Hi All,

Nando my GSD pup is nearly at 7 months now. (It seems like he's been 6 months forever.. turns out I'd got mixed up and added a month to his age.. woops.)

We live in a semi-detached house and Nando's crate is in the conservatory. The reason it's in the conservatory is because this is sort of 'his room'- the crate is huge (to a house a GSD it has to be!) and it literally won't fit anywhere else in the house. He will go in his crate 'on command' almost. If I have a treat or his toy, and say 'Go to bed' he will run to his blanket, and after that he runs into the crate... which he can open by himself with his paws LOL. He goes in there of his own accord most of the time and will sleep through the night until about 7am.

Recently, he found what I like to call his 'big boy bark' and when something catches his attention that he thinks he should be scaring away, he will unleash the deep 'big boy bark.' The last few nights, throughout the night, certain things must be waking him up as he is doing his 'big boy bark'. (A deep bark in quick succession.)

The barking like this has coincided with the colder weather, so we are going to start leaving the heating on in the conservatory as it does get a bit nippy in there.

Could the cold weather be causing him to bark? I was thinking it is more likely that he is being woken in the night, and then noticing different noises that he feels we should know about! What should my reaction to this barking be? I feel as though I may be reinforcing it by going downstairs to see what is wrong when he is doing the barking, but it is loud enough to wake the whole street and I feel I may reinforce some kind of fear in him if I let him keep barking. 

The past week or so, I've just brought my quilt down and slept on the couch with him on the floor as soon as it has started.

Josh

> The past week or so, I've just brought my quilt down and slept on the couch with him on the floor as soon as it has started.
>

I think that would be more reinforcing than simply coming down stairs, checking out things, settling Nando  then going back to bed. This way, he'll know he can 'call' you if needed, but if all's well you're off back to bed, rather than keeping him company.

Buster is not a very vocal breed. The fist time he ever barked in the night, he was about 3 years old. It was a 'big boy' bark - it was a singal BOOM of bark. It was nothing like his demanding/attention seeking bark (woof, I want to play/woof get me a biscuit), it sounded like he meant business, I shot down the stairs with my heart in my mouth thinking there must be an intruder. Buster was standing in the livingroom looking very macho, but then I discovered what he had 'called' me for - my sons school bag was on the stairs, it had tipped over and fell down a few steps. I put it back, told Bust to get to his bed and went back to bed myself.

He's done similar on another 1 or 2 occasions, now I think this particualr bark is in fact a "Mum! This aint right - come and sort it out" sort of bark, LOL.

As for causes, hmmm? Feeling a bit chilly may be waking him up, or it may be an age thing. I'm sure others will have some better ideas for you.

It is most likely to be wildlife he can see or hear. 

Are you able to cover the windows or crate, and leave a radio on quietly so eh isn't alerted to external sounds/sights.

Thank you for both of your replies. I did feel as though I was reinforcing the behaviour, but as soon as I get back to bed upstairs he starts the big-boy barking again, even though on investigation I can't actually see/hear anything. Occasionally there has been a light on in a house that backs on to ours, and sometimes I can hear their dog barking, too. But I get the feeling Nando started the barking and the other dog is just replying. We don't get much wildlife in our garden as we live in a fairly urban area. Perhaps I ought to leave a webcam in the conservatory to see if I can catch something on film and get a definite answer.

I get the feeling I will just have to keep coming down and settling him until he realises there's nothing to worry about... a sleepless week ahead for me I think!

I am going to try putting an old bed sheet over his crate will help. If it does I will buy him a proper fitted cover for it, or get my aunt to make one as she is quite good with the sewing machine. I will also leave the radio on for him, too.

Dexter my 9 month old GSD will do this,but only in the evening, 3 other GSD's do not even move but occasionaly he will race to the back door barking in his big boy voice.OH will always go check but nothing can be seen /heard .I think its the fox'es that live in woods behind our house looking for left out bones.That my dogs have had during the day.Perhaps that is what Nando is hearing .I would'nt sleep down stairs with him I think he would then bark for the company,plus I like my bed to much !!!

> We don't get much wildlife in our garden as we live in a fairly urban area.

You'd be surprised I am in an urban area and we get foxes, hedgehogs, mice (and have seen a rat on occasion, yuk), squirrels, then of course all the birdlife.

We also have seen Badgers on the old railway line near us, and we have seen them killed by cars on our road.

If you have a neighbour with security lights then birds are often disturbed.

When your conservatory cools down overnight it will creak and groan - most do!  They also aren't very warm so I'd suggest, as someone else has done, that you put a blanket over the entire crate to keep the temperature more stable (leave an air gap at the bottom on one side though as it can get a bit stuffy.

The blanket will also have the benefit of keeping his view obscured as he may well be bothered by wildlife.  You probably have pigeons that will land on your roof and most dogs find them really annoying!!

If it gets really cold then maybe bring his crate into the house overnight during the winter.  It's not ideal but at least they are reasonably easy to fold down and move each morning to put it back in the conservatory.  You could also try using a baby monitor, in reverse, so that you can shush him or talk to him without getting out of bed.

