How to Stop Dog Barking at Night: Causes & Solution (2023)

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If you are trying to figure out how to stop dog barking at night, you will know what a frustrating situation it is, especially if it seems like they are making noise for no apparent reason.

Anyone who ever has a puppy knows what it’s like to have sleepless nights. Inevitably, some puppies have a hard time adapting to a new home at first and express their discomfort and loneliness, especially at night.

Barking at night and getting up early are both common problem behaviors in all puppies and young dogs. And can also come back in older dogs.

In a survey of 2,000 people last year, 75% of participants said they would suffer from a barking dog at night.

Dog barking and howling dogs are highest among all other forms of suburban noise in a New York Times article, even claiming that this could be one of the most prominent local disturbances neighbors can have against each other record.

Figuring out the behavioral problem that causes your dog’s barking can save your sanity and keep the peace.

This article will help you to how to stop dog barking at night and bring your family to rest to recover. And maybe even to your street.

Causes Of Dog Barking At Night

The truth is there is no answer as to why dogs bark at night. It depends on the dog and what is happening in its environment. Most dogs that bark at night do it outdoors, meaning the causes of the behavior are related to the outdoors.

Here are a few tips that can help you better understand the barking phenomenon at night.

1. Boredom

If your dog does not exercise enough during the day to exhaust her, she may be bored at night and unable to sleep.

General Indicators: You will likely see this problem if your dog doesn’t get a lot of exercises: and no, running her around the yard doesn’t count!

This is especially common in high energy dog breeds such as Border Collies and Huskies. You will probably also struggle with a bored dog if your dog doesn’t have much to do all day and just stays in the house.

2. Wildlife

Most dogs are interested in wildlife, be it a squirrel, a raccoon or a deer. Although you cannot see or hear any animals near your yard at night, your dog can.

Dogs bark at sounds and movements at night, and raccoons and coyotes are often the culprits.

3. Loneliness

loneliness remains one of the primary triggers she sees in dogs that cannot relax.

Dogs are beasts of the burden, so if left alone in another room at night, they can bark to ask for attention

If you let your dog sleep in your room, you should bark help to avoid separation anxiety. If sleeping in your bedroom isn’t an option, you may need another dog as a source of companionship.

4. Sensitivity to Noises

There’s a reason we get scared of things that collide at night – as humans, and we fear the unknown, and dogs also feel the same nighttime fear. When a dog is worried, they can bark at any sound they hear that scares or scares them. Couple that with a dog with an increased ability to listen to things, and you can imagine how every little noise could even make you alert.

They can also bark like an (alarm) to tell the environment that something is going on that they should be aware of, so maybe he’s just trying to be a good member of the pack!

5. Looking for attention

Here’s an important distinction to remember as a gentle animal lover: seeking care is different from loneliness in dogs.

Many dogs bark for consideration, whether they want to pet the food you eat or something else. It is essential that you completely ignore your dog if you think it is barking for attention; otherwise, the barking will continue. If you tell your dog (silently, shut up) or some other vocalization to tell him to stop), it is considered attention to your dog.

How To Stop Dog Barking At Night

There is a solution to this problem, but you will not like it. To prevent a dog from barking and whining at night for attention, convince him that barking and whining will NOT take you to them.

• You have to convince your dog that barking and howling are worthless. In other words, to fix this problem, you should ignore it.
• The key is not to respond – don’t go to your dog, don’t shout soothing words or shout at them, don’t let them out of their confined space
• If you comfort your dog even once, give him a reason to believe that barking sometimes gives him what he wants. If they occasionally get what they want, they have no reason to change their behavior.
• If your dog is not rewarded for paying attention to bark and whine at night, they have no right to complain and bark; they will eventually stop the behavior because their strategy no longer brings you.

Let me tell you that this will not be easy. When you try to change a behavior like barking at night, you will experience an (extinction flare), which means that the barking gets worse before it gets better because your dog is desperately trying to communicate with a strategy that worked before.

Of course, this also means that your sleep gets worse before it gets better. Make it easier on yourself by using earplugs and playing white noise.

It doesn’t hurt to make your dog feel as comfortable as possible; try playing quiet classical music or give your pup a DAP collar or

.

Teach Your Dog The “quiet” Command

It may sound crazy, but the first step of this technique is to teach your dog to bark on command. Instruct your dog to speak, wait until he barks two or three times, then stick a tasty treat on his nose.

If he stops barking to smell the candies, praise him and give him the candies. Repeat until he starts barking as soon as you say to speak.

If your dog can bark reliably on command, teach him the quiet command. Tell him in a calm environment without speaking distractions. When he starts barking, say calmly, and put a treat in front of him. Praise him for being quiet and giving him a gift.

• When the doorbell rings, your dog will warn you of the presence of an intruder by barking wildly.
• Once you give your dog the quiet command in a quiet environment, practice in increasingly distracting situations until your dog can immediately stop barking when prompted, even when that intruder arrives at the door.

Can I Punish My Dog For Barking?

One solution some people try is punishment. For example, spray barking dogs with water or lettuce or even shock them with an electric collar.

More and more studies like this from the University of Pennsylvania are adding to the evidence that is punishing dogs have serious drawbacks, including increased aggression and decreasing the ability to learn new skills.

Not really what we want for our dogs. And these effects have been demonstrated with relatively mild punishments, including verbal punishment.

When it comes to shocking dogs with electric collars, studies have shown that dogs trained in this way were more anxious and anxious than other dogs. And that was when experts gave the training.

There is a great in-depth explanation of the findings of this study on the Sophia Yin website.

For these reasons, almost all professional organizations representing dogs now recommend avoiding punishment during training altogether your dog.

It’s especially important not to punish a dog with real separation anxiety because you could make things much worse