Night Time Barking Need Help/Ideas

[Nina]

Hi All,  I have the sweetest 25 pound mini Australian labradoodle.  She is a leaner who loves everyone including kitties and kids.  At the age of 1 (she's almost 3), I took the crate to the basement.  When I put Sadie in at night, she would look and me and cry.  She has never chewed anything and is totally trustworthy. At night she sleeps in the living room or the office (her bed is in the office).  I sleep upstairs which I get to via a spiral staircase that Sadie refuses to use.  About 6 months ago, Sadie would occasionally bark at night.  Now she wakes me up at least 2x each night w/her barking.  Sometimes I yell for her to BE QUIET which may or may not work.  If I go to the landing of the staircase and call her, she comes and eventually stops barking.  I have been thinking of getting a citronella collar which I would only use at night.  However, I don't want to scare her unneccesarily.  I want to try to work with her before I get the collar.  What should I do?  When she barks, I could get out of bed, walk downstairs (this takes 1-2 minutes at least) and then what?  I don't want her to connect having me come downstairs with barkingin a positive way...barking for attention and getting it.  I think that she is barking at something i the environment (San Francisco, small backyard) Thanks for your help.

[Adina P]

Just to clarify, she is currently in a crate in the basement?  Is it a daylight basement where she can see to the outside?

[Nina]

Hi Adina,  Thanks for asking for clarification.  She never is in the crate and she is never in the basement. At night when I sleep in my loft (getting to it from the spiral staircase) she is one floor below in either the living room or the office.  The living room windows have shutters and they are closed.  The office has a large window and there's a blind that is usually closed.  The kitchen is also accessible to her and there's a sliding door w/no window covering at night.

[Nina]

No, she is not in the crate or the basement ever.  At night she is in the downstairs either in the living room or the office.

[Adina P]

I don't know if this is the answer, but I know that when my dogs slept in the living room they would frequently bark at things they heard out on the street or saw out the windows. Or they'd wake up and get bored or want to be near us.  When we moved them to our bedroom (doors closed) they slept like logs.  Now if I take a nap, I take Rosco to the bedroom with me or else I'm guaranteed to be awakened by his bark and have my nap ruined. 

 

If she's not too heavy to carry up the stairs, it might be worth moving her to a dog bed in your room.  Or working on teaching her to climb those stairs over the next few weeks so you don't have to carry her.  Just my two cents.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I would put a noise machine or a fan in whatever room she sleeps in to mute the outside noises.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri would bark ALL NIGHT if she slept in another room...we have too many windows/noises.

 

She sleeps on her bed at the foot of our bed every night.  With a sound machine in our room.  She loves it and doesn't move until the sun comes up (then hops onto bed with us after we say "come on up!").  I would carry her up the stairs and get her used to sleeping in your room if you are okay with that.

 

We sleep with our door closed so she doesn't roam the house.

[Nina]

Hi All,  I don't think that carrying her up and down the stairs in an option for me.  I am little (4'10) and very midde aged (62).  I have friends who think my stairs are extreme...I can't see myself carrying Sadie up and down when I am 70+ year old and she is old too.  Maybe I should get a soft sided crate and when she barks put her into it in the office downstairs.  The only time I could use that crate is to stop barking at night....

[F, Calla & Luca]

And to think, I, a little more very middle aged than you, worry about when I find the regular stairs too much Any way you could switch your office and bedroom? That way you could both sleep downstairs. I keep the doodles in the bedroom with the door closed to prevent them from barking at extraneous noises outside if they were downstairs. They hear all sorts of things downstairs even though I live in a countrified setting.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Can someone tell me what a 'sound machine' is?  Curious.  I think crating her or confining her somewhere away from doors and windows and leaving some sound on might do the trick as she is probably responding to some sounds outside.  If you acknowledge it you are reinforcing the barking.  She needs to be as far away from windows and doors as possible.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-SleepMate-980A-Electro-Mechanical-Cond...

 

This is like the Sound Machine I have!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Great, thanks.  I just found some free ones online too!!!! Amazing.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

You are lucky..mine was $50!!