Barking at night

[barkypup]

I have a 12 month old springer who is crate trained and a brilliant dog in general. Only issue is at about 11.30pm a neighbour lets their barky dog out for a last wee and this sets my dog off barking like a lunatic. Is there anything i can do to discourage this? He doesn't bark at other dogs when he meets them face to face and if he's out the back garden he will bark in response to other dogs but never initiate the chat. I don't mind that, feel like it's a natural behaviour but the barking at night is so annoying. I have two small kids and while they don't wake up, i do!

He is barking in response though OP so it is a natural behaviour! You have a huge head start here because you know roughly when it’s going to happen and what it is he’s barking at. Is he in your bedroom or downstairs and can you move his bed?

He's downstairs in the kitchen. Never thought of moving his bed. I could put it in the sitting room at the front of the house at night and then he wouldn't hear the barking from other dogs. I hope he won't mind the change of location though 😂. I like his crate being in the kitchen so he's able to nip in and out for naps during the day while still being part of the action. (We spend 90% of our time in there). Thanks for the idea, I'll trial it tomorrow night

Either that or leave a radio running to drown out the noise - hopefully you won’t find the change means he’s hearing different things out front!

It’s a pain to move a whole crate so maybe first try background noise for kitchen and then try getting him a bed for living room? My almost 1 yr old dog barked at every noise when her bed was in my room (front of house). By chance she decided the spare double in the spare room at back of house was much more her style, got on one day, and has never made a peep in the night since. I’m not suggesting you give your dog a bedroom but the shift from where the noises were loud to where the noises weren’t so loud might well be an easy fix. Same with foxes, neighbour noise etc. Good luck!

Are you up at 11.30?

No, i go to bed around 10.30 so usually asleep by 11.30. Early risers in this house (2 small kuds) so we're usually up by 7.30 at the latest - weekends included. I'm also conscious of the neighbours being annoyed at the noise even though it only lasts for a few minutes.