Dogs early morning barking.

Mr Teeny

Hey all,
My 13 year old Pomeranian cross has developed a nasty little habit recently so just looking for a bit of advice.

He’s at the age now where he sleeps a good 20 hours a day. He’ll still act like a puppy at times but he has arthritis and a few other problems that come with being an older doggy, so he loves his sleep.

He has slept out back since he was a puppy (I know some people wouldn’t let their dog sleep outdoors, but he is in his warm kennel, which is inside an insulated shed, with a dog door for access to the garden whenever he needs it , so he’s a happy camper) and his routine has always been the same. We usually let him into the house around 7.30 / 8 am and he goes straight back to sleep in the sittingroom. But in the last month or so he has started waking up at between 5 and 5.30, coming to the back door and barking like mad until we let him in.

At first I thought it might be him barking at the birds making noise or the neighbour’s cat but it’s not his “someone’s in my garden” bark, it’s his “open the feckin door NOW” one! The first few times I stupidly went down and opened up the door, he instantly stopped, gave my leg his usual “mornin” headbutt and went in for a snooze. And that was it, new routine reinforced... “all I need to do is bark and he’ll come let me in”.

It’s now an everyday occurrence. The last few days I’ve tried to break the habit by going down and putting him back in his bed. He just follows me back to the house but after 10 or 15 tries he usually relents and goes back to sleep. Works but can’t be doing that every morning!

One or two mornings I tried to just ignore him but he was still going after half an hour and my neighbours have small kids so can’t have him going mental at that hour.

Really no idea what to do with him!?

Has anyone any similar experiences or any advice on how to break this habit?

Thanks all

littlelady

maybe with his old age hes starting to appreciate his home comforts a lot more & just wants to be inside the house with the rest of the family!

Outkast_IRE

small spray of water from a little spray bottle or squirt gun every time he barks at that hour he might get the message quickly

peasant

littlelady wrote: »

maybe with his old age hes starting to appreciate his home comforts a lot more

and the time just before dawn is usually the coldest.

with him already suffering from arthritis, it might be a good idea to move his bed inside permanently before the winter comes

Mr Teeny

littlelady wrote: »

maybe with his old age hes starting to appreciate his home comforts a lot more & just wants to be inside the house with the rest of the family!

peasant wrote: »

and the time just before dawn is usually the coldest.

with him already suffering from arthritis, it might be a good idea to move his bed inside permanently before the winter comes

I was worried about that myself. Last winter we moved him into the kitchen but it didn't go great. Back door is all glass so no scope for a dog flap. He had the place destroyed with wee so we had to block off a section of the kitchen with garden trellis stuff and just put down lots off paper every night. It was roughly half the kitchen so he had tons of room to run around but he didn't take well to being blocked in. Also didn't like pooing indoors so would wake us at all hours to get outside.

So this summer I made a big effort to fully insulate his kennel and the shed. It's really snug in there (would sleep there myself if I was stuck :P) but it could be he just gets up to wee and because it's so cold out, decides to come in instead of going back to bed. But when he was in he was barking to get out.

It's hard to know what to do with him, just want him to be as comfortable as possible.

joyce2009

there are dog flaps that you can get for patio doors as far as i know,,,any good pet shop should help you out with it,,,best of luck with it all:)

golden

There is a reason why he barks now and not before you will have to find out why.

Since your dog has arthritis he/she should be in a warm draught free environment is the most important thing. My last dog a golden retriever had arthritis at the age of 2 and was on medication all his life (yes we did mention this to the breeder hoping that they would not use the bitch again for breeding) he was given injections when he was really in bad pain and also was on glucosomine chondroitin (spelling) you should really go to a vet to see what medication is right for your dog.

I also had a cocker when he got old used to bark at nothing he was not in any pain whatsoever he got senile dementia.