Mid-night barking...I've just about lost it w/him...

Last night I did something bad.


Oakley woke me up (just about gave me a heart attack) w/his horrible, territorial bark...it is obscenely loud & scary.

I reacted by reaching over, grabbing him by the neck & pinching his skin...it couldn't have been that painful(i got that super loose area), he didn't welp, but I still feel horrible.

Its just that this past week I haven't gotten a good night's sleep b/c of him...between barking @ thunderstorms, whining/barking @ me b/c he wants to get into the bed, or just (like last night), barking at who the heck know what (it was prob a squirrel passing by the window...), i've just about had it...not to mention my roommate's don't exactly appreciate it.

He currently sleeps leashed to his open crate (which he still won't sleep in, lol), so he has a small radius to walk around in (just shy of reaching my bed) & he can;t get to the window or anything. it overall works really well.

I just have NO freaking clue what to do. His barking has gotten 500x worse since he's been down here (all new sounds, im sure...)...I think there are just more people who walk around outside, so he feels the need to bark at everyone of them


Please. How do I make it stop??? And no, he doesn't currently have a command to stop barking (& when he gets into his territorial-y bark, he completely ignores me)...he really never needed one before.

Why won't he sleep in the crate?

He is so used to not sleeping in it (like, for the past 4 years he hasnt been in it)...he used to be locked up in a crate 8+ hrs a day (by the place where we adopted him from), so once we could trust him, we never made him sleep in there cause he hated it.

The only reason I brought it down here was so he could have a "safe" place...so the last thing I want to do is start locking him in there. Plus, if I did, I'm pretty sure he would just bark more, cause thats what he used to do in it. I don't want to test that out though, cause that would mean locking him in there.

I dunno, do you think it matters??

Why isn't he free to explore sounds at night ?

A crate may or may not be helpful. If you re-crate trained him to the point that he would enter it willingly this may help him adjust to his new situation and surroundings faster.

I had a similar problem with Duke on our first three times staying overnight in motels when we were in school togther. Duke, whose reactivity had completely more or less dissapeared at this point came back with an intensity that had me showing up to class each morning exhausted. All it would take was for guests outside our room for him to loose it, whether he was in his crate (which he is very used to and generally sleeps in) or whether he was loose with me in the bed did not make a difference.

I just slept with tons of cookies under my pillow and began tossing them when I heard potential triggers walking down the hall. It took the the entire first two trips to Ottawa (staying in a motel each time for three nights) before the barking stopped completely. It's just classical conditioning and as such can be a little slow but none the less it does start to change the way your dog reacts to such things so I would certainly recommend it.

If he did actually react despite cookies I did get up, interrupt him, massage him and then practice clicking/rewarding him for looking at the door in hopes of interrupting the cycle. I simply couldnt risk getting kicked out of the motel.

Now your other option which probably seems more tempting at this point is something like a citronella collar. While the pro side is this will probably work much faster in suppressing the barking, you run the risk of other anxiety based behaviours popping up in lou of barking (destructive chewing, urinating in the house, etc) and you do risk creating such a negative association with barking at sounds outside that when you actually do want him to bark ( in the event of someone breaking into your house, etc) he may shutdown and do nothing.

Kayla

because he wakes me & my roommates up & we need our sleep.

I also think the behavior is anxiety based...so like Kayla mentioned, I think the citronella collar (which i briefly considered) would be a big mistake.

Kayla, about the cookies...thats what I do w/Oakley during storms...I give him treats when he is QUIET while there is thunder (esp when I can tell he is tense about it & wants to bark)...that seems to calm him down & he is def getting better.

My issue with the barking at night is that it is highly unexpected (aka, i dont hear anything at all, plus, im usually sleeping)...so I am scared if I give him treats, he will just think that barking is good (even if I do it after he stops barking)

What if you get a white noise machine and put it near him to drown out any other noises??

Charlie used to bark at every little thing at night, including us getting up to use the restroom.

He was crated, so we covered his crate with a blanket and that stopped him entirely. Since the recent thefts in the neighborhood, I've left the blanket off his crate in case someone comes inside at night. I'd like him to know and wake us up if that happens.