Night time craziness!!!

[courtney1121]

So Geno has been a terror at night recently. My boyfriend has been staying with me for about a week and we've probably each lost over an hour of sleep from him. He's normally not like this too often when it's just me and him. Mainly he wakes us up any where from 2am-5am with play bites on our hands and excessive barking at us. When we try to go near him to pick him up to calm him down, he runs under the bed. Then he'll shoot back out in a barking frenzy. No idea what his deal is. We give him treats to see if that's what he wants but he just goes back to barking afterwards.

I took him outside around 5am today, he sniffed around for a little but no potty. He usually goes on his potty pad during the night anyways but I figured maybe a little outside time will chill him out. Well I took him back in and he's back to his barking frenzy. My boyfriend is convinced it's him so he leaves the room to sleep on the couch but Geno just keeps barking from the bedroom (we gate him in there at night). I tell him to come to bed but nope, not having it. I would normally let him just bark it out but I have a girl living below me and I really do not want him to wake her up. He's such a night terror!!! Any advice?

[gracielove]

Not sure. That is a hard one. So he doesn't do that when your boyfriend is not there? Does Geno like to play with your boyfriend? Does your boyfriend play a little rougher with him than you do?

I ask because he may want to play with your boyfriend at night like he does during the day.

My Gracie was a terror as a puppy and I had to train her quite a bit not to play aggressively. Then my daughter moved back in and started playing tug with her and things that would get her all riled up. Gracie loves that kind of thing but I prefer she not get into that crazy zone. She did start acting much more aggressively after my daughter started playing with her like that. Maybe Geno just can't wait to play. Sounds like he is asking for someone to play chase with him.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I would stop treating him for these incidents of unasked-for-barking as you could be reinforcing that behavior & start training him a little bit to do what you want.

Here are some ideas. There will be many ways to handle this & if done consistently and with love & patience, one of them will work. There will be no quick fix. You might tell your neighbors what is going on & ask them to be patient during the training to stop the barking.

If he's not trained to stop barking on the word "No" or "Quiet" then take aside 5 minutes a few times a day and teach him to bark on command by rewarding him every time he barks and say the words "Good Bark" and reward him with a treat/praise when he does. He'll love it! After a few days(yes, you have to wait until he's been barking on command a few days - to go forward too soon will only confuse him), during the exercise, he will tire of barking & stop for a breath. The instant he does, hand him a treat & begin to say "Quiet" the moment he stops and make a hand gesture you want to associate with the "Quiet" command. If you repeat this training exercise often enough, eventually he will learn that "Quiet" gets him a nice treat & you happy with him, giving him a nice praise.

Another way is to teach him that barking will get him either totally ignored as you stay quiet in bed until he stops(requires the patience of Job) or you will both leave the room & shut the door behind you when he barks, leaving him in there alone. After 15 minutes of quiet(this will probably take a while before he stops barking), come back into the bedroom and repeat every time he resume barking. You will have to repeat this a good bit until he begins to associate his actions with being left all alone in the room every single time he barks & you returning to the bedroom when he is silent.

Alternately, you could leash him at night, block off the area under your bed with blankets or cardboard boxes under it so he can't get under there & when he starts barking, get his leash & walk him into another room where you will leave him alone & walk out, closing the door. Will take a lot of repetitions but he will get the idea barking gets him isolated & alone. But he will bark from there! The most effective thing you can do is ignore him. Once he is quiet 15 minutes, let him back into the bedroom & repeat the process when he resumes barking.

You could crate him nights in your room & start covering the crate the instant he starts barking. He will eventually learn that's no fun & barking is what causes it. He'll likely bark from in there but leave that cover on & ignore until he learns what causes him to get put in there & you won't release him unless he is quiet for 15 minutes. When you do let him out, resuming barking gets him put back in the covered crate until quiet 15 minutes.

Put him in a covered airline carrier when he barks. He will likely start to protest so wait him out until he is quiet for 15 minutes, then release him. If I used this method, I would carry the covered carrier to another room & walk back into mine & shut the door, waiting out his barking until quiet 15 minutes. Once he's quiet, he can return to the bedroom. Resuming barking, back he goes in the covered airline carrier & into the other room until quiet 15 minutes. Repeat until he learns barking under these circumstances does not result in fun.

The hardest part of this will be ignoring the barking after he is isolated. It could take an hour so get ear plugs & take a patience pill. This is how a dog learns not to bark if he doesn't know to be "Quiet" on command.


