how can i stop my 4mnth old dachshund barking at night!!

[kinkyklee]

hi we have had our puppy for around 10 weeks now we have been strict with his bedtime routine,and he goes off to bed fine (we dint have many probs)but hubby is finding he is waking up to our puppy barking which i dont tend to notice,but he is getting anxious about this..olly our pup sleeps in our utility room which we shut the door and another and another (3 doors r shut) before we reach our bedroom,so hes quite a distant from us in our bedroom,he sleeps in his crate blanket the lot,and its snug in there..we know hes a pup n they are guna yelp abit,but we are more bothered neighbours may complain also when we leave him in the day 4 short periods we are finding he is barking wen we get to our front gate which he cannot hear,and then wen we let him out of his crate he is very very excited knocks us over nearly as he is wrapped round r feet,jumping and going crazy..making little crys n wimpers,these things arnt really a great big prob but has anyone got any advice for us..??:mad::mad:

[transparentspoon]

Dachshunds can be a bit yappy anyway - classic 'small dog' syndrome I guess.

 

The only way to get to the real root of the problem is to imagine that you're the little dog and see how things look from his perspective. You also need to remember that adults dogs have a mental age equivalent to a 2 or 3 year old child. Would you get away with shutting a very young child in a room on its own all night? Of course not, but yet we expect to be able to do that with puppies.

 

The barking is attention seeking, and the dog has made the link that when he barks, someone reacts (good or bad, it doesn't matter which!). Once the pattern is established (which is unavoidable, as with babies crying) the dog will keep up the pattern even if nobody responds, because that's what worked in the past.

 

For this kind of continuous nighttime barking to occur at such a young age, I would suggest that the barking is because the dog doesn't feel safe on its own. Given that it wasn't so long ago that it was with it's mother and siblings, there needs to be some kind of substitute for it - one good way of doing this might be to put an item of your clothing (jumper?) in the dog's crate, the familiar smell will make it feel a little bit more comfortable. I've heard that having a small clock can work as well - the ticking provides a constant reassuring sound.

 

You also need to look at how the utility room is at night. Is it cold? Can the dog hear any funny noises in there? Is the light on or off? Finally, what goes on in the evening for the dog before it goes to bed - has it been sleeping all evening or has it been lively? Have you tried a quick little walk round the garden just before bedtime, so the dog can relieve itself and get a bit of fresh air? This is also probably a good time to give it a little bit of extra attention, though without exciting it.

 

The way to get the best, contented behaviour out of a dog is to make sure that it can relax IE it's not worried about anything, it's confident of its role within the 'pack' and it knows when things are supposed to be exciting (when you get home) and when they're supposed to be calm.

 

Hope that helps, and good luck!

[dx100uk]

poor thing he's lonely....

 

how would you like to be shut behind loads of door in a cage for even 1 hour?

 

it all depends what you want from a dog....

 

 

if its just an accessory you though it nice to have and only interact with it when you want or can, you seriously need to consider why you brought it in the first place.

 

a dog is a member of your FAMILY and it wants to bond with you. as mentioned above the pack syndrome.

 

make it a part of your family, give it freedom of your house when you are out, but train it to know its home is the cage, if you have to move the cage to your bedroom or outside its door or in the living room, do so till it gets the idea...go to your cage!!! but dont shut it.

 

it is still young but needs to be taught what to do, it wont learn if you do not teach it what to do first.

 

dx

[tonixx]

I kinda agree with the above, my dogs are never locked in their crates but they was as pups for bed. They did the whole howling/whinging thing at night. There was just one at a time, with my boy before we got the bitch, he was crated, but not locked away, he was crated in the kitchen, we had a ticky clock we would wrap into his blankets, and it calmed him down.

 

Others suggest leaving a radio on low, so he doesnt feel so isolated.

 

BUT, i wouldnt give him the run of your house when you are out. Mine have the run of downstairs, but not up. They have to understand there are boundrys they arent allowed to cross.

 

Use stairgates so he can see. Get him some chew toys - kongs with paste, so he keeps him self occupied.

[kinkyklee]

just for your information he is not an accessary he plays a big part in our family and we do have two small children that do go to bed with there doors shut and a dog is nothing like a baby at all,he loves his crate and goes in really happy,im quite upset that you think he is imprisoned,he is very well trained...we are at home with him 24hours aday he is toilet trained and very quiet throughout the day maybe he just misses us....and as for having them in or even near your bedroom that is pretty pathetic as ur just giving into them and treating them like babies...

[Rooster-UK]

The pup needs to know that just because he can't see you, it doesn't mean that you are not there.

Three good suggestions have already been made.

 

1) An old alarm clock, wrapped in a blanket. (Make sure that you don't set the alarm or you'll have him trying to climb the walls )

 

2) A stuffed toy (especially a dog) that he can cuddle up to.

