Dog waking us up - cat obsessed!

[CommunistLegoBloc]

Our dog is a good boy, but he is completely obsessed with cats. One was on top of our shed recently, and since then he constantly demands to be let in the garden and just stares, stock-still, for as long as we let him.

The problem is that he now reliably gets me up once a night to ‘go for a wee’ but it’s a devious ploy to check for cats. He comes in and settles quickly, but it takes me an hour to get back to sleep! It’s clearly a habit for him now but I don’t know how to break it? If I don’t get up he whines and whines and will eventually bark and mither me. He doesn’t give up.

Extra info: he doesn’t have any medical need for an extra wee, he’s v clever, he’s a sighthound, about 7 and a rescue.

What can I do?! Thanks so much in advance!

I’ve got one of these. We once got guinea pigs and he did the same and we had to rehome them when he stopped eating as he couldn’t look away from them long enough

Sad to say the only thing that has worked is a very strong go lie down command, so if he is bouncing about in the night he gets a bit of a telling off and told to lie in bed. I don’t engage in any other interaction other than that.

Good luck!

Sorry but this made me laugh. My dog does the exact same thing when she knows our cat is in the garden! Desperately acts like her bladder is about to burst but we know fine well it’s because she wants to be out to sniff/annoy the cat

Crafty things!

It is quite hilarious. He got up last night so I took him out on the lead and he furiously did the most pathetic wee and went back to sleep. Sending him back to bed works for 10 mins but then he’s up again and I’m awake because I know it’s coming. Do you think I should just ignore all night? I’ve been holding off because it actually means less sleep for me and I’m worried the neighbours might complain!