Hi
can anyone help!?
i have a 5 month old bullmastiff pup and up until about 2 weeks ago she has been fine, altho sometimes she does wee and poo in the house if left alone for a few hours !
Anyway , lately she has been acting very strange of a evening , she will go outside and sit in the shed on her own for like an hour at a time!
Then she will come to the back door but wont want to come in , whereas she used to be in and sitting with us all night??!
She will lay outside in the cold as if she has been told off (she hasnt!)
I really dont know what to do , no matter how much i call her she wont come in and by OH calls her too and she will just sit in the dark at the end of the garden!!?
My OH says its because we have the heating on now and she might be too hot but i can only think that this started after me and my OH had a big row a few weeks ago with alot of shouting and she may have been scared , she is quite sensitive to raised voices now?!
Could this be it?!
Is there anything i can do or should i just let her get on with it??!


PLEASE HELP!?

It may well be because of the heating. It may also be the start of her hormones kicking in and is having time out to be a teenager :) Moose my eldest Lab sometime goes and lies down outside for no apparent reason and in all weather and just leave her to get on with it. Normally the word dinner gets her inside :D

Ahhhhh...That's so sweet, a teenage Bull Mastiff :)

So i should just let her get on with it then?!
Stroppy teenagers!! LOL

:-)

I would, if she is happy enough to come when you call her with food then she is probably fine :D, Bramble(Bernese) often lies outside or in our hall when the house is too hot for her. (Bad enough with human teens without doggy ones too !! LOL )

My youngest bichon boy sits outside all evening too, the others are indoors stretched out on the sofa, but Oscar prefers to be outside on the cold step all evening! I think its because of the heating (he has the most coat). But I think he'd be out there even if it was cool indoors actually!! :D :D

Just a thought..will she come in if one of you is alone? , I think she has been spooked by something and the argument may be the key.
I would start from scratch as if I had just brought her home from the breeder dont react if she is showing signs of being frightened best thing you can do is ignore it the more you fuss the worse she will be.
If you are  spending half the day/evening trying to get her to come in the house you are making a point of it.
this is not my breed and I am not a trainer  I dont have a understanding of them ,but if it was my dog I would be playing games with her do a little bit of sit ,  down etc give her lots of treats for being sociable nothing when she wants time on her own.
My dogs like to sit outside occasionally during the cold weather nothing odd about that but the sitting at the back of the garden not wanting to come near you would tell me something is worrying her.
If one of my dogs has been naughty and I shout they disperse to different places and I usually dont see them for a while until they think in thier silly heads its safe to return.
This sounds similar to me only your puppy being so young is a little confused.

No , if either of us go to the door to let her in if she is by the back door, she just wont come in ,  she sits out there with her ears down like as if we have told her off!!! ....we have shut the shed now so she doesnt go in there anymore but she will just sit up the end of the garden in the dark on her own!!!
And its all seems to have been since we had that row i keep thinking!
altho like i said my OH thinks she gets too hot??!!

i will try the starting from scratch bit though , worth a go!!
thanks for the info!!

Well, there is one way to find out whether it is the heating or the argument, turn your heating off, put some wooly jumpers on, and see whether she still goes outside, if so you know she has been badly upset by your rowing. (And in future don't do it infront of the kids :-D)

Do as Starryeyes has suggested and re-start getting her confidence back, she is only 5 months so perhaps a little young for teenage stubborn strops though also not my breed, but I would think they are slower rather than faster to mature.

If it is the heat then re-open the shed for a little warmer ground for her, many breeds like to be outside.

Just as an afterthought to cover all bases, is it only in the evenings she is choosing to sit alone? If she is like it at other times too, perhaps a vet check is needed she may even be in some sort of pain.

Yes it is just in the evenings !!
She just sits outside the back door and wont come in!

Last night i tried getting her in with some treats and a exciting high pitched voice and it worked , she came in and layed on the sofa like usual!

But the heating is going off 2nite so i will report back!!

havent got a clue what if might be if it is not the heating , all i can think of is it is the row we had !!

Strange !!

Is there anything in the garden that may be attracting her attention
Its just a thought but there maybe something under the shed she has taken a fancy to such as a hedgehog or even a rat nest or enen a cat lurking about.
She needs to be coming inside soon before the fireworks all start to kick of really.

I wish my Dobe would go out all evening and I could have some peace! I'll start a row with the OH and leave the shed door open :)

You worry to much :)