Hi.....this is a strange one I think......

For the past two nights my dog will not sleep....he is up barking and whining and scratching doors and rattling the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs.......
The first night I thought he wanted the loo so got up and let him back outside...he just stands there in the garden doing nothing.....and is very reluctant to go back in the house....
The same thing happened last night ....just to make sure it wasn't a toilet thing I let him out again an hour or so after going to bed.....

I am making sure I do not talk to him when i go down...just in case it's an attention thing...but why is he doing this

Through the day he seems fine nothing obvious that would make me think he is ill at all just the occasional whine....

Does anybody have any ideas?

hi. what age is the dog? it is comming up to breeding season for dogs. has your neighbour got a bitch in heat?

Hi ....he is ten.......my neighbour has dogs, but none in season that i know of?!

i would just ask to be sure you might find that one may be on heat. and also to be on the safe side i would visit your vet. this kind of behaviour would be typical of a puppie but a ten year old no. there must be some sort of logical explaination. maybe he is just lonely also. i would guess that the dogs are on heat or that there is something medical. so y not check so that these can be ruled out.

Our old standard poodle Becky started paddling round the bedroom, we would let her out and she would go up the garden and just wander about, and not know where she was.  I used to have to go up the garden looking for her.  She now sleeps with her son and grandson in the kitchen, so if she decides to go walkabout it doesn't disturb us.

We think it is some sort of dementia, she's 15 1/2 and still going strong, but in a world of her own.; sometimes just gazing into space.  We are pretty sure she is deaf bless her but she does very well, and is always there with the others at dinner time.

Hi....I've had a week or so without any repeat behaviour and then last night it started again....went on from 1am till about 4am.....he seems totally healthy through the day.....which is whey i'm reluctant to take him to the vets....one thing I didn't mention was that....on the 02/04/05 one of our dogs was rehomed (she was fighting with the old one badly....a long story)  I have another dog beside the old one still remaining so there are two.....Does anybody think this behaviour could be somekind of delayed reaction to her leaving or not.....

It could possibly be that? But it could still be any number of things, if you cant quite work out what is wrong i suggest going through all the likely possibilities to eradicate each one. At 10 yrs you want your dog to be happy and content, does he sleep by himself? I would advise taking him to a vet to make sure there is no medical reasons. he could be suffering with a little arthritis or achy joints, is he warm enough? Has he got water or could be constipated? Best way is a trip to vets possibly followed by speaking with a behaviourist? It could even be something as small as a fox about of late making noises and he just wants to let you know.
Good luck, hope all will turn out well.

Xena, maybe he is just pinning for the other dog  who has left. We tend to dwell on things more of a night when it's quiet, maybe animals do the same.