I would start having your boyfriend read & use the Nothing In Life Is Free method of dealing with him. You can Google it & read about how easily it is done. Have your boyfriend largely ignore him & not make eye contact with him until he starts to initiate contact on his own. Have him still ignore him longer until your dog is really pawing & baiting him to play - only then have him respond - after your little one has so fully accepted him that he's just begging to play.

You can adjust these as necessary but the idea is to teach him to be quiet or teach him that barking will cause actions that get him isolated.

He is probably discombobulated at this person he sees as an interloper on his territory & needs to learn he is safe with your boyfriend & the new pack member only makes things better. There's likely a little jealousy there so he'll need to learn to accept your boyfriend as being of the leadership hierarchy in your family pack & accept his role as a follower. The NILIF method gently helps that along.

[courtney1121]

Well pretty sure his fave game is chase haha Hmmm not sure about the aggresive part. I guess maybe he does to an extend but I don't think he plays much more aggressive with him than I do. My boyfriend is usually the one to play with him most of the time when he's there. It's weird cause he'll bark at him randomly like when we're watching tv. He doesn't bark at me, just my boyfriend. So my boyfriend tries to play with him but he doesn't play, he just keeps barking at him. My boyfriend gets really frustrated and I'm like I don't know what his deal is.

When it's just me and him, we just go about our business. We'll play when he wants to, I'll watch tv, he'll chill and lounge around. He might bark every once and a while but we pretty much just mind our own business.

[courtney1121]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I would stop treating him for these incidents of unasked-for-barking as you could be reinforcing that behavior & start training him a little bit to do what you want.

Here are some ideas. There will be many ways to handle this & if done consistently and with love & patience, one of them will work. There will be no quick fix. You might tell your neighbors what is going on & ask them to be patient during the training to stop the barking.

If he's not trained to stop barking on the word "No" or "Quiet" then take aside 5 minutes a few times a day and teach him to bark on command by rewarding him every time he barks and say the words "Good Bark" and reward him with a treat/praise when he does. He'll love it! After a few days(yes, you have to wait until he's been barking on command a few days - to go forward too soon will only confuse him), during the exercise, he will tire of barking & stop for a breath. The instant he does, hand him a treat & begin to say "Quiet" the moment he stops and make a hand gesture you want to associate with the "Quiet" command. If you repeat this training exercise often enough, eventually he will learn that "Quiet" gets him a nice treat & you happy with him, giving him a nice praise.

Another way is to teach him that barking will get him either totally ignored as you stay quiet in bed until he stops(requires the patience of Job) or you will both leave the room & shut the door behind you when he barks, leaving him in there alone. After 15 minutes of quiet(this will probably take a while before he stops barking), come back into the bedroom and repeat every time he resume barking. You will have to repeat this a good bit until he begins to associate his actions with being left all alone in the room every single time he barks & you returning to the bedroom when he is silent.

Alternately, you could leash him at night, block off the area under your bed with blankets or cardboard boxes under it so he can't get under there & when he starts barking, get his leash & walk him into another room where you will leave him alone & walk out, closing the door. Will take a lot of repetitions but he will get the idea barking gets him isolated & alone. But he will bark from there! The most effective thing you can do is ignore him. Once he is quiet 15 minutes, let him back into the bedroom & repeat the process when he resumes barking.

You could crate him nights in your room & start covering the crate the instant he starts barking. He will eventually learn that's no fun & barking is what causes it. He'll likely bark from in there but leave that cover on & ignore until he learns what causes him to get put in there & you won't release him unless he is quiet for 15 minutes. When you do let him out, resuming barking gets him put back in the covered crate until quiet 15 minutes.

Put him in a covered airline carrier when he barks. He will likely start to protest so wait him out until he is quiet for 15 minutes, then release him. If I used this method, I would carry the covered carrier to another room & walk back into mine & shut the door, waiting out his barking until quiet 15 minutes. Once he's quiet, he can return to the bedroom. Resuming barking, back he goes in the covered airline carrier & into the other room until quiet 15 minutes. Repeat until he learns barking under these circumstances does not result in fun.

The hardest part of this will be ignoring the barking after he is isolated. It could take an hour so get ear plugs & take a patience pill. This is how a dog learns not to bark if he doesn't know to be "Quiet" on command.


I would start having your boyfriend read & use the Nothing In Life Is Free method of dealing with him. You can Google it & read about how easily it is done. Have your boyfriend largely ignore him & not make eye contact with him until he starts to initiate contact on his own. Have him still ignore him longer until your dog is really pawing & baiting him to play - only then have him respond - after your little one has so fully accepted him that he's just begging to play.

