dog barking at night

I wish you could see my darling little dog right now - she is laying on cushion right beside me snoozing happily. Her spoilt? Well, yes I guess so but she brings us so much pleasure - and she does sleep downstairs at night!

There is a big difference between farm or small holding type dogs and domesticated pets. My farming pals have dogs that live outside, they have warm shelter with beds in barns or stables. My neighbours who live in an ordinary urban street like mine have working gun dogs. The dogs live in a run with a waterproof shelter at the bottom of their suburban garden. The dogs are very happy, extremely well behaved and trained. My two domestic pet dogs sleep in the kitchen area. I have friends whose dogs sleep on the humans beds. I draw the line at that but each to their own.

"Adam Henson's (Countryfile) sheep dogs are kept in a barn."
That's where most people here keep their dogs. We could also do that, but it probably works best with a group of dogs, as they're sociable with their own kind.
What I don't like here is that some keep their dogs chained up.
But TG our Uddi has adapted to sleeping mostly in our room, up and downstairs now and again, so all doors open.

Adam Henson's (Countryfile) sheep dogs are kept in a barn.

Blind or deaf dogs do bark more, they can’t see or hear so are warning off potential threats by letting them know they are ‘on the case’.
Going outside to bark, or even barking from within the house, or barking for a while before eating their food all fulfills this need.

?The truth is out there DanniRae but it’s ok, I have my trusty tin hat on.
Dogs are not our children, no matter how much they are treated that way, they always remain dogs.
There should be shelter provided ( and there was, in this case.)

Oh lemongrove I suggest you 'duck down behind the sofa asap' - BUT very brave of you!!

Some OTT posts on here in answer to TriciaF there is nothing wrong with a dog sleeping in a chicken run.Stop treating dogs as if they are humans!

We have found the best thing with our dog when fireworks are going off is to turn the radio on loudly in the next room and have the tv on loud as well. As I think I have already said she doesn't want to hide but go out and bark. Then she runs up to us in a state as if to say "Why aren't you doing anything, there is danger!"

The old blind deaf dog issue - well if the dog is deaf it won't hear the fireworks or thunderstorms. Mum had an elderly dog who'd learned to bark to let her know someone was at the door, or the phone was ringing (she was deaf). The dog began to enjoy barking, we suspected as relief for the level of anxiety he carried about mum. After she died, he spent a couple of years being cared for by another family member, his anxious barking stopped.
Helping dogs cope with fireworks involves - if your dog is crate trained, cover the crate with something that blocks out the light, leave the radio on. Make sure your dog can't get out when fireworks are around, it is likely to run out of fear. Don't make a fuss of the dog or it'll feel even more anxious, oh no, my person is terrified as well. There are CDs or sounds on the internet you can down load with firework noises. You start weeks before fireworks are likely to be an issue, you play the sounds very quietly, gradually increasing them. It desensitises the dog. I have a young dog who is a tad sensitive to noise or other scary things. He now sleeps through fireworks with no probs.

Ours is terrified of thunderstorms too, and senses them at least an hour before they arrive. We always give her somewhere to hide.
When she was young we lived near a village where they let off fireworks on festive days. Once she disappeared during the bangs - I thought we'd lost her. But in the morning there she was trotting back up the lane home. She must have hidden under a hedge.
I think we need a dog psychologist on here. Not me, I've only had this one dog.

Our little dog sleeps downstairs BUT if there is a thunder storm in the middle of the night we bring her upstairs to sleep with us. However, she doesn't want to sleep on the floor beside us or at the end of the bed - she gets right in the bed. This is not ideal and I am glad it doesn't happen very often but we couldn't leave her on her own as we know she is terrified.

I had an old, blind spaniel who didn't know day from night and used to bark throughout by he night. The vet gave her Valium, which didn't help. I found it exhausting (and I was a lot younger then).

