What To Do To Stop A Barking Dog!!!

[MissysMommy]

My little Missy has developed the terrible habit of barking in the middle of the night. The bad thing is she sleeps in bed w/ my children and ALWAYS wakes one of them up. Any ideas what I can do to stop this. We live in the country and she insists on barking at whatever wild animal sneaks up to the house that night. This is an EVERY night kind of thing and I'm starting to get very sleepy here!!!! LOL!

[Greyhound~lover]

I guess it depends on the situation... I have a similar problem... but I don't want to put a bark collar on Jenny, because she is a good guard dog {considering she is just over 30 lbs} I have just stopped using her as a guard dog at night, I just close the door to my room with Jenny inside with me, so that she doesn't hear animals or walkers... {SOME DUDE ALWAYS WALKS AROUND OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD AT 4:00 AM }

If you don't wan't to put a bark collar on her, or lock her in your room...I don't know what to tell you.

You could try squirting her with a water gun... I've never tried that though because I am always too tired to get up in the middle of the night to squirt her. If you happen to be up with a water gun handy you should squirt her. I know with Jenny the water gun works perfectly for barking outside during the summertime, it distracts her from whatever she was barking at. Don't think I'm cruel I never squirt her in the wintertime... it would take her about 1 minute for her coat to freeze!

Whatever method you choose, good luck!

[~*MS.MISSYH*~]

Have you tried taking her for a walk just before you put them to bed or the crate method. I watch a show called the Dog Whisperer on National Geographic Channel you could watch that he ususally has tips to help with just about anything or there may be something on his blog. You can get to his website from national geographic channel.com

[MissysMommy]

I take her for a walk everynight before bed. Unfortunately I don't get National Geographic. I would try the squirt gun thing, but she LAYS on my youngest daughter. I don't know if she thinks she's protecting Sarah or what. It just really worries me sometimes because Sarah used to have seizures and I'm worried it's Missy's way of saying they're back.

[VTJess03]

Do you know what she's actually barking at? You mentioned wild animals, or your daughter having health problems. I think that the solution would be to try to remove the thing catching her attention and causing her to bark, if at all possible.

I have one dog that barks at things in the yard; if I close the blinds, it seems to help.
The other one carries on if she gets thirsty at 3 am or needs to go out...she just hasn't quite figured out the 'gone to bed, want to stay in bed' thing...What I do with her is wait until she is silent for a time and then let her out to tell me whatever it is that she wanted, and fill whatever need woke her up. I don't want to let her think the barking is what got the response (kind of like puppy crying), but I don't want to clean up after her mess if she had to go during the night either, right?

Anyway, if you think your daughter might be having seizures (again?), couldn't a doctor confirm that, get her on medication and that solve the barking if that's the issue?

Good luck with the barking, regardless; I know it gets frustrating.