Moved house and dog barking at night due to noise

[PlaneHero]

We have recently moved house from a terraced property on a cul de sac to a terraced property on a quiet side road.

Ddog in old house rarely barked other than when someone came into the house without him realising (if he was upstairs and one of us opened the front door say). If we went out without him, he was shut into the back part of the house (kitchen/lounge) and was absolutely fine (we have a camera on him). At night he slept in our room (again back of the house) in his bed or on the landing outside our room. You could hear the neighbours moving around but it never bothered him.

We've been in new house a few weeks and he is barking all the time at night and I am completely exhausted. Our bedroom is at the front of the house and every time he hears someone out the front, he jumps up and barks. People go out and come back late, the milkman, the man next door who works shifts. Night before last, he was up almost every hour. Last night I took him to a bedroom further back and he was a bit better but he can still hear the neighbours moving around so he was up 3-4 times barking.

I am honestly at my wits end. I work full time and I am struggling to stay awake during the day because I need to immediately get up and make him quiet as I don't want him waking up the neighbourhood! He will follow a 'quiet' command once he's been told. The barking is definitely 'alert' barking - it's like 'I've perceived a threat and I need you to know'.

I read advice online about trying to treat the dog after he hears the noise but before he barks but I can't do that at night. During the day it's not a problem as dp works from home and he is either with the dog walker or in the garden and he never barks unless someone is in the house without him realising (like old house).

I will call someone this week but does anyone have any magic tips in the meantime? He's a 14 months old cocker.

Btw on the weekends during the day he's absolutely fine too. And goes to bed fine. It's just once we've gone to bed that he seems to feel it's his job to wake me up and bark as loudly as possible when he hears something!

It sounds like your going to have to train him to sleep somewhere else. My dog always slept in the kitchen, we did try him in our bedroom but he is a terrier and was hyper alert and barked at every sound. It wasnt sustainable. So he was left to sleep in the kitchen instead. I should add my bedroom was at the front of the house too, so milk man, people arriving back late from nights outs, cars etc etc.

I am not sure what else you can do to be honest.

Put some other noise on to mask it? Radio or white noise etc. You can get apps for rain/waves etc too.

What others have said, really! I have a 13mo Cocker, and he alert barks like there's no tomorrow. We live in an apartment in a city, so there is constant noise from the hallway and the road outside. Ours won't immediately stop on a "quiet" command though, so it's even worse! I completely feel your pain - I'm exhausted from lack of sleep too!

When you get help from a trainer, would you post back on this thread or DM me to let me know if anything has worked?!

In our case, we have no options for moving our dog, because it's a small flat, and both rooms have windows facing the busy street.

But in your case, I'd suggest finding a way to mask the outside noise. A trainer should help you to work on desensitising him to noises in the first place - but it takes time, and it's hard work. If you Google it, you'll see lots of tips on how to do it. Essentially, you wait for a noise, then click and reward him for remaining quiet for even a millisecond. You can play noises through Spotify playlists (car sounds, fireworks, etc.) to help with this.

The shortest-term, easiest solution is to find a way for your dog to be comfortable sleeping somewhere quieter at night. This would probably just mean not having him sleep in the same room as you, or moving your bedroom to a room at the back of the house, if that's an option. Masking sounds with white noise or a quiet playlist could also be an option.

Some people find crates work covered with a blanket to make them feel safe. My ddog found his own safe spot in my new house - under the desk

Thanks all

@dustofneptune I will definitely let you know what the trainer says!

Would happily have him sleep somewhere else but he is also one of those dogs that likes to check we are where he thinks we are. You can hear the neighbours the loudest in the kitchen (at the back) which rules that out (and that would have been the first place I tried). He usually is happier on the landing but I think because it's all still v new to him, he's not found a spot where he's settled yet. He's never had a crate - is a dog that moves around a lot in his sleep and tbh this is the first time we've had sleep issues with him. We aren't fully unpacked yet and I wonder if all the boxes lying around are also unsettling him.

Dp wants to play nature sounds tonight (!) in the hope that it masks all other noise! Argh! (Incidentally what is also super irritating is that it's not waking up dp at all!)

That's a good idea with Spotify/noises. I might try that later today before bed and see how he gets on.

Just to update, I played 3 hours of waves on loop and he didn't bark all night - only at 5am when the noises outside were louder than the waves and then he settled back down pretty quickly

It's a short term fix while we deal with the problem and tbh I didn't sleep well with the waves in the background but at least I wasn't jumping out of bed every hour!

Have you tried an Adaptil plug-in diffuser? Might work to temporarily calm him - he needs to be less stressed in general , which he probably is with the move, in order for training to help him.

that's good the waves made him sleep and stopped you leaping about!
shame about your dh sleeping through

Can you put background noise on for him? Radio or white noise? Even a fan would work wonders.

He’s in a new setting, he misses his home and he doesn’t understand where he is. It will settle down once he gets used to his surroundings.

No I haven't tried that @NoSquirrels but will look for them. The move definitely stressed him out and there are workmen in the house so there's a lot going on at the moment.

@AbsolutelyPatsy yes typical isn't it!

we have radio4/bbc world service on very very quiet at night i can just hear it from accross the bed this settles starpup i think its because he can hear someone speaking but doesnt get any reaction from them. his routine is settle on our bed until lights out then we say bed times off to bed has to be those exact words lol and he goes to his crate and the radio goes on .we live mid terrace as well but have very understanding neighbours on both sides