Hi Guys,

Nando is really vocal at the moment at night. He is nearly 2, a GSD and so to an extent his behaviour is completely natural. He is not to the point of being a nuisance but he does react slightly too much to smaller noises during the night.

Someone recommended one of these; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pestbye-Advanced-Barkbuster-Bark-Stopper/dp/B001RPVO16/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1365100972&sr=8-8&keywords=Dog+noises

I don't like the sound of them if I'm honest and I feel if he's not allowed to bark he will become frustrated?

Thoughts welcome, this is really a last resort and I am not at the point with his behavior yet that I would consider using it anyway, it just got me thinking.

Josh

Thought I would add, the barking isn't boredom or pining, it is when something like the wind whistles or the trees behind our garden 'swish' in the wind. Or, for example, someone walks past the front of the house.

It is maybe 2-3 times a night but he is very loud. If we leave him in the backroom he sleeps the night through, it is when he is in the conservatory that he is loud. The simple answer seems to be leaving him in the backroom- however the conservatory is 'his' room, and ideally I want him to settle down in there.

In the mean time, I have ordered THIS: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clix-Therapy-Fireworks-Desensitisation-Training/dp/B000VNL7BW/ref=pd_sim_sbs_dmusic_a_1

Josh

Have you tried leaving the Radio on so that it makes small outside noises less noticeable, also ensure eh can't see out, where he may be reacting to passing wildlife/cats.

Yup, tried all of that. If anything the radio makes it slightly worse. I am going to try the noise CD for a while first but wanted opinions on the 'bark stopping' device shown above, too.

You are FAR better off letting him sleep where he will not bark, as otherwise you will just allow the barking to become habit. Always better to stop something before it becomes too engrained. Stick him in your bedroom with you if needs be. :) My husband and I have a small single bedroom and we share it at night with 3 Malinois, one Papillon, a budgie and a guinea pig LOL.

I wish he could be trusted not to get on the couch when we're not in the back room, else he could just sleep in there.

Could you try putting something on the couch when you leave him in the back room to prevent him getting up on it?  Something like an upturned dining chair and/or a wooden stool, or similar?  I have done this in the past to deter dogs from furniture when we were out and it worked really well.  Quick and easy to do and it might solve the problem.  If he's happy and quiet in the back room something like this might be worth a try & as others have said better than risking barking elsewhere becoming a real habit which can be hard to break.

What is your conservatory made from?  Some of them are very noisy and this is amplified by a hard floor and, sometimes, a lack of other soft furnishings.  Also is it very light in there?

I'd move him for a while to teach him to sleep through then move him back to the conservatory after adding some soundproofing.  You need to break the cycle before you attempt to get him back in there and you can always put a cover or a board over the sofa in the other room or give him a crate in that room if you want to stop him from getting on the furniture.

I'd avoid the bark stopper stuff. Many dogs don't learn that way and it will make some dogs very anxious to hear those type of unexplained noises.

I hadn't thought about it in that way- like a 'cycle.' This website is a life saver. He can be crated in the back room also, which is a bit of a struggle getting a crate big enough for an adult GSD into a room alongside two sofas, however it is worth it for Nando to be settled and for me to get a good night's sleep. I have tried putting an up-turned chair on the sofa however there is four sofas and I fear he'd really hurt himself if he tried to jump up with something on there in the night.

My gsd was the same at that age. Luckily we live in a rural setting so he would bark if he heard any voices outside or a fox etc. he will still bark if he hears or scents anyone outside but I am glad he does that to be honest. He doesnt bark at the cows across the road, a fox barking etc any more as he became used to them being everyday noises. What makes me laugh though is he barks if there is a doorbell rung on the tv even though I dont have a doorbell! He even runs to the door!

If he barks when in the conservatory, and not when he is in the back room, then he is not entirely happy in the conservatory so let him sleep in the back room. Would it be the end of the world if he slept on the sofa??? Could you put a special cover on it at bed time to signal that he is allowed on it now, biut not at any other time?
I have had GSDs all my life and they have never barked in the night for no reason. However, I leave all my internal doors open at night and they are usually sound asleep on their own beds in my bedroom, which is where any GSD would choose to be-- near their humans.

