# Barking in Middle of the Night



## SoCosMomma (Jan 28, 2009)

Ok, SoCos spoiled and sleeps with me and my boyfriend at night, everynight. The last couple months have been horrible. She waked up at like 1:30 in the morning and just barks. We leave our bedroom door shut and so the second we let her out she bolts to her food dish and eats like she's never been fed before. Her bowl is always out so she's a grazer, its always full. I don't understand why she has this weird behavior. So I've been starting to put her in her kennel for the rest of the night but normally around 5:30 she's howling wanting out, which is understandable, but dang it. stop barking in the middle of the night. Someone please help. I don't want to put another food bowl and water bowl in our bedroom as its small enough already with her puppy pad in there.

Thank you, 
Melissa


----------



## guest185 (Oct 27, 2008)

Do you mean she sleeps in the bed? That usually helps them sleep through.
That is strange for her age, it's not like she is really young and feeling scared at night. What about tiring her out for an hour before you go to bed? obviously I imagine you play all the time, but don't let her rest when it starts to get late and play lots before bed. That's helping us a little with our monsters!

sorry I can't be more help  x


----------



## SoCosMomma (Jan 28, 2009)

She's always slept in bed with us, most of the time inbetween us. I try to play with her bout 30 minutes before we go to bed, but she just wants to lay on the couch with me or dad. Its weird. and i know shes not scared at night. she just wants to be a pain in my butt.


----------



## guest185 (Oct 27, 2008)

Have you got anything you could use as background noise? Like a bathroom extractor? that might help?


----------



## kobi0326 (Jun 13, 2008)

Are you sure she's barking at nothing? Could be she hears a noise outside or something. You could try teaching her a simple "Quiet" or "Hush" command.

Kobi sleeps with us also and sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night barking, but its usually because he hears a noise outside, its worse in Fall/Spring when we tend to have the windows open. We taught him to "Hush" when we want to stop him from barking. Its a great command to teach your dog, especially if you have a barker!


----------



## SoCosMomma (Jan 28, 2009)

She doesn't normally bark. Shes a quiet dog. And everytime we open the door she bolts right for her food and stop barking. we have a fan on at night thats pretty loud to drown out any outside noises.


----------



## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

I think she has learned that when she barks, you give her access to her food. She's associating the barking with getting to eat. The food is acting as a reward to her barking. She barks, she gets to eat. So I'd start by giving her a good snack before bed, taking her out, and then taking the food away until morning. She's not going to starve if she doesn't get her usual midnight snack! I wouldn't get up at all. I'd tell her NO! Hush! And ignore her. Don't get up and let her out of the room. Hopefully after a few nights she will learn? 

Also teaching the hush command is a good one. If she barked, I wouldn't get up and let her out of the room.


----------



## SoCosMomma (Jan 28, 2009)

She never gets to the food. I put her in her kennel before she reaches her bowl. So she's not getting rewarded for barking. She's getting put in her kennel. My boyfriend gets soooooo pissed off when she barks that he gets mad at me, making me want to sleep in a different room because I can sleep through her barking. He can't. Thank you all for your help! I will definately try a couple different things.


----------



## BABY BABS (Feb 5, 2008)

You could also try giving her nutrical before bed. That's supposed to keep their sugar levels balanced. Maybe that's why she scarfs food in the middle of the night.


----------



## SoCosMomma (Jan 28, 2009)

explain a nutrical?


----------



## nadias_mom (Dec 23, 2008)

you can get it from the vet, its pretty much a high calorie suppliment full of goodies for the pups. it helps keep their blood sugar level during the night , which is when it drops because they don't eat. i always give nadia some before she goes to sleep at night...... have you tried just putting her in her kennel at night? if shes doing it every night and ends up in the kennel anyway? maybe it wouldnt be so bad if you put a little food and water in your room, so that if that is the cause of the barking, she can just get up and eat/drink, then go back to bed, without waking you guys up??? poo on boyfriend!!! lol i know how you feel though, my boyfriend gets sooo pissed when nadia wakes us up( she has a routine and wakes me up every morning to go potty and eat, then comes to bed with me for an hour or so). but boo on him LOL i think hes just jealous because i treat her like my child i never had LOL.


----------

