I just posted this and don't know where it went, so apologies if it shows up twice.

I was concerned about the amount of barking Molly was doing and posted on here about 6 weeks ago.  digger gave me some really good advice and she seemed to get better.  We noe take her to the door, show her there's nothing there, thank her and tell her she's a good girl and then she's fine.

But over the last few weeks she's started to wake up during the night and go racing downstairs (yes, i know, she sleeps upstairs!!!) barking her head off.  We're not just talking a couple of barks her, we're talking real continuous barks and this is happening up to 2/3 times a night - the only way she stops is when we go down to her and carry her back to bed.  Sometimes she sits at the top of the stairs and its as if she's just waiting for the opporunity to bark at something.  Don't get me wrong, I think its great that she lets us know when there's someone outside but she's now waking the whole house up and it's every night!  I know her hearing is far superior, but we can never see or hear anything wrong.

Has anyone got any suggestions on why she's doing it and how we can break the habit?  I don't want to tell her off, as I don't want her to think she's not allowed to bark.

any advice?

Is she barking in your room too or only when she gets to the top of the stairs or to the door?  If so then crate her.  This will stop her from leaving your room and go off to bark and wake the whole house.

Hi Claire,

I used to have a Yorkie who was a terrier through and through.  She slept on my bed.  In the Summer when I opened the windows and she got a whiff of animals outside - barking.  In the Autumn when she heard mice in the walls (eek!) she would bark.  

Here's what I did that worked.  At night I kept her on a short lead and kept the lead on my hand.  The moment she barked I grabbed the lead and told her "NO BARK".  A couple of times and she was quiet for the rest of the season. (Except for the mice in the walls, that was a bit too much ... they would even me wake me up ... I would sleep on my sofa and out of my bedroom until I got the population back under control.)  It would help if you taught her what "no bark" means, of course, but to be honest I never did this and it worked anyway.  She knew I was cross and she why.

I expect Molly is smelling a fox, badger or some other animal wandering around outside.  She does not need to see it to know it's there.

Stacey