Hi all,

Hope someone can help me, i have a 16 month old golden retriever whos behaviour sems to have changed in the last week or so. She has always been very obedient, coming in from the garden when called and has never been a problem at nightime ( bed in the kitchen and quite happy there till morning) Just recently she is refusing to come in when called and at nighttime her behaviour has become quite erratic. when she finally comes in and lays on her bed she seems fine but as soon as we shut the door to go upstairs to bed she has started scratching at the door and banging into to try and open it ( which she can if we don't put something the other side of it!) Last night she started crying and then barked for about 5 minutes ( never done that at nighttime). My husband went down and shouted at her to get on her bed ( i don't agree with this) . Am i supposed to ignore this behaviour. Not sure whether some kind of separation anxiety or  just naughty behaviour.

Hope someone can help

Tracey and izzy

As it ism getting dark earlier could it be some animal she senses, most likely hedgehogs, maybe cats or foxes.

One of my 'generally reliable' dogs has started to hang around outside at night.  I think the warmer, but dark, nights have made critters more active at this time and he gets distracted and forgets to pee.  If this happens he then whinges as we leave the room.  He's 8.5 and knows the routine backwards so I can tell he isn't making a fuss for the sake of it.  I have to just let him back out so he can finish his toilet routine!

I've started to take him out on his lead first so he can pee on command and then I let him pootle about for a bit.  I always reward the dogs with treats for coming back in from the garden so I've just made those a bit more exciting than usual to encourage him back inside.  One of our other dogs has recently become very focussed on our ditch so I assume he's getting eau de hedgehog...

If your dog has been good up til now I'd just put it down to a passing phase and take another look in a week or so.  If she makes a fuss after lights out, let her out without saying anything (on a lead) then try again.  No point shouting at her - she's trying to tell you something and you're not understanding her :)

We had this problem aswell and it was driving us mad! She only barks when she is worried about something, but as we couldnt see anything we put it down to habit and would come and put her on her bed which did work for a bit. We then discovered a few months later that 4 rather large rats had been living under our shed and when the chap came out to deal with them he said that part if their path had been alongside the back door and as they are full length glazed doors this is what she was telling us! Needless to say we felt very bad for all the times we told her off!! She now sleeps in the living room and so can't see out. So it may be that she is sensing something outside.

No point shouting at her - she's trying to tell you something and you're not understanding her :-)


Ah, well said DAB. Bradshaw has written so well about this. 

It deserves some kind of a cartoon with the dog desperately trying to make its oblivious owner aware of something incredibly important ie "fox smell in garden". For all we know this might feel the same as trying to communicate to someone we are not aware is deaf and blind that we can see a burglar climbing through their window. On the other hand, the young dog might be trying to share what for them is the amazing experience of fox ( or other) smell, like a girl that discovers the best perfume ever and wants to tell her all her friends to come and try it.

Anyhow, as others have suggested, just stay calm and appear receptive, put her on a lead, take a look outside with her, hang around a bit and then go back in with her. With any luck she may feel that you now understand whatever it is!

thanks for the advice, it's pretty much what i thought. Have told my husband to stop shouting at her and explained that in her own way she is trying to tell us something ( rather frustrating when you don't know what). Now she is playing up in the daytime as well not wanting to go on her bed when we are going out or to work. She isn't left on her own for too long max 4 hours and this has always been the case. The kitchen where she sleeps is in the middle of the lounge and the conservatory so she can't hear 'outside' as such. It gets frustrating when she has always been so good and is so good in every other way.

She is going to my in laws for 10 days while we go on holiday so maybe a change of scenenry might break the cycle .

Tracey and izzy

Now that the cold snap of autumn/winter seems to be finally upon us could it possibly be what bracey has mentioned? Maybe not rats but could you have mice? They normally come in around this time of year for food & warmth.
If i didn't close my patio door curtains of a night my lot would go bananas at the 'eye candy' that is cavorting outside the back door just for them! Frogs, hedgehogs and voles. Everything seems to come alive at night. On the odd occasion that i have forgotten to close the curtains i can guarantee they'll wake me up at daft o clock.

A very familiar scenario! My oldest boy was going mad trying to get into the back yard for a week and when let out would make a beeline for behind the feed bins, climbing on top of them, squeezing behind them and generally being a bit of a pain. It turned out to be a squirrel that was hanging about, and if I hadn't seen it myself I would have assumed it was just a neighbour's cat that was winding him up :-)

Lucky for the squirrel that it disappeared when it did otherwise Diesel would have had a furry breakfast.

Hi, just a thought, is she due in season soon?

she was spayed 4 months ago her first season was the end of february. i had wondered if that had anything to do with it