# 6 month old Sheltie barks for hours at night



## THansenite (Feb 14, 2012)

My wife and I have a Sheltie pup that is almost 6 months old. As a puppy, I had taken him outside before bed, once around 2-3AM, then again in the morning. Gradually, he could hold it all night, slept soundly in his kennel (after 10-15 minutes of barking right when we put him in), and all was well in our household. 

A week and a half ago, he got neutered and had to live with an e-collar. He was ok for the first few nights, but then started whining 2-3 times a night to go outside. He would sprinkle out a few drops, then be ready to go back inside. I would immediately put him back in the kennel and he would bark for a few minutes, then go to sleep. 

His e-collar is now off, but he still barks several times a night. I know that he doesn't really need to go out because he barely gets a few drops out, I think he just wants out of his kennel. I've been trying to ignore him when he barks in hopes that he'll give up and go to sleep. It hasn't worked.

Last night, he started barking at 1:30AM and was still going at 4:00AM. Neither my wife nor myself would get any sleep so (I know this is wrong), but we brought him to bed with us and he went right to sleep. 

He has a kong with treats inside, but he loses interest in it. This afternoon I picked up an "Everlasting Treat Ball" in hopes that may work tonight, but can anyone offer any other suggestions? I love my puppy, but him turning me into a zombie during the day is making me an unhappy owner.


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## Gally (Jan 11, 2012)

Is his kennel in your bedroom? If it isn't he might sleep easier being near you. 

Alternatively, if you and your wife are okay with it and the pup is potty trained there's nothing "wrong" with having him sleep in bed with you. It's more personal preference really but I advise to pick one or the other or he may be a bit confused if he has to sleep in his kennel some nights.


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## Bordermom (Apr 28, 2010)

Shelties that bark? Really? LOL

First off, increase the activity during the day. Less napping, more busy stuff. That doesn't mean marathon walks or jogging, he's too young for that, but do more frequent walks, some off leash romps and short training sessions. If you see him napping, get out some treats and do a bit with him then let him be. The idea being to make him tired and wanting to sleep at night. That's half the battle, if he's crated while you're at work for example and getting a great sleep then, he's not going to want to sleep at night so much.

Then, don't take him in bed with you unless that's what you want long term. You already did once, so he's learned that barking means he's going to get to sleep in bed with you. If that's not what you want, then change it. You can ignore his barking and hope he gives up eventually (I've heard of some people putting the dog in the basement to muffle the barking and going that route). You can try rewarding him for being quiet by not letting him out or giving him treats till he does stop, or you can give a less favorable response to the barking. My golden is a horrible barker at times, if she's in the indoor/outdoor dog run and bored, and figures she should get something, she'll bark and bark and bark. So, often I'll go let one of the other dogs into the house when she does that. Or I'll just take her and put her in a crate. She has had a barking collar on at times because she's quite persistant about it too, but she's on the extreme end of the hard core barking (or was, now she's not too bad most of the time). You could also assume he finds the air too dry and would like to be misted and that's why he barks (oh, you barked, let me mist you with a spray bottle!). 

Hang in there, part of the breed, but you can get past it.


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## THansenite (Feb 14, 2012)

Gally said:


> Is his kennel in your bedroom? If it isn't he might sleep easier being near you.
> 
> Alternatively, if you and your wife are okay with it and the pup is potty trained there's nothing "wrong" with having him sleep in bed with you. It's more personal preference really but I advise to pick one or the other or he may be a bit confused if he has to sleep in his kennel some nights.


Thanks for the quick response. We do keep him in the bedroom with us. We didn't want to get into the habbit of letting him sleep in the bed with us. Last night was the first time he ever spent a portion of the night in the bed with us. He is usually up there before we go to bed and after he goes potty in the morning, but he should know by now that the kennel is where he spends his nights.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Is there a reason he can't be at least in the bedroom with you? You don't have to allow your dog to sleep on the bed (personally, I love it!), but what about a nice little bed on the floor next to your bed? Both of my dogs would be (have been) terribly upset to have to sleep all night separated from people and neither one has interrupted my sleep unless necessary.


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## THansenite (Feb 14, 2012)

Bordermom said:


> Shelties that bark? Really? LOL
> 
> First off, increase the activity during the day. Less napping, more busy stuff. That doesn't mean marathon walks or jogging, he's too young for that, but do more frequent walks, some off leash romps and short training sessions. If you see him napping, get out some treats and do a bit with him then let him be. The idea being to make him tired and wanting to sleep at night. That's half the battle, if he's crated while you're at work for example and getting a great sleep then, he's not going to want to sleep at night so much.
> 
> ...


Yea, I know shelties are notorious barkers (had several as a kid), but it just strikes me as odd that he started barking like this out of the blue. We don't want him to sleep with us long term, we just had to get sleep last night. Tonight, my little sister is going to be staying with us so I want to keep him quiet again. I'll have to try to wear him out this afternoon/evening so that he can hopefully sleep through the night.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

You know, he had surgery a week and a half ago. That tends to throw your routine out the window. He probably did a lot more sleeping after surgery, and wasn't very active. Now, he is probably a bit anxious, all that energy that he built up is ready to be released!  He probably isn't content to sleep by himself all night as he has been doing plenty of sleeping (in his opinion).
So, he wakes up, and isn't satisfied just going back to sleep. He barks. And, barks. He gets let out to try to pee, which isn't really the issue. But, it is still giving him some attention and something to do.

In my opinion, if you go back to your schedule, and ignore the barking a few more days, he will probably get back to the routine. Try the treat ball or stuffed kong, in the meantime, so you can at least try to get some sleep!


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