Hi My girl has been very unsettled at night. She sleeps in the bedroom next to ours. She has a comfy futon & blankets. Every night she wakes me up by sitting outside my door & squeaking..sometimes she wants to go out other times just to see if I'm there! I have tried ignoring her, shouting at her & just letting her out without saying anything. This has been happening for the last couple of weeks. I have been making her wear a magnetic collar all of the time & wondered whether it was that. Does any of you have this problem?

What time of night do you feed her? Maybe just before bedtime might help? She might then settle down to digest her dinner and not need to be taken out til the morning.

Hi I've tried giving her meals at different times. Sometimes she doesn't eat her tea. I feel sometimes that the early morning romps are her hunting instinct kicking in. It is however something that I can put up with but wondered whether anyone else had this prob with their dogs. esp Gsps or HPR dogs?

How old is she? (sorry, you didn't say!).

Many dogs prefer one meal a day... preferably in the evening. If you are using treats as part of your training regime then this isn't such a bad thing. My own dog decided he really did not want to eat breakfast at about 9 mths and I have kept up with that, acknowledging it helped both of us to do so. We were well into our training by then so it wasn't rocket surgery to realise he actually enjoyed working for food during the day! With a proper dinner later on of course.

Providing she is 6 months old or over, have you thought about giving no breakfast, or a very small breakfast... but in the main, letting her be most hungry in the evening. Then when you do give her her main meal, she will be more likely to settle for the night.

> This has been happening for the last couple of weeks.

So is this is a completely new behaviour then, has it ever happened before?  I have a terrier type mongrel and an HPR but both have an established night time routine that seems pretty undisturbed most of the time.  My mongrel will bark at night after he's had a holiday at Grandma's - but that's because she lets him sleep in her room!  He usually needs a few days to settle back in here.  Have you or she been away from home recently?

Other common reasons for night time disturbance are external noises (car doors, foxes, footsteps on gravel etc) and internal noises (alarm clocks, boiler cutting in, radiators ticking etc).  Does your girl wake you at a regular time each night?  If so, it's likely to be noise.  Double check what time your boiler comes on or set your alarm to a similar time to see of you can hear something new.  If you ignore her completely, what happens?

If it's noise then try to minimise the sound, or her ability to hear it (shut windows, give her a covered den to sleep in).  If it's toilet then try and make sure she goes properly before bed or just check she doesn't have a problem that requires her to go more often.  The weather lately may have an impact, some dogs don't enjoy peeing in the rain so don't go properly and the wind and rain have been particularly noisy overnight.  If none of that works, and her barking continues to be a problem you could try using a baby gate so she can see you are still there.

Finally what is the magnetic collar for - is there an underlying problem that may be causing her night time waking?  If it's pain related she may just be waking up a bit stiff and cold.  Could be worth reviewing her pain medication and the type of bed she uses.  HTH :)

Hi dogs a babe,
Thankyou for your input on this subject.
I've taken on what you have said, I can elimate the noise, so looked into how & when I was feeding her.. She is 8 years old & always has been a bit of a wanderer in the night but never use to make us get up to let her out! I have been overfeeding her & giving her the last meal at about 2pm...hence need for "toilet" in the middle of the night!!!   The last 3 days I have cut down the titbits & feeding her at 5pm..AND the last 3 nights she has not disturbed us ...Hopefully this has resolved the matter..
It's strange but I didn't realise what I was doing until you mentioned it..so that made me think.
I use the magnetic collar on her because she was showing signs of stiffness in her back legs. I don't want to go down the road of painkillers & vet visits,and fortunatelysince wearing this collar she seems to be back to normal.
She may get a bit cold in the night because she loves being completely covered up with her blanket and when she turns she gets a bit uncovered. She is a pampered pet, I'm thinking of making her a fleece coat that she can wear in the night!!!! He He
Thanks once again for your help.
Liz