Help with evening barking in elderly dog

[Frequency]

Please help because I am stumped. All my training and rescue buddies are stumped and my vet is stumped.

My elderly terrier/hound cross has taken to barking on a night. It's a series of 2-3 barks at intervals until someone goes to sit with him. It's not separation anxiety as at other times he's perfectly happy to be left and the barking doesn't sound distressed or continuous like SA.

Initially we thought he'd maybe forgot he'd been fed due to his dementia and so started leaving kibble out for him (he's raw fed). When this didn't resolve it we thought he might be missing having a friend so we rescued a puppy for him whom he adores and who has made a massive difference to his overall quality of life. He plays again since having the puppy and runs and enjoys his walks much more. It didn't stop the barking however.

We started later walks in the evening which didn't help. We also started to attempt training and mental stimulation on an evening to tire him mentally however he only seems to grasp sit (tried luring, capturing, clicker training, kongs, puzzle games etc as soon as he knows it's training time he sits and stays sitting until he's clicked and treated. I'm guessing this is a symptom of his dementia as he previously loved clicker training and learning new tricks and puzzles)

We have a DAP infuser and spray his bed with DAP. We leave a night light on and play classical music and he has sleeping tablets from the vets for nights he is unsettled. None of this stops the barking.

He won't sleep upstairs as he seems to remember he is not allowed upstairs and spends the entire night trying to get back downstairs.

I'm all out of ideas. Please help.

The barking is the type of bark he does when he wants something. It's three barks followed by a few minutes silence. Our dog cam shows he paces between barking.

If he has dementia it is most likely sundowning (and here) which can be quite hard to manage and is basically cased by confusion/anxiety, which might be why he improves when someone sits with him.

One of us sleeps downstairs with our old boy now. He doesn’t generally bark, but will wander and be restless unless someone is close by. Initially he would let out one indignant sounding bark, which is very unusual for him, because he rarely barks unless there’s a squirrel to tell off!

Yes totally agree with the sundowning. We used to call it "barkly markly" in our house with our old boy. He would just stand and bark at nothing, often just standing in a random place in the house. We used to sit with him and it calmed him and then he would fall asleep.

There are some treaments that may help but for use they did not make a noticeable difference. We just took the time out to be with him and enjoyed the cuddles.

I am surprised your vet did not pick up on this but it maybe that the medication your dog is on already is the one to help with this too.

The vet did mention it was a symptom of his dementia but she never explicitly mentioned sundown syndrome.

The issue is I need the barking to stop rather than just understand what is causing it. My neighbour is not a sane and rational person. She is recording the three barks and if we don't get to him to calm him before the next three come she records use and uses it as proof that he is being left to bark throughout the night. We've since got the dog cam to prove this is not the case should it go to court and she's only managed one recording (two barks, seven minutes of silence, three barks) up to now. The barking is random. Sometimes he goes for weeks without an episode. Sometimes it's once or twice a week. He is never left to bark. My eldest daughter has insomnia so she sits up with him when he's bad. But the neighbour literally sits with her recording app ready to go from the minute it turns 11pm (council told her to feck off when she tried sending recordings before 11pm) until she goes to bed.

I am prepared to go to court if needs be and would move house before I rehomed the dog but if there is a way to stop the barking that would be preferable.

We had an elderly dog with dementia. We had tablets prescribed from the vet which were brilliant but after a year things got progressively worse again with the barking. They were called Aktivate. I hope you get something sorted ☺️

My old dog was a sundowner. We had him on vitofyllin, nutracalm and nutramind. We also fed him B/d food and had Adaptil round the house.
Its tough seeing them grow old.

I’ve not heard it called sundowning before, but my old boy does it too. Old dogs are as hard as babies!

I might buy a sofa bed and take turns with dd sleeping downstairs with him since we can't convince him he is actually allowed upstairs now.

Physically he's alarmingly healthy for his age. A few months ago I'd have said he's at deaths door with months if that left but since getting the puppy he is like a new dog and if I had to guess I'd say he has years left. It's just the barking and the neighbour who is more barking than the dog is

My dog started this behaviour after becoming deaf. It's time consuming trying to 'read' what the issue is.

Haha, your neighbour sounds like a right knob. Gotta love 'em.

It sounds to me like he's either understood that when he does his three-bark-plea, someone comes to him. Or that he feels confused and he wants someone to be with him. Either way, he's communicating that he wants someone to be with him. The only way I would know to get this to stop would be to completely ignore it, but I don't think that would be a realistic option with your crazy neighbour; and it feels sad for your doggo, who is understandably feeling confused.

Our dog used to do this through the night when we tried to get him to sleep in a pen. Basically, he just didn't want to sleep alone. Eventually we stopped trying to get him to stop barking and just gave into the fact that he genuinely needed that feeling of closeness.

It's not ideal, but yep! I'd look at sleeping downstairs or trying to teach him that it's ok to be upstairs. Whichever you think is more workable.

I really don't think you'd go to court for a few barks every 7 minutes?! Sounds like an empty threat