Barks at night for hours.. I miss sleep!
Hi everyone, hoping you can provide some help.
Sheldon the pem corgi (1 year old on Mar 17) has never barked at night until 2 nights ago. There was a thunderstorm coming so I believe he was barking due to pressure changes and other nature-related phenomenons. He barked for at least an hour around midnight.
Last night he did the same thing again but there were no storms in sight. He did this for a good hour around midnight as well. Finally I went downstairs to his crate and put another blanket over his crate and unplugged his night light in case he was startled by moving shadows or noises. He calmed down for a bit but I'm not sure if it's because of what I did, or he tired himself out.
Sheldon sleeps on the first floor in a house close to the back sliding doors that go to the backyard. The backyard is a big open field so our house is the first thing that wind hits and it can be quite loud.
How do we keep Sheldon calm and let him know he shouldn't freak out at noises? Should I move him to another location away from the windows?
Any help is appreciated!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Try moving him. I have a very diligent alert barker and he will bark furiously to let me know that, say, a skunk just walked by the porch.
One thing I did was start leaving a fan (the one from our a/c unit) running all night long on medium. It provides white noise and now he can't hear every little tiny thing. It's made a HUGE difference. He went from waking me up twice a week or so, to maybe twice a month.Your dog might hear cats fighting, or coyotes yapping, or something else outside that is too soft for your hearing and it sets him off. I know that Jack generally won't shut up til I verify all is ok. I appreciate the Corgi Burglar Alarm, but I'm not impressed when it's over a cat in the neigbhor's yard. Anyway, I discovered that the white noise helps by accident when we had some water damage and were running dehumidifiers around the clock. So give that a try. By a cheap air filter if you don't have anything else; the noisier the better!
As a funny aside, once Jack was barking furiously at the back door and I kept saying "Did that bad kitty go by?" Found out the next day in the news that someone a block or so away was threatening someone else with a sword (really? a sword?) at around the time Jack was barking. Cops were out, people were shouting, the whole nine yards (I actually live in a safe neighborhood, but anything can happen). Point being you never know what they are really hearing.
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Permalink Reply by Coco on
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I will certainly give the white noise method a try! I'm curious to know why it started now, of all times. He's never freaked out over thunderstorms before (or fireworks for that matter). But he is growing up and getting braver. Maybe his tolerance for noises has decreased.
He barked at a deer in the backyard today and growled at the Canadian geese on our walk yesterday. He just doesn't like wildlife!
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I'd say move him to your bedroom or at least closer to you if you can. A fan or even a tv on really low can help block out some of those little noises too, as Beth said.
One day I couldn't figure out what Luke was freaking out about in the backyard. Every time I looked out there was nothing there, but he was all hackled up and crazy eyed. Then I realized there was a huge maple leaf in the neighbor's yard, and every time the wind blew it would stand up on end and wave about. They bark at the weirdest things lol.
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Jack has barked to let me know someone was going into my neighbor's house. Alas, it WAS my neighbor!
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Permalink Reply by Alison Prasavath on
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Noodles does this every day when our next door neighbor comes home. The way we are angled on our court, their driveway and our driveway separate part of the way up. He pulls in and it is in front of our living room window. Noodles jumps on the ottoman and starts barking. He is fine once I go to the window, touch the back of his neck and tell him it is "okay and that Partrick is coming home". He will look up at me, then jump off the ottoman and go back to what he was doing. My little guard dog!
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Permalink Reply by steve smith on
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Your smart little guard dog
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Permalink Reply by Christine on
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This worked amazingly well for me...move the crate into your bedroom...put some pennies in a glass peanut jar...shake the jar hard (good and loud) as soon as he barks...try not to let him see you do it. Took 2 nights and completely resolved and has stayed that way...he doesn't make a peep in his crate or travel kennel...unless he's dreaming!
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