Our new dog has started barking at night. Any advice?

I predict she will be a bed dog within a couple of months. She wants to be with her people.

@Judi we only allow the dogs where there is hardwood or tile floors. The bedrooms are off limits :).
We go and check on her when she barks. She doesn’t seem to want attention or to be let outside; it’s baffling.

Loneliness?

If she doesn’t need to potty, that’d be my best guess. Does she sleep a lot during the day? If so, is there a way you can keep her up so she’s tired at night? Or take her for a long walk in the evening to tire her out. She’s probably just wide awake and wants attention/love from her people. Our border collie mix pup barks and howls if she hears us awake upstairs. She just wants to play and run and love on us.

We don’t let our dog sleep in our bed either, though the rooms aren’t “off limits” to her. Maybe she’s just adjusting and she’ll get used to her new routine. I wouldn’t go down and check on her every time she barks, though. That’s just encouraging the bahavior. “If I bark, I’ll get to see dad.”

It maybe an alert for the newspaper person, like our dogs. They hear the car driving around slowly and starting and stopping.

Separation anxiety

I have a Shepard. Every morning he is the alarm clock. :/ He will start to do wake up calls around 7:30am and it will last until I get up.

Usually it’s because he wants something. And usually its food. And he is 10 now so I know his schedule.

Since your dog is new in the home I would guess you aren’t so familiar with her barks and sounds right now?

The barking could be anything. Sometimes dogs have a bark that will sound to me a little more yelpy but for a yelpy bark you also have to understand their body language because if they are barking at something that freaks them out or they want to herd their bark can also sound kind of yelpy or someone like the mailman the bark is more full and a deep Woo woo sound…lol how else can I describe a bark online :/
And sometimes I think they just bark for the sake of barking?

And maybe your border collie is just ready to get up and go to work?

It all depends on the type of bark really. So now you get the fun part of trying to figure it out. And in the meantime hopefully fulfilling all the dogs needs, which means less problems for you. Good luck to you!

Not sure why she’s doing it, but this is what I would try:

1) Create a pre-bedtime ritual of strenuous exercise (Frisbee, ball, etc)
2) Pick up her water dish an hour before bed
3) Leave a radio, a fan, or a white noise machine on in the kitchen to block outside noises.
4) Get up 15 minutes earlier than normal for a morning ritual of a walk, ball or Frisbee.

Since Lilly is new to your home, it’s possible she’s hearing noises at night that are unfamiliar to her but which Bella has just grown accustomed to.

My pitbull/mastiff mix did this when he was young. We put a soft muzzle on him right before bed and took it off first thing in the morning. This way he wouldn’t be able to make a lot of noise and in the quiet he could see that whatever he was hearing wasn’t bothering our doberman or shih tzus, so when they ignored it and we didn’t have to come to quiet him down, eventually he just started to ignore it, too.

I think we were able to leave the muzzle off after only a couple weeks, but ever dog is different.

The muzzles are pretty cheap on Amazon and are made of a nylon cloth, usually, so they’re not at all uncomfortable for dogs.

How is her hearing and eyesight? PRA in border collies here and that can cause anxiety and they say shadow movement in the dark. I wonder how they know that????

A crate in the bedroom might be an alternate choice to the kitchen. Or read this and maybe you will decide to move them into the bedroom after all!

I would guess that she’s bored, like the typical Border Collie. How much time does she get to spend with you during the day? You said she doesn’t want attention when you go to see her…maybe all she is looking for is something to break the routine? And as soon as one of you guys appears, that’s enough ‘excitement’ for her to go back to sleep. How does she act when you enter? Is she nervous? Calm? What about Bella, is she up as well?

My friends border collie had to have one of the see-through wire crates or she’d bark at night, lonliness.

Just wanted to say, I used to have a Border Collie mix dog called Lily also.

I like the muzzle idea (she’d muzzle YOU if you kept her awake ) or let her into your bedroom. I agree she could be lonely. Not sure if the white noise idea would work but try a loud fan anyway.

I don’t like the muzzle idea, it is like putting duct tape over a kid’s mouth to shut them up and you would get arrested for that! Also a dog wearing a muzzle can still make a lot of noise. Better to deal with the root of the problem. A lot of border collies are simply very high energy dogs, needing much exercise. Take it for a run before bed, bike jour with it, crate it in the bedroom, but ditch the duct tape. I would use a shock collar before that. They only punish when the dog does the undesirable behaviour. But that too is a last resort, only to be used if all other training methods fail and the next step is getting rid of the dog.

it is like putting duct tape over a kid’s mouth to shut them up

Is that bad? ;)

@livelaughlove21 – I know a lot of kids that would probably benefit from it but I think society in general would frown upon it!

My dog Max he’s a Lab-mix and use to do that barking at night ! so I figure he wanted outside the first time it happened, he’s was use to being out all day long, when it was time to come inside he would and willingly, but 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning he would bark till I came over and let him out , he was not on a crate as he knew where his bed was he would just sit at the bed and bark! at night when the lights when out he knew it was time for bed , however he is older now and he prefers to be always inside as the heat is terrible here in Texas !