Crying in the night

[plebsticle]

We have a 2 year old rescue dog that we took in about 6 months ago. She is absolutely lovely - great temperament, generally calm and a joy to have. She's settled in well and finally learned to play etc and although she is a bit skittish outside and scared of a lot of things outdoors such as traffic and other dogs, at home she has generally fine.

She has someone at home with her all day, gets two 1.5 hour walks a day and lots of fuss and playing in between.

However for the last 3-4 weeks she has been coming and sitting outside our bedroom door in the night and crying. If someone goes out and leads her back down to her bed, even wordlessly, she stops and goes back to sleep, but it requires us to go out and do that to stop her. We can't leave the bedroom door open really and I don't want to. This is all new.

I can't work out why she's suddenly started doing this despite never doing it before!

Weirdly I am 9 weeks pregnant and it has coincided with the biggest hormonal change. Someone told me dogs can sense hormone changes. Anyone think it's this or could it be something else?

It may be linked to the hormonal change - at least, the change may have unsettled her in some way and that has triggered this behaviour.

Dogs do what works - the key is figuring out what she is getting from this that makes it a worthwhile behaviour for her.

I'd look at the time of night she does this - is there a consistency there that might provide a clue? Perhaps also using a camera on some nights to see if there is a disturbance that is triggering it?

I'd look at whether or not she just needs someone to help her settle into her bed - a need that is currently being served by her being led back to her bed. You can then pre-empt this by offering her that before she cries for it (i.e. when you want to go to bed, a few mins spent helping her settle might provide the break in this behaviour).

I'd look at whether or not she needs something more secure at night to help her - such as a covered bed (e.g. open crate) to help her feel safer. Or a low level night light (honestly, I had a dog that struggled to sleep in the dark but was fine with a lamp being left on).

Why can’t you leave the door open?

@Wolfiefan well one, I don't sleep well with the door open. And two we live in Asia and have a domestic helper that lives in our house - I don't think she wants to see DH parading round with his knob out when he forgets the door is open!

@GhostPepperTears thank you that's so helpful. We have tried the settling her thing but it's not had much effect. We have also tried a crate before but she's terrified of being shut in because she was kept on someone balcony as a puppy and shut out of the house, so associates small spaces with abuse I think.

The light suggestion however may be a really good shout. DH has said before that he thinks she may be scared of the dark and I wonder if the combo of unsettled feelings due to my hormone changes and her not liking the dark anyway are linked. DS has a night light I will try on her tonight and report back!

Well you’re not sleeping well right now and if he can’t figure out a door is open then I doubt you’ll have help much longer.

@Wolfiefan really unnecessarily prickly answer - no need to respond further.

Great, if all else fails I remind myself of an anecdote I read in a dog book somewhere - about a collie that stared at the corner of the ceiling whenever the owners settled down for the night's telly.

Clever bugger had learned that this stopped the boring telly activity and started a game of "what's the dog looking at?"

"I don't think she wants to see DH parading round with his knob out when he forgets the door is open!"

Thanks so much for brightening up my day after reading this thread🤣

Sorry no practical advice on this issue. I hope you get it resolved with your dog soon. We all need our sleep

Radio? For company?

I was prickly but you can’t be arsed to try something that might soothe the dog because your husband can’t help showing his knob to the help? Really?

Have you tried something like white noise or the radio on low for her?

Is it happening at the same time each night? Could it be something like the heating kicking in, or a neighbour doing something which is disturbing her?

I hope you get it resolved - lack of sleep is awful!