 

3) A radio left on at a low volume. (You'll have to experiment to find what genre of music he prefers).

 

Whatever you go for, you need to deal with it now, before it becomes an in-grained habit. It will be much harder to deal with then.

 

Good luck.

[JimmySpangle]

I can personally recommend a shotgun too. Did the job for me!

 

AND before anyone says anything, I am jesting. I am not allowed to shoot the dog otherwise I would have.

[kinkyklee]

thanks jimmyspangle will see if me dad will lend me his,it has crossed our minds lol...i wouldnt be allowed to shoot him either..

[simonslady]

Same as above, all our puppies have had a teddy and radio on at night/when left alone and we have had no problems at all with any of them. They just need comefort and reasureing at that age, he must be a darling.

Good Luck

[jackieandwayne]

Kinkylee, I hope your problem is improving.

 

Nothing wrong with a cage which the pup loves and feels safe and snug in. Can I suggest you move the cage at night to the bottom of your stairs, or if you could agree to try it, to outside your bedroom doors? And let the pup know what is up those stairs, and in other parts of the house. You've already taught him properly what he sleeps in, so you shouldn't have the problem of him getting into beds at night. (Mind you on a freezing cold winter night there's nothing as blissful as a warm furry bundle with hot paws next to you!) I just feel it comforts young pups to be able to smell and sense their owners near them, and to know what all those strange night time noises are. (I mean the house settling at night before anyone thinks anything else!) And since, one day soon, it will be his job to guard the house, he needs to know where everyone is.

 

I'm very much a believer in the pack thing, but I suppose its not for everyone. Every dog I've taken on as my personal pet has slept in my bedroom in their own bed, going to bed when I do and getting up when I do. It works wonders for house training through the night - one wimper I'm up like a shot and straight outside - no mess! Door open so if they want a midnight drink they go to the proper place and get it, also if a burglar got in they can get to him! (An adult dog of course, not a pup!) They also have a daybed in the lounge, and freedom of the whole house (once I am happy that chewing, messing, stealing and escaping has been dealt with and unti then I use stair gates!). I've never used a cage but I can see how safe they make a pup feel. I know this won't do for everyone but its the way I do it and even with this latest monster I've taken on, I've had no problems.

 

I just think you ought to consider letting him be nearer to you guys through the night - after all he's with his pack all day, and he certainly wouldn't be separated from them at night. Other people with other dogs won;t have any problem at all with this, however, I think your little guy is telling you he needs to be a bit closer. When you said how over excited he gets when you come home, I think he may be having a bit of separation anxiety, so by having him a bit nearer in the night, might ease this for you as well.

 

If i were you, I should contact a good dog trainer/behaviour expert (word of mouth is best) to show you how to put this right now whilst he is so young. I'm sure you know that once they learn this sort of behaviour its a nightmare to correct! And anxiety problems will spoil his life.

 

Good luck I hope it all gets sorted for you!

[Shadow4]

Our german shep Max cried and howled whenever we went to bed or popped to the shops. We had to move him into our room as we were worried about the neighbours but as he was too little to be toilet trained it was a nightmare we had papers all over the floor and the carpet was ruined, not to mention he was up and down all night wanting to play. He came from a litter of 13 so it is understandable he was lonely we ended up getting another puppy the same age - Shadow, the first night we had him we put them both to bed together and he did not even whimper all night and they are the best of friends, plus when you go out or cannot take the puppy out they will play together and wear each other out - hard work but good fun!

[Moonrose]

Both my German Shepherds sleep in our bedroom. They have their own beds next to ours.

 

Ours were older when we got them (both rescues). Our first, the day after we brought him home from the rescue kennels, I will never forget the look of wonderment as he woke up and realised he wasn't in a kennels but in a house as part of a family. He looked all round the room then jumped up on our bed wagging his tail furiously and giving us a bath before we'd even got up.

 

Last year we adopted another Shep. This one was younger, little more than a pup. He just wanted to sleep on our bed with us and it was about a week before he got the message that he had his own bed.

 

Sundays are fun. Hubby goes off to work, sees to the dogs first, then puts them back up with me (long lie). Both jump on the bed and cuddle up. Wouldn't have it any other way LOL.

 

Dogs are pack animals and you are part of the pack (or family). Dogs seek human company so will seek to sleep as close to you as possible.

 

Your dog is still very young. You don't say how old he was when you got him. Sometimes pups are taken away from their mothers at too young an age and they feel very insecure.

 

As a few others have said, if you are adamant that you will not have him in your bedroom, try putting a ticky clock beside him and a well wrapped hot water bottle beside him. The clock will mimic a heartbeat and the hot water bottle the cosiness of his mother and siblings. Of course, don't make the bottle so hot that if he were to chew it he would get burned but warm enough to make him feel more settled.

 

Hope this helps.