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longgone's avatar

Why are evenings suddenly hard for my dog?

Asked by longgone (19715points) January 16th, 2020

I have a Labrador who’s now four years old. He’s usually happy to doze or snuggle whenever we’re not outside. He gets at least a couple hours of exercise per day, and he used to be satisfied with that.

For the last week or so, he’s been acting weird at night. He grabs toys to pounce on and destroy. He whines at me and wants to play. When we do play (never in response to the whining), he gets too wild and we need to stop fairly soon. That, also, is new. He’s always active, but he usually plays gently enough with me.

He does this intermittently for a couple hours and stops when I go to bed. It’s like he’s waiting for me to settle down so he can go to sleep, too.

It might be important to note that one of his “girlfriends” is in heat, and he’s an intact male. However, why does he only seem to suffer in the evenings?

As I write this, he’s curled up and whining very quietly. It’s sad to watch. I’d like to help him.

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5 Answers

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

If nothing’s changed in your usual routine and he is in good health I’d blame it on his hussy girlfriend .

SergeantQueen's avatar

Have you recently changed your evening schedule? Maybe he got used to one thing then you started doing something else and now he’s anxious.

Inspired_2write's avatar

They have pills to off set “Heat” in females..the female dog has to take.

zenvelo's avatar

Is he getting enough exercise? People cut back walks and exercise in winter; he may be needing it despite the winter weather.

Also, get him neutered. He doesn’t need to be a father.

longgone's avatar

I forgot to update this, sorry!

It was definitely the girlfriend. He went back to his usual routine of snuggling through the evening as soon as she was “done”.

While I agree that he doesn’t need to be a father, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to neuter him at a young age. He was quite insecure when he was younger, and neutering dogs can exacerbate that. Now that he’s confident enough, we are looking into it.

Thanks for your answers!

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