Nocturnal dogs?

[willowgirl]

Our inside dogs seem to have decided to sleep all day and party all night!

It's driving me bananas. DBF is up and down with them all night long. I'm ready to start sleeping in my truck (since it's warm enough now). I just can't handle being awakened every hour or two all night long, even though DBF is the one actually getting up to take them outside, etc.

It's mostly the puppy, who is about 8 months old now. It starts as soon as we climb into bed and turn out the lights ...within 5 minutes, he gets up and rings the bell to go outside, and we're off and running. EVERY night. Arrgh!

Thanks for letting me vent.

[Skandi]

When he's taken outside put him on a SHORT lead, don't let him do anything at all other than toilet, not even sniff. Do not talk to him, do not make eyecontact. Lead on, out, pee back in. Make it not fun to get you up at night. That worked for my girl when she decided that it was boring at night and wanted some entertainment.

[wolfmom]

"Rings the bell..." to go out. Love it! What kind of a bell? How'd you train him to ring it?
What about hiding the bell at night??

[vickilynn]

I think by 8 months he should be able to not have to go potty thru the night, especially if he goes out right before bedtime. I would take the bells down at night. I had to take our bells down because Jenny was ringing them just to go out whether she had to potty or not. Drove me crazy. I would also try to tire your pup out with play an hour or so before bedtime.

[Melissa]

Is there someplace the dogs can be at night that is safe and won't disturb you? Screened in porch, etc... It might help reset their clocks if they don't get all that attention at night.

[mollymckee]

I think I would crate train them. Unless they have a health problem, they shouldn't have to go out during the night.

[Deleted]

Heck...I have to get up and go every couple of hours anyway...send him my way.

[willowgirl]

LOL ... that's what Numb says ... he has to get up to pee anyway!

Last night, we tried soft classical music on the radio, and the pup wore himself out playing with his cousin Penny the Beagle for a couple hours in the afternoon. I don't know if it worked, or if I was just so tired that I slept through all the commotion. LOL

I'm not sure if taking the bell away at night would confuse him. It's just an ordinary "Ring bell for service" type bell that sits beside the door ... Numb taught him to ring it with his paw when he wants to go outside. If you ignore him, he'll start jumping up and down on it, and pushing it all around the living room with his nose to get your attention ... it's hilarious!

I think part of the problem is that Numb has been sick (a bad cold) and staying in bed a lot, so the dogs stay with him (pack leader thing) and then they don't get any exercise, so then they want to stay up all night. They're both high-energy breeds -- Moose is a Yorkie/JRT cross and Sluggo, the pup, is half Yorkie and half who-knows what (his mom is definitely part cocker spaniel, but beyond that, we have no clue!).

Speaking of the bell ... there it goes. LOL

[willowgirl]

Oh, meant to add ... Numb does take Sluggo out on a short lead to make "potty time" a little less enticing. And he rewards him with a treat when he actually does something.

I think part of the problem is that we have about 15 young outdoor cats, and they all adore Sluggo. As soon as he goes outside, cats come running from everywhere to mob him, and walk around him in circles ramming him with their heads! He's like a rock star with groupies. He seems to like the attention, and there's not much we can do about the cats (although we probably should get some video; it's hilarious).

[Maura]

Unless you are feeding him a low grade food, he should not need to potty so much. Put a a crate next to your bed and put him in it with a chew toy. Go to bed. Ignore puppy. He may still need to pee once during the night, in which case, after he has slept, if he wakes up take him outside, then right back into the crate.

If he’s not crate trained, spend the day putting toys and kibbles in there for him so he will associate it with good things.

[comfortablynumb]

A lot of the time he doesnt do anything outside....

The last couple nights he seems to be doing better. Willow didnt wake up lol.

He does actually sleep all night or from 12 to 6 anyway. He wanders around and barks at invisible monsters sometimes.

I think I wake her up more than the dog does.

He is crate trained, but he gets tossed in there when we leave the house. He spends a lot f time in his man cave on his own with the door open.

Sometimes he gets locked in there at night to cool his jets.... Im trying to train him to not need that and obey when we go to bed . He has the idea "go to bed" means go play on the couch and fluff your blankey and go to sleep, which he does more often than not.

