I'm pulling my hair out! 

Sorry for a long post- any advice/help would be really appreciated, thank you so much x out:


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## Very muddy (Jun 8, 2012)

Hi Beth! It's really hard work isn't it?! I'm so sorry that I didn't see your post on that before I started mine. I feel on the obedience front things have slid backwards too but apparently thats usual at this age but its very frustrating.

We got rid of Monty's crate about a month ago and he started barking a week afterwards. I do wonder if its an adolesence thing but he's certainly pushing his luck at the moment.

Although saying that last night he slept through but I did have to black out the windows and my husband left an armchair in the kitchen as he was banished to the kitchen to watch Sports Personality of the Year and we have a sneaky suspicion that Monty made himself comfy on that. Cheeky monkey.


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## Beth Watkins (Jun 11, 2012)

I think we're in the exact same position! Like you said pushing there luck! I just hope they settle wn again soon! Tonight hasn't been no we're near as bad, I feel so guilty ignoring her but don't want to get her used to staying upstairs! (Although last night I was considering it lol)! Anything to stop her lol! 

I'm sure we'll get there! Good luck  x


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## Jedicrazy (Apr 26, 2011)

Could it be the heating? Are you keeping it on, is he too hot? Just a thought.


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