Question:
Hi there. My 11 year old dog, Gizmo, a mix of (most likely) Sheltie, Eskie, and Papillon, has taken to (in the past 6 months) whining, barking, & scratching at my bedroom door in the middle of the night. This doesn't happen every night, but it does happen at least 4 times a week. We have tried: letting her go outside to relieve herself (sometimes this works, but more often it seems like she just wants to go outside), giving her treats (doesn't seem to work), telling her "no" (works sometimes), screaming in frustration (obviously does nothing except make us feel slightly better). We aren't getting a whole lot of sleep some nights. Last night (for example) she did this 6 times over the course of an hour and a half. She always has ample time to go outside during the day and is fed well. Any ideas?

Thanks!!!
Staci (in desperate need of sleep!)

Answer:
hi sleepless,
Some thoughts on your problem. I wonder what has changed in you daily routine to make him want attention at night? If he isn't too hot, too cold, hungry or in pain and yelling NO does not work, then i think that you are rewarding your dogs bad behaviour everytime you speak to him or open the door at night. I think you have to remain silent and never open the door no matter what he does. This will take a while to have an effect as it has been going on for some time. More practically lock the dog in a part of the house where he cannot get to your door or put up a barrier to stop him getting too close to your door.
good luck

Answer:
Have you had the dog checked for any physical problems? You mentioned that he is an older dog. My last dog developed canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (doggy alzheimers) when she got older, one of the signs is change in sleep routine. Might be something to look into.

Answer:
Is she locked out of your room at night? I know that dogs in general want to be with their "pack", seperating them from their leader and their pack causes anxiety in some dogs, I know this cuz our pooch is dominent and when we started working on the dominate behavior, our trainer told us that seperating a dog that is dominent only increases their behavior, and leaves them feeling segragated from where they should be - with the pack. This applies to all dogs, not just dominent ones, and I am sure there are lots of people who do not let their dogs in their bedrooms, this is just what we have tried and succeeded in.

On the other hand....as a young married couple having our dog in our room at night is not always convienient...but when I called and asked our trainer and our vet if there would be consequences to moving her out of our room eventually they told us her security and her place in the pack is confrimed every night when she goes to bed with us. It's great on the wekends, she lets us sleep sometimes until 11am!!! We don't let her sleep on our bed, she just comes up for cuddles, but that's another dominence can of worms...

I have a friend with a boxer, same deal, anxiety at night, they opened the door and crated him in their room, he sleeps all night long...

Is your dog fixed? We have friends with a lab that is not fixed and when she cycles, no one gets any sleep.

Just something to try maybe?

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I agree with SableCollie, I think a vet check is in order.

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