Excuse me someone is clanging the bell... I'll be right there sir.
argh

[comfortablynumb]

I think the problem de jour is he has reached the puppy stage where he is now a watchdog and every little noise is something to be barked at. This often means they noise is outside and of course the key to outside is the service desk bell by the door. Moose knows what noises to ignore and what to bark at. Sluggo has to learn that yet.

[Melissa]

lol, you are a puppy servant!

[willowgirl]

Oh, Sluggo rings the bell every 15 minutes all day long...

Numb is the Canine Concierge.

[willowgirl]

He actually did pretty good last night until a crow started making a racket outside just before dawn. That was clearly something that needed to be barked at. Oy ...

It was almost time for me to get up anyway, so NBD, I guess.

Numb has started letting the dogs sleep in our bed again ... I think that helps. He was trying to train them to sleep over on the loveseat, but that didn't work out so well.

[Deleted]

Must take video of Sluggo and the cats. Must!

[willowgirl]

I will have to work on that. I think our camera has some kind of video function. Meanwhile, here's a pic from last summer, when he was just a li'l guy. Numb calls this pic, "One of these things is not like the others."

Those 3 black kittens were all dumped here when they were about 6 weeks old. They're all girls and we can't tell them apart, so we just call them The Supremes.

[Bear Foot Farm]

They're all girls and we can't tell them apart, so we just call them The Supremes.

That caused a REAL LOL

Your dogs seem to have you almost trained

[Otter]

Exercise is the key. Lots of it! LOL, at least he's little - imagine it with a GSD pup!
I like big dogs, and active breeds, so in self defense, mine are sort of trained to just veg in the house. The trick is to wear them out. Me and the dogs are outside nearly all the time, so if I give them a little work-out right before we come in (which can be as simple as some fetch, or encouraging them to tussle with each other a bit, or a mental work-out by doing some obedience) then when they walk through the door, they are inclined to lie down and relax. This quickly becomes a habit, then a mindset of inside=chill with a chew toy.

Try this, go about your day as normal, but make it a point to get him to pant a little before you walk inside the house. Every time. Take a minute at the door and jog him around the house once, or throw a toy, or practice a command or anything to get him working/moving for 1 minute. Then, an hour before bed, give him a serious session. Take a long, after dinner walk or a long hard play time with lots of running and tug of war. Then throw in a little obedience work. Even tricks. Sit Up takes a lot of core strength and coordination. You're not done until he's ready to lie down - you may be surprised at how little that takes. And if he's tired, he'll sleep, and then you'll sleep.

[willowgirl]

They have been doing a lot better since we got over the flu!

I think they weren't getting enough exercise when Numb was so sick and sleeping most of the day.
They do whatever he does (pack leader) so if he sleeps, they sleep, too! LOL

The other morning, they did start barking at sunrise ... it seems the neighbor turned his horses out in the field closest to our house. Numb tried to tell them that it was OK, and to shut up, but they insisted on barking for awhile. It was as if they were saying, "But you don't understand! There are HORSES out there!"

[willowgirl]

Now Numb taught the pup to howl when the fire whistle goes off at the station at the bottom of the hill (which it does a couple times a day). It takes a little encouragement to get him going, but once he starts, it's hilarious!

[willowgirl]

An update to this thread ... Derp, our special needs cat who lives on the porch, has learned to stick his paw under the bottom of the door and ring the bell. Because when the bell rings, the door opens, and his friends Moose and Sluggo come out, along with a human who will cuddle him!

I was sitting here drinking coffee the other morning when the bell rang, and I thought we had a ghost in the house because both dogs were still in bed with Numb. I was so freaked out that I woke him up to tell him, and he said, "Oh, that's Derp. He rings the bell now, too." I opened the door and sure enough, there was Derp, waiting for someone to pick him up ...

[Deleted]

Could you put a doggy door that would go to an enclosed area?
I love the bell idea, one of our dogs "knocks" on the door when she wants to come in.

[willowgirl]

Derp is frantically ringing the bell and yowling outside the door this morning ... he wants in bad!

I don't think Numb would go for the "doggie door" idea. He is very protective of the dogs ... even though our yard is fenced (with a stockade fence, no less) he always takes them outside and waits while they do their business. He never leaves them unattended in the yard. And I can't really complain, as he always takes them out ... and out, and out, and out.