# Please help - desperate to stop night time barking



## hengal (Mar 7, 2005)

We brought home a rescue pup two weeks ago. (A Christmas present to each other) She is almost 9 months old - is crate trained, and she sleeps in her cage(crate) each night when we go to bed. She did really well the first few nights - sleeping through the night and not making a peep. But now she wakes up (or something wakes her up) and she barks for at least an hour. Sometimes this happens more than once in a night and we're beat. We went to Petsmart Saturday and bought a barking collar, but DH decided he thought it was mean and so we haven't put it on her (yet). My idea is to put in on her at night only - when she goes "bedtiime" (she knows that word) and then to take it off in the morning. Right now she has no negative consequences for this behavior. DH suggested we go out and firmly tell her "no!". Now in reality he knows better than this - we don't want to "reward" bad behavior. By us going out there when she is barking, shes going to think "I'll keep barking because they come see me when I do"....at least thats what I believe.
Its not an issue of having to go potty. And again - she goes right in and goes to sleep when we got to bed. I'm thinking she hears outside noises, or the cats wake her up - or she just wants to be with us. The crate is located on the edge of the living room. We have a pretty small house and she may as well be in our bed doing the barking.
Does anyone please have any suggestions or any experience with the barking collar they can share?? We need some :zzz: Thank you very much.


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## beaglady (Oct 7, 2002)

Where is her crate located? As annoying as it might be, consider putting her crate into your bedroom. If space is limited, add a piece of plywood and a tablecloth, so it can replace your nightstand until she's had some time to mature. I bet that she's lonely and scared, and that being close to you will keep her quiet all night.


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## farmerbrian (Aug 29, 2009)

It may just be a temporary part of the adjustment period.... but if not here are some things you can try

- make absolutely sure this is not a cry to get out and go to the bathroom. Control water intake in the evening and make sure she goes pee or poop outside at night right before bedtime

- make sure there isnt something outside that is making noise and waking her up

- try a radio on low volume. to drown out some noise outside you cant do anything about like the wind

- Get another dog?! maybe..... you should probably make sure everything works out with this one first but maybe she is just a dog that doesnt do well alone. 

- If it comes to it negative reinforcement may be what you need. One of our dogs (locked in kitchen, no crate anymore) decided to start barking at night last year. Shes 3 and never had any problems like this before so the first few nights i went down a let her out, made sure she wasnt sick/choking/throwing/hurt whatever....she kept doing it till finally I just went down there an gave her a few good smacks and told her to knock it off....problem solved since then. Just make it clear that you going down there at night is not any kind of reward. 

If you dont want this dog sleeping with you or in your bedroom then dont cave in on the crate. Once you do you will have a hard time going back. I've never used a barking collar so cant advise you on that one. 

Good luck!

Brian


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

I have always used a spray bottle to stop "unwanted" crate behavior. Get one of the trigger spray types that you can adjust the nozzle on and put it to where you've got a thin stream. Use a fairly strong water and vinegar or water and lemon juice, strong enough to be very unpleasant.

Every time she barks, say "NO" and spray immediately, heavily and in the face/mouth if possible.

You may have to do some "adjusting" in where the crate is located to start with ... maybe actually in the bedroom so the correction can be instaneous ... possibly you can place it out of the bedroom but at an angle where a strong spray stream will still reach it.

Anyway, I've found it to be very effective with most dogs ... and for years, when I had several house dogs at a time, all I needed to do was say "NO" and reach for (or start for) the spray bottle and whatever they were doing stopped instantly.

I have used a shock collar, just once, for behavior that was a danger to the dog, so it had to be stopped and I had to stop it at a distance but I would tend to use it as a last resort.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Use the collar. It is no more "mean" then putting your horse in a hot wire fence.


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## farmerbrian (Aug 29, 2009)

beaglady said:


> Where is her crate located? As annoying as it might be, consider putting her crate into your bedroom. If space is limited, add a piece of plywood and a tablecloth, so it can replace your nightstand until she's had some time to mature. I bet that she's lonely and scared, and that being close to you will keep her quiet all night.


Yeah lonely and scared is probably the issue. Moving the crate temporarily into the bedroom could help you get through the adjustment period....or it could make it harder in the long run. 

One other thing I forgot to mention is tire that puppy out! Take her to a dog park or if she is a fetcher somewhere you can run her ragged and then she will sleep soundly anywhere!


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

Is the barking session at the same time every night or is random? Do you have her on a set schedule. Animals are creatures of habit. Make sure she has a walk, run or play time before bedtime, move the crate next to your bed if you have room. If you can't move the crate, try a small radio that plays soft music at nite....if she is hearing things outside, it might 'mask' the sound... 


JMHO: I would never correct a dog for barking, if I didn't know WHY they are barking. You might want her to bark to alert you when she is older and using such harsh measures as the bark collar might deter her from barking at all.


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## hengal (Mar 7, 2005)

Its not an issue of her needing to go outside, we've got that one covered, and she is on a pretty regular schedule with eating, going out, etc. It does not happen the same time every night. This morning she barked from 3:00 am to 4:00 am. Sunday morning it was 1:30 to past 2:00 and then again at 2:30. We have outside dogs that I know she can hear if they bark, and, we have cats in the house too which may wake her up. 
So maybe moving the crate in the bedroom plus some negative reinforcement if the barking continues?


