Barking for hours at night - chaos!

[Strad101]

I’ve got a 12 month old small breed dog, very loving and bred to be a lapdog (Bolognese). We’re in the house most of the time as we work from home so she’s rarely left for more than an hour. Spayed back in July, no complications.
Sleep and separation from us at night has been an issue for a couple of months - she’s been unsettled since the heatwave and her operation.
We had a 2 week holiday in August and she went to her regular dog-sitter, sleeping in her living room with another dog for company - all fine. Since getting home she’s refused to sleep in her crate any more (barking and distressed for hours on end), so we’ve ditched that and moved her to a large pen (with a bed, blankets) in the dining room. The house is open plan downstairs and I need to keep her off the carpet as there have been a few poo accidents. That has worked reasonably well - so long as she’s basically asleep when she gets transferred into it.

Over the last few weeks she’s been getting more and more unhappy about being left at night, and being confined to the pen. It’s a large pen (5 square metres at a guess?) and she’s a v small dog. She can’t see any windows and the house is otherwise quiet and peaceful. She gets 2 x 40 min off lead walks a day and is lavished with attention and love by the whole family.
Barked last night and trashed her pen until 3:30am until DH went and calmed her down and slept on the sofa next to her. This isn’t sustainable and I’m at a loss of what to do.
Do we persevere, stick in the ear plugs and let her bark it out?
Sleeping in our bedroom or upstairs is not considered a viable option so our goal is to settle her downstairs (somewhere!) and on her own overnight.

To be honest I would bring her up to your room and let her settle there, go back to square one with separation training. Leaving her to get more and more anxious and barking won't fix it and will just cause her to escalate. She needs to feel comforted and safe and then you can gradually start moving her back downstairs as she grows in confidence again.

Where does she sleep during the day? I used a pen for my small dog for a year successfully but she started barking when going in it at night a few months ago so we let her choose where to sleep downstairs and she goes to her bed on the couch that she sleeps in during the day and is much happier

Dogs are pack animals. They belong in a pack - in your case, you are her pack. Shes lonely. Let her sleep on the landing or your bedroom. NOT alone in a cage. She's "trashed" the cage because she dislikes it and she's frightened on her own at night.

The stock answer for this will be leave to bark and the second she is quiet reward for quiet. Hard to do at night tho. Are you using crate during the day? I would and also for periods when you are out - maybe 20 mins a time.

I know MN is broadly not in favour of crates but I have crate trained all my dogs, useful for night sleeps, if sick, at vets or travelling. I'd persevere but not in a pen- in a crate - maybe cover with blanket? I would definitely do it during the day as its far easier to do for short periods and reward quiet as it happens. Essentially she will learn to stop. Other posters will say bring upstairs etc but I hate dogs upstairs or on furniture but do what you think works for you.

She sounds very distressed, the trashing, the pooing, the barking. I can't imagine leaving my dog to get in such a state.

Our dog actually does sleep downstairs by himself, but he's calm, no toilet accidents, sleeps through and he could come upstairs to us at any time. He moves around depending on the temp and sprawls on his back or curls up in his bed.

Thanks for the responses - lots to think about and it’s helpful to get others’ views (especially as I’m sleep deprived).
She sleeps during the day in a combination of under my desk in her bed, or in her bed in her pen (if we’re popping out, then the door is shut, if we’re around it’s open and she can come and go as she pleases).
we experimented with her sleeping at night where she likes downstairs which did work ok most night for a month or so, but there were a couple of poo accidents on the carpet and we figured it’s only a matter of time before she’s got a bad tummy and we’ve got a very unpleasant situation on our hands… how do others find this?
tbh, I’d be happy to leave her settle wherever she’s comfortable downstairs (still not sure about upstairs, the risk of her getting into the kids’ bedrooms and while she’s still young and excitable, they’re not puppy proof, makes me wary) it’s whether that helps with the separation issues and/or the risk of soiling the furniture.

Agreed - I wasn’t really sure what to do for the best, I kept frantically googling advice and the internet told me that going down to her would just reinforce that if she barked, we’d respond. So we left her to it hoping she’d settle on her own. We did go down and sort her out and spent the rest of the night by her side.

she was very distressed - I won’t leave her like that again. Nor can we keep sleeping on the sofa though so something’s got to change and I hate not having a clear structure! After 7 months of being very happily and securely crated it’s feeling a bit chaotic.

The poo accidents didn’t coincide with any distress or barking - just a random couple of poos on the carpet over the last couple of months.

If the dog can’t sleep upstairs, you’ll need to be downstairs with her until she feels better.

You can’t ‘train’ this as such, it’s more about helping her feel safe and secure until she’s ready to sleep alone again.

How do you stop a dog feeling scared? Stop scaring the dog.

So she isn’t toilet trained?

I would just let her sleep upstairs in a crate or pen tbh
Not fair to ignore her if she’s that distressed

Could you not set up a small pen in your bedroom for her to sleep? I think she just wants company and to feel safe. Our dog sleeps in her crate in our bedroom and we don’t hear a peep all night.

She will never learn to stop fearing being alone if every time she’s alone she’s frightened.

Personally, I let my dogs sleep wherever. Settled dogs are rarely destructive and any mess is easily cleaned. I can’t imagine worrying so much about an accident that may or may not ever happen!

She’s been toilet trained reliably for months! I have no idea what the random poos on the living room carpet were about, it wasn’t a big deal - and only happened a couple of times. It prompted me to attempt to limit her to the pen at night and get her off the carpet.

She wants to be with you. If you leave her to bark and be distressed you just reinforce the fact that being alone is scary. Sleep downstairs or let her upstairs.
dog training advice and support on FB is great for advice.

This might well be the preferred solution - thanks. We did this before when she had her first season (also posted on MN about this - she was very disturbed at night for the whole three weeks) and we were able to slowly withdraw and build her confidence up again. Will discuss with DH. Thanks for all the responses - I’m trying my best as a new dog owner and generally speaking it’s going well and she’s thriving - it’s just getting the nights right for her and the family x

She's a dog that's bred to love human company - so it's unsurprising that she cries and gets upset when you try and shut her downstairs alone all night.

There are only two (kind) solutions - either she comes upstairs in your bedroom and you slowly move her bed further away until she's back downstairs again, or you sleep downstairs with her and slowly move back upstairs.