Hi i was wandering if anyone could give me some advice i have a 9month old gsd who barks during the day to let me know if there is someone about but at night she barks at nothing just for the sake of it .it is driving me mad as my other dogs dont bark for the sake of it.

It probably isnt nothing, their ears are a bit better than ours, but its probably not worth knowing about! mine barks at night if he hears a fox or something, the only way i can stop him is by having him in a room where is isnt close to me so doesnt feel he is "guarding" and where he cant look out into the garden and wind himself up. also i find just saying quietly "ok settle down" in a relaxed way takes the edge of  it gradually . as time goes by i hope he will decide its not worth bothering about as we are not bothered. its so annoying when you need 10 hours sleep like me.

I don't think any dog barks for nothing although the causes can range from being bored to something really worth barking about! I know my dog is rather like morgan's in that he hears foxes and other small furry animals rootling about outside and will leap up from a snooze and stand at the window barking into what seems to be the darkest and quietest of nights. I know he is actually hearing something that my ears aren't sensitive enough to pick up but I've always just told him to settle down and if he doesn't I'll just divert him with something else.

I myself have GSD's, one of which is a fully trained working dog and the youngest a bitch of 16mths whose in training.. i recently had the same problem with the bitch,i found at around the same time every night  give or take 10/15mins she would really kick off, what i thought was for no reason..this went on 4 about 2weeks i use to check outside, couldnt see no-one...so i just ignored her, i never once told her off for it though..i then recently found out it was one of the neighbours coming in from work,so as previous posts have said, u may not think there is anyone/anything out there but she obviously knows better..all i do with mine now when she barks is tell her shes a good girl and thank u 4 letting me know..thats normally enough to get her to be quiet now.

Good luck with her 4 the future

Nicci

We use the word 'enough'. When she barked, and then stopped, we would quickly say 'enough', and now she knows enough means when she isn't barking, so when she barks at the door or at what I think is nothing, i don't tell her off, I let her bark a couple of times and then I say enoough and she stops. She is six months old and learned this very quickly!