Believe me if I had my way he would be at the foot of my bed and on the couch however I don't live alone and as such the decision is sort of out of my hands! As we speak he is asleep on the floor next to me! I'm not sure the idea of putting a throw over the couch would sit too well however I can always raise the subject with my parents.

>however the conservatory is 'his' room, and ideally I want him to settle down in there.

>As we speak he is asleep on the floor next to me!

:)

He takes comfort from you. I wonder if you spent some nights in the conservatory with him if it would help. It may help him see that these noises are nothing to bark about.?

I can't understand why you wouldn't leave him in the back room where he is obviously happy ?
IMO a conservatory is too cold and this is possibly why he is awake and barking.

I didn't want my dog in my bedroom or on my bed, but this way we all get a nights sleep !

In defense of josh I know he would have nando in bed with him if it  was best for nando but he has to consider his parents feelings. I am sure he will speak to them  so they can rethink where nando can sleep. Its harder when u live with your parents  to do  things the way you would like

Josh,

As you say,as a GSD, he is built to monitor and to alert you to things he perceives as threats. Left to his own devices- away from the core of the house, and without you to direct him, he is more likely to deal with matters himself. He is also young(buzzing with hormones) and unsure, but old enough to react. He is also being given the opportunity to practise this behaviour and the barking is likely to be perpetuated as it becomes self-rewarding and learned behaviour.

If you can explain this to your parents perhaps the will see the wisdom of bringing him in closer to the house. You are right to nip this in the bud before it becomes entrenched.

I do not leave my dog in a cold conservatory, it has underfloor heating and a radiator. I don't want to start an argument but I came here for advice and usually I get a very helpful reply but I find the tone of your reply condescending, almost as though I am neglecting his needs!

The conservatory is 'his' room. It is where he is most comfortable as it adjoins to the living room where we sit. As the living room/kitchen/conservatory are open plan often he will take himself off into the conservatory to cool down and if we have a visitor who doesn't like dog who doesn't like dogs Nando is more than happy to go and have a snooze in there.

His barking is just misdirected. However as has been said with this breed he is likely to be doing his 'job.' He has spent the past few nights in the back room and sleeps soundly so I'm going to continue with that for a while.

There is obviously a trigger to the barking that he cannot hear, or doesn't feel the need to react to, when he is in the backroom. However him sleeping upstairs or on the couch is out of the question, and to be honest, I don't like the idea of him getting into the situation he won't sleep properly downstairs as with my current employment situation I do spend the odd week away from home.

I do appreciate all of your input, the solution for the meantime is to let him sleep in the backroom.

You did not say that the conservatory is heated, no one I know has one that is heated.
I was trying to help - to find a reason why he is barking.
Won't bother in future.

> You did not say that the conservatory is heated, no one I know has one that is heated

It's quite common for conservatories to be heated :) Our has underfloor heating too - kept at 14c throughout the winter and is where Tara (Aussie) chooses to sleep :)

I think most people would reasonably assume that a conservatory would be cold at night.

Except for short coated or aged/ill dogs, most would be far more comfortable in an unheated conservatory at night (mine sleep in an unheated kitchen or the kennel outside at night).

My main worry with a conservatory would be overheating.

The issue with the conservatory is not likely to be heating or lack of but being more easily able to see or hear outside stimuli.

> The issue with the conservatory is not likely to be heating or lack of but being more easily able to see or hear outside stimuli

Yes - I was worried that Tara would bark as the windows go right down to the ground and, as we are in the country, we have a lot of wildlife in the garden. Fortunately, she has never barked at night which I am very surprised at as she is an excellent watchdog during the day :) :)

> most would be far more comfortable in an unheated conservatory at night

Tara would happily still sleep in there if it was not heated. We only have some heating on because of the plants. In warm weather the door is open to the kitchen and she can escape from there to the utility room where it is out of the sun.

"Except for short coated or aged/ill dogs, most would be far more comfortable in an unheated conservatory at night (mine sleep in an unheated kitchen or the kennel outside at night).

