How to Stop Your Dog Barking at Night? What You Need To Know

While a barking dog is an indicator of life and vigour in your home, an excessively barking dog can be quite a nuisance. Especially if your canine likes to bark and whine all night long.

Not only do you lack enough sleep from all the noise, but you also risk being at loggerheads with your neighbours. Nobody likes to deal with a noisy dog when all you want is to get a goodnight’s sleep after a long day at work.

If your dog’s barking habits are becoming a nuisance, you might want to establish what makes your canine bark so much at night. Some of the most common reasons are:

Loneliness
Intruders
A new environment
Seeking attention
Not being tired enough

Once you identify what is bothering your dog so much that they keep barking at night, you can easily find a solution for it. Better still, you can train your dog not to be a nuisance to you and your neighbours.

If you have a puppy that won’t stop crying at night you can learn more about how to overcome this here

How do you stop your dog from barking at night?

Once you have identified the cause of your dog’s barking, here is how to address it.

Loneliness can cause dogs to bark at night

Dog sleeping well after being trained not to bark at night

Dogs are pack animals and being outside alone can be quite stressful for your dog. If this is the reason they keep barking at night, there are two possible solutions. You can bring your dog in to sleep in the house with you. Knowing that you’re in the other room might comfort your dog and reduce the barking.

If bringing your dog to sleep in the house is out of the question, you might have to consider getting another dog or puppy to keep your canine company. Most dogs are calmer when they have a friend to bear the night with. However, ensure that both dogs are well trained, so they don’t spend all night plating, causing more disturbance to you and your neighbours.

If your dog is barking in the garden it is well worth reading this guide here

Intruders, but this is when you really want your dog to start barking

Barking is a dog’s way of alerting you of intruders in your vicinity. If your dog recently started barking incessantly at night, it might be a sign that someone or something is lurking near your home. It could be simply be a squirrel or another wild animal, but it could also be an indication of a human intruder.

The next time your dog goes off at night, switch on your porch light to scare away the intruder and to tell your dog that you’ve responded to their alert. However, be careful about this strategy. Putting on the lights or responding to the barks might encourage your dog to bark more at night, thinking that it is a positive behaviour.

However, you can also train your dog not to keep barking at anything and everything. Get a friend to help you in training your dog. Your friend should pass near your dog with their dog on a leash. Once your dog starts to bark, use gentle commands such as “quiet” to make him quieten down. Spoil your canine with edible treats every time they heed your command. With time, your dog will learn that barking incessantly is an undesirable trait and they get treated for not barking.

A new environment is a common cause of dig barking at night

If you have recently brought a new puppy home, they might be taking a little more time to get used to their new environment. They may not bark a lot during the day because they have you to keep them busy. However, homesickness might kick in at night when they are all alone in their box. Unfortunately, you might need to exercise a little more patience with your dog before they get accustomed to the new environment.

With time, start training your puppy to stay quiet in their box at night and only bark when necessary.

The attention seeking pup

Reality check. Your dog might be barking so much at night just to get your attention. And this is not a good trait. It gets worse if you keep going out to quieten your dog or to check for intruders. Your dog thinks that barking is a positive behaviour that yields results.

The best way to handle this kind of barking is to ignore your dog. It might sound harsh and heartless, especially if you want to make your puppy feel loved. However, if you keep ignoring the barks, your dog will realise that the behaviour no longer yields results and they will grow out of it. In the meantime, get yourself some earplugs to help you sleep through the night.

An energetic dog could be the cause of a dog barking at night

Your dog could be barking at night because they still have a lot of energy left after a not-so-busy day. If your dog spends their days indoors with little or no activity, they’ll still have a lot of energy to get mischievous at night.

Take your dog for walks and play games with them every day to tire them out. And don’t worry, this won’t tire them too much that they won’t be able to respond to intruders. You just need to make them tired enough so the both of you can get a good night’s rest.

You can learn more about how much exercise they need here

In conclusion,

A barking dog can be a nuisance at night and might ruin the quality of your sleep and your next day’s productivity. Worse still, the barks could be causing your neighbours sleepless nights, and you don’t want to be the villain in your neighbourhood. Try and establish the cause of your canine’s barks and resolve them as soon as possible. You can also get your dog trained, so they are not so restless at night.