Now you've started something Tricia! They might sleep at the side of the bed now but you wait and see. Sometimes it seems like we are trying to sleep on the Serengeti Plain when our 3 cats settle on the bed! (I am glad you have found a solution to stop her barking).

Thanks Telly - I think now that's always been the reason with our bc. She doesn't like being on her own and needs our company.
Now our Kat (aged ?12) has joined her at the side of our bed.

Our small JRx was a pain in the neck at night, or rather first light whenever that happened to be. We decided to try letting her sleep in our room - brilliant idea - should have done it from the off with a dog like her. She stays put until we want to get up and is quite happy and relaxed. Worked for us.

I don't want to prolong this thread, just to say that thinking more about it, perhaps we all have a touch of dementia starting in our house ( husband, me and dog. ) Old Age .
I've always been outspoken, try to curb it, but I think I'm getting moreso now.
BTW she doesn't bark so much now TG.
And I've handed over the care of the chickens to husband.

dannirae thats so funny ani gets all puffed up and protective with fireworks she growls tho.i think its -she knows it makes me angry.we have alot of veterans around here and all the fireworks are just loud booms and i know it triggers ptsd in the old soldiers and the young ones too..dh called them pissing contests(whos the bigger man)

name is funny but not like you think.it is the name of(acronym actually)a computer technology. one wolf was rook(ragnarok)he was pure white
now have english staffy and her name is ani(ahh knee) short for animoosh which means dog.everyone calls her annie.
my english pup lives in florida with a canadian indian namelike my furs to have strong or at least unusual strong names.
hope Uddi is happy.when i got ani she was 9 wks old and i didnt want her afraid so would cuddle her on the deck during the spring storms.i think its more of a comfort thing for her.
rook was terrified(178lbs of terrified)but he was next to a tree that got lightening struck when he was tiny,lost his hearing for 2 days. they know when the air pressure changes.both cats and even ani who is young knew when the hurricane was coming they"velcro'd" themselves to me 24 hours before it got here.

My little dog hates thunder storms but doesn't want to hide, she wants to go in the garden and BARK. She is the same with bl**dy fireworks - and pretty soon we have that to go through all that again!!

mimiro -I can identify with that
Our little Uddi (funny name I know) is much more at home outside.
And a few times, suffering from insomnia myself, I've sat outside with her in the middle of the night, looking at the stars.
She's doesn't like storms though. She can tell the approach of a storm about an hour before it arrives, and finds somewhere to hide.

i wasnt being cruel when i said if she likes it out there why not.long haired dogs sometimes prefer to be outside as they get older/both my wolves spent more and more time outside as they aged.i would go hang out with them when the insomnia was full blown.
had some nice nights leaning on each other watching the stars.but they would stay out even with the option to come in.the one i have now only likes to go out when there are thunderstorms- she sits on a chair under a covered deck.
first one i ever had not afraid of thunder to some extent.

Thanks, Bluegal.
I admit I've been upset by some of the replies.

Hi TriciaF - I guess a lot of us are just plain dog daft! It all depends what your dog has been used to. If she had always slept in a chicken run then I wouldn't see any harm in it, however, if she has never done this before then to send her there now at such an old age could be cruel as she will not understand why she is being abandoned and may even see it as a type of punishment.

As she is so old, I think I would rather make her as comfortable as possible, where she knows, even if it means getting up a couple of times in the night?

FWIW my 3 year old often barks for no apparent reason during the night! He obviously hears something and is warning us but its mighty annoying! I wouldn't put him outside though but am in chilly UK and have neighbours so its not really an option anyway.

I am sure you will sort it to suit you all.

This thread has opened my eyes to some of the changes of attitudes towards animals recently.
She's a frisky, 15 yr old dog in good health, for goodness sake. Not a decrepit Granny of 100 with dementia. TG.
Maybe some of you grew up in a different generation from me. (I'm 81.) I might sound a bit hard, but we had to be tough to survive the hardships we experienced