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

hengal said:


> So maybe moving the crate in the bedroom plus some negative reinforcement if the barking continues?


That would be the "ideal" solution in my opinion. She's close, you can teach her the words you want for her to stop barking ... my house dogs are allowed to "alarm bark" but must learn "enough" means exactly that ... quit barking. Then use the spray bottle to reinforce.

My house dogs all seem to learn an alternative signal for "I have to go out" other than barking. Most have whined ... a few have simply had a different sounding bark ... but the bark/bark/bark for no reason is almost always different from the "something is wrong" bark. Once you get used to the difference, you can almost always tell if there is a genuine problem or if it is simply a case of what I call the neighborhood gossip line.


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

WE use the "NUH UH" voice ( hard to type it) really loud and stern and they always seem to stop (ok maybe its a AHHUHHH ) lol hard to describe, almost a no but a lil different... it works with dogs (and kids) alike


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

My one dog developed a barking issue and we found by bringing him inot our room at night it has stopped, he even isn't a 5:30 am riser anymore to go out but will wait til I get up.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2009)

My 5 month old puppy's crate is in my bedroom where she can see/hear me..the ONLY time that I hear her is if she has a need for a potty break..BTW, cats love to "torture" dogs by happily jumping onto the top of the crate and daring the dog to get them..my cats do this around 5AM..boing, boing..puppy has learned to ignore their evil behavior.


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## hengal (Mar 7, 2005)

WIHH - Thats kind of where I'm at right now. We haven't had an indoor dog for about 4 years and admitedly, we haven't ever been good at training our dogs. But this time I'm determined NOT to let this dog run OUR lives. I told dh this morning that I was going to come on here and get ideas/advice from everyone. I think considering all things I would prefer that her crate stay in the living room and I will be more than happy (but sleepy) to get up and reinforce the "NO BARKING" when she starts. I'm going to stop by the store tonight and get a spray bottle for a second measure in case the voice doesn't work. When she jumps up or does something else we don't want her to do, I take a rolled up magazine and smack it in my hand and yell NO, DOWN, or whatever and she stops.. so I'll try that. Don't know why I haven't thought of that with this situation - guess the lack of sleep maybe.

Thank you all very much! I'll keep you posted with our progress.


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## whocares (Apr 1, 2008)

I have used bark collars, we have 2 big dogs, a great dane and a black lab, both have very loud barks...so we got a collar to stop the constant barking, and they only had to wear it a few days to figure it out...BTW we lived in an apartment and were afraid of the neighbors complaining...they are good at not barking now...I feel it's not cruel, as it stopped an annoying problem and we were able to stay in the apartment...


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## ChristyACB (Apr 10, 2008)

You said she is a rescue. Do you know her history?

Working with rescue dogs a lot, there are a couple of things. One is that some of them get attached seriously to whoever gives them a home. This can result in overwhelming fear when the people are gone from them...especially at night. A lot of times this will resolve itself over time, especially with the young ones, after they gain confidence. Most people, however, need their sleep before this happens!

Some successful tricks we've used in the past are putting the crate in the bedroom so they know you are actually still there but pay NO attention to her whatsoever if she is in your bedroom. 

Move the crate around at night to different places in the house. 

Use white noise to mask outdoor sounds.

A toy she gets only at night when she goes to bed to snuggle with.

I would caution using pain devices on her if she is a rescue depending on what happened to her. Water spray is usually very effective on younger ones.


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## hengal (Mar 7, 2005)

We enjoyed a bark free night last night!!!:sing:
We moved her crate more into the main part of the living room where she is in direct sight of our bedroom door. I only had to scold her once and that was when she first went in - then.... aahhhh.......sleep!!
Thank you for all your suggestions!! If I knew how to post a picture here I'd show you the little bugger


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2009)

Wonderful !! 
A puppy who "thinks" they are all alone tends to be a tad needy..imagine having a single goat..LOL..

During the evening when I'm in the living room, I move the crate there..puppy at 5 months spends an hour out of the crate, with me..playing, learning to "sit" "stay", "leave it", etc. and dealing with the evil cats..then she's back in the crate for a few hours..then it all repeats. When I first started this, she'd whine..I ignored her..she soon learned that there's only one Alpha "dog" in this house and that's me..LOL..


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## Guest (Dec 29, 2009)

Glad to hear you had a nice night. We always first experiment with the crate. We've found that some puppies are quiet in the same room, some in an adjacent room, and some in a completely different room (out of sight, out of mind). If that doesn't work, we like the "shoe method"...You pile shoes next to your bed. When they bark, you say "no" and then throw a shoe at the crate. 

About the bark collar. I was never a fan either, until I had an unrully dog that barked ALL NIGHT LONG. I will never be without a bark collar. We put it on her at night. She barked 3 times the first day, and that was all it took. I actually consider it a better way to correct (much less corrections and they "get it" so much faster).


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