My girls sleep in the conservatory as well and occasionally give a warning bark during the night. Unless they all start and continue I just shout down the stairs for them to settle and they do.  I do not go down unless the barking is insistant. I would be more tempted to just go to the door and say "Quiet Nando" and wait for him to stop then go back to bed. He will soon realize you are not coming in to him and will settle quicker. Try to teach him the "quiet" command during the day in your training sessions. Teach a bark on command and then a "Quiet" Once he knows what it means you will be able to settle him at night. Obviously if it is a prolonged barking then you need to make sure there is not a problem.
I would be doubtfull if a GSD needed heating on at night he has a good thick coat to keep him warm and unless the temp drops below zero would think he can keep hiself warm. I would also be a little concerned at covering his crate as he needs plenty of ventilation around it. A GSD is expected to work in all weathers and should have the coat to deal with a drop in temp. My girls do not have heating on at all but have thier beds and a couple of rugs on the floor and they are fine. (BMD'S).
I expect he will improve with age anyway at the moment he is just a baby and may well be spooking at the slightest noise. I would try the radio as well. Maybe cover the side of the cage that looks out over the garden. Personally once the worst of the mental chewing is over my girls are not caged at all. (I use a puppy pen not a cage anyway) I really only contain then untill they have stopped ragging the older ones.
Aileen

Hi ;osh I was going to say foxes or cats but almost anything can st them off and I can rarely see anything. I usually ignore the first coouple of barks and usually mine. Settle again quite quickly. .ia is the only one downstairs and as long as I know everything is ok again I ignorem in your situation I would cover the crate and old towel might do it or two then ignore him unless its obvious he is really bothered by someting. Then - would go do and e assure him and you and go bAack to bedm he might also be slightly bemused by his own bark in the quiet of the night. Are you intending to have him sleeping out of the crate and with you at ny time ? (Mum and Dad willing

> The barking like this has coincided with the colder weather, so we are going to start leaving the heating on in the conservatory as it does get a bit nippy in there.
>
> Could the cold weather be causing him to bark?

Definately.  Conservatories can get bitterly cold at night.
Rather than waste energy I would be looking to get the majority of this huge crate rugged over to make it a lot cosier or swop it for something smaller that will fit in the house somewhere.

> I would also be a little concerned at covering his crate as he needs plenty of ventilation around it.

As long as there is sufficient oxygen getting in I am not sure they do need ventilation all round.  There would not be a lot of that in a naturally dug out den would there? :)

Thanks again for all your replies. I do eventually intend to have him just sleep in the livingroom in a dogbed or similar, but I'm not sure I could trust him not to chew or knick stuff off the counters just yet (We have an adjoining kitchen/living room) so that is why he is still crated. He couldn't really fit in the next-size down crate as he is the type of dog who sprawls himself out to go to sleep!

I would ideally have him sleeping on my bedroom floor but current living situation doesn't allow it!

Like last paragraph ! Yes mine sprawl out when really sleeping too and wander around to get the best guarding position usually in whispas case at the top of the stairs brooke under the bed lol

My dog really feels the cold so she has a deep sided fleecy bed inside the crate & the crate itself is completely covered.  If you are worried about how cold or hot it is where your dog sleeps you could use a max/min thermometer (quite cheap from a garden centre) this will tell you just how cold (or how hot) it has got overnight.   It certainly put my mind at rest.

I would be doubtfull if a GSD needed heating on at night he has a good thick coat to keep him warm and unless the temp drops below zero would think he can keep hiself warm. I would also be a little concerned at covering his crate as he needs plenty of ventilation around it. A GSD is expected to work in all weathers and should have the coat to deal with a drop in temp.

Guess the important thing here is that Nando is being contained which prevents him from moving around and keeping warm.  Some covering on his cage would probably be helpful.

I think the guarding bark is partly due to him growing up and the hormones kicking in but he needs to understand you're the pack leader and although its the right thing to alert you, once you've acknowledged it, he stops!

My shepherd responds quite well to 'Enough!'  Teach him a command that lets him know he's done his job.  He'll pick it up quick!

HTH.

Just got back from the feed shop as I needed to pick up some food for Nando and came out having spent far too much on some new bedding for him. He's got a nice dog bed for the living room which he is fast asleep on now, and a doggy mattress for his crate too. I'm going to donate my old duvet cover to him hoping that the smell of me will help him settle a little bit more, too. The bloke I was speaking to who works at the feed shop had the same problem with his young dobe and used (what sounded like.. he didn't give me a name of it) DAP spray on his bedding for a month or so.
Does he have a good idea or do you think he was overreacting slightly? I have to say I'm not really contemplating it, I'd much rather tackle it behaviourally before using the DAP spray stuff.

Dap is fine you could try the collar. Just watch he doesnt decide to chew your duvet the filling is not good

He's only got the cover, not the actual duvet as I do worry about the consequences of chewing bedding! I will look into the collar.. Would he wear it constantly or just before bedtime?

I agree about the bedding if he is that way inclined. I have used duvets folded and inside a cover in the past but was very sure my dog wesnt a chewer. As for the collar he would wear it all the time not sure if dtime alone would be enoughbut I would experiment. Also you canbuy cheaper online