My main worry with a conservatory would be overheating."

I really wouldn't want any dog of mine to be sleeping in a conservatory with the temperatures we have been experiencing and I'm sure if I told people who home board their dogs with us that they would be sleeping there, they'd be horrified.

> I really wouldn't want any dog of mine to be sleeping in a conservatory with the temperatures we have been experiencing

During the recent cold weather, my younger dog (she's 11 in two weeks) chooses to spend quite a lot of the evenings lying outside on the patio in the dark and, sometimes, the snow :) :) Even my older dog who must be around 15, will ask to lie outside during the day even when it's cold - of course, we keep an eye on him and don't let him spend too much time outside, but he shows no sign of feeling the cold. I'm sure that my younger dog would sleep outside in the garden in the snow if we let her :) :)

Pretty breed dependent, and of course in their beds they will not be exposed to the elemetns, and are quite happy in an unheated kennel, as long as it's dry.

I really wouldn't want any dog of mine to be sleeping in a conservatory with the temperatures we have been experiencing and I'm sure if I told people who home board their dogs with us that they would be sleeping there, they'd be horrified.

I'm not sure if conservatory has a different meaning in different parts of the UK, but ours is one half concrete wall, and one half windows with a glass roof. It is like a 'sun room' as some call them. It isn't one with glass from floor to ceiling. During the winter it is heated with underfloor heating (Although this is rarely on as it runs on a thermostat set quite low as Nando is more comfortable with it cold,) and we also have a radiator, which is also on a thermostat. In the summer he can be left with the windows open and with the door adjoining to the house open, too (With the crate in the way so he gets a nice breeze). During the warmer months he is not left in there during the day because it does get warmer than he is comfortable with and is instead crated in the back room if we ever need to be out for more than an hour or two.

I am surprised a conservatory has thrown up such a debate to be honest- I'd have thought it was a given I wouldn't be leaving my dog (who my life revolves around) in a cold/hot conservatory with extreme temperatures. As I have said, I have moved him into the back room where he sleeps much more soundly. Obviously the issue of training him to be a bit more selective with his barking hasn't been solved however hopefully the cycle will be broken and he will sleep a little more soundly when he does finally move back into there (if he ever does.)

> ours is one half concrete wall, and one half windows with a glass roof.

Is it possible that local cats are running across the roof at night? Or cats/foxes in the garden, seen through the windows, are making him bark?

It is pretty high for a cat to run over, and it is also sloped upwards towards a central point. My parents bedroom window is right above it, so I'd assume they would hear. I am also doubtful we get foxes in the garden as the only time I have ever seen one is when our fences were removed during a renovation. The gardens on one side of the property is dropped down so considering the drop in ground-level and the fence on that side our fence must be about 8 foot! I wonder if perhaps the foxes TRYING to get into our garden could be what is spooking him as I know there are plenty of urban foxes in the area!

> I wonder if perhaps the foxes TRYING to get into our garden could be what is spooking him as I know there are plenty of urban foxes in the area!

At this time of year the urban foxes are very active - when I lived in a place with many, they cause the most problems in late January and Feb when they were roaming the streets at night barking to attract mates. I had complaints then from neighbours in the flat above about my dog barking, but there wasn't much I could do as they were audible (to the dog) from every room even with decent double glazing.

Cats will climb and go across roofs, the reason I wondered about it was a friend has a verandah with a corrugated plastic roof and her own cat walks across it regularly, which makes quite a noise. On a few occasions she's been woken by cats fighting on the roof! That's another thing, some dogs will bark if they hear cats fighting, even if they are a few gardens away, and with the late spring a lot of moggies and feral cats are coming into season now, which always makes for a lot of noise - cats are noisy when mating, and never mind the territorial spats or the entire males squabbling for access to a calling female.

In the early morning there may be birds coming into the garden as well which I know excites some dogs - bigger birds such as magpies and wood pigeons will often come into gardens at that time of day when the humans haven't started to stir. As the dawn gets earlier and earlier over the next few months, that might be an issue.