You can adjust these as necessary but the idea is to teach him to be quiet or teach him that barking will cause actions that get him isolated.

He is probably discombobulated at this person he sees as an interloper on his territory & needs to learn he is safe with your boyfriend & the new pack member only makes things better. There's likely a little jealousy there so he'll need to learn to accept your boyfriend as being of the leadership hierarchy in your family pack & accept his role as a follower. The NILIF method gently helps that along.

Wow lots of good information. Thank you! Question though. He pretty much knows the "speak" command so when he speaks, do i give him the treat and immediately say "quiet". I just want to make sure I'm getting the timing down right.

[BlueBelle]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I would stop treating him for these incidents of unasked-for-barking as you could be reinforcing that behavior & start training him a little bit to do what you want.

Here are some ideas. There will be many ways to handle this & if done consistently and with love & patience, one of them will work. There will be no quick fix. You might tell your neighbors what is going on & ask them to be patient during the training to stop the barking.

If he's not trained to stop barking on the word "No" or "Quiet" then take aside 5 minutes a few times a day and teach him to bark on command by rewarding him every time he barks and say the words "Good Bark" and reward him with a treat/praise when he does. He'll love it! After a few days(yes, you have to wait until he's been barking on command a few days - to go forward too soon will only confuse him), during the exercise, he will tire of barking & stop for a breath. The instant he does, hand him a treat & begin to say "Quiet" the moment he stops and make a hand gesture you want to associate with the "Quiet" command. If you repeat this training exercise often enough, eventually he will learn that "Quiet" gets him a nice treat & you happy with him, giving him a nice praise.

Another way is to teach him that barking will get him either totally ignored as you stay quiet in bed until he stops(requires the patience of Job) or you will both leave the room & shut the door behind you when he barks, leaving him in there alone. After 15 minutes of quiet(this will probably take a while before he stops barking), come back into the bedroom and repeat every time he resume barking. You will have to repeat this a good bit until he begins to associate his actions with being left all alone in the room every single time he barks & you returning to the bedroom when he is silent.

Alternately, you could leash him at night, block off the area under your bed with blankets or cardboard boxes under it so he can't get under there & when he starts barking, get his leash & walk him into another room where you will leave him alone & walk out, closing the door. Will take a lot of repetitions but he will get the idea barking gets him isolated & alone. But he will bark from there! The most effective thing you can do is ignore him. Once he is quiet 15 minutes, let him back into the bedroom & repeat the process when he resumes barking.

You could crate him nights in your room & start covering the crate the instant he starts barking. He will eventually learn that's no fun & barking is what causes it. He'll likely bark from in there but leave that cover on & ignore until he learns what causes him to get put in there & you won't release him unless he is quiet for 15 minutes. When you do let him out, resuming barking gets him put back in the covered crate until quiet 15 minutes.

Put him in a covered airline carrier when he barks. He will likely start to protest so wait him out until he is quiet for 15 minutes, then release him. If I used this method, I would carry the covered carrier to another room & walk back into mine & shut the door, waiting out his barking until quiet 15 minutes. Once he's quiet, he can return to the bedroom. Resuming barking, back he goes in the covered airline carrier & into the other room until quiet 15 minutes. Repeat until he learns barking under these circumstances does not result in fun.

The hardest part of this will be ignoring the barking after he is isolated. It could take an hour so get ear plugs & take a patience pill. This is how a dog learns not to bark if he doesn't know to be "Quiet" on command.


I would start having your boyfriend read & use the Nothing In Life Is Free method of dealing with him. You can Google it & read about how easily it is done. Have your boyfriend largely ignore him & not make eye contact with him until he starts to initiate contact on his own. Have him still ignore him longer until your dog is really pawing & baiting him to play - only then have him respond - after your little one has so fully accepted him that he's just begging to play.

You can adjust these as necessary but the idea is to teach him to be quiet or teach him that barking will cause actions that get him isolated.

He is probably discombobulated at this person he sees as an interloper on his territory & needs to learn he is safe with your boyfriend & the new pack member only makes things better. There's likely a little jealousy there so he'll need to learn to accept your boyfriend as being of the leadership hierarchy in your family pack & accept his role as a follower. The NILIF method gently helps that along.

I have found that "the Pet Corrector" works wonders on unwanted behavior. It is just a can of air, much like the cans you use to clean your keyboard with. Just a short burst, not at them, is all it takes.
I bought it on line but might be available locally.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by courtney1121

Wow lots of good information. Thank you! Question though. He pretty much knows the "speak" command so when he speaks, do i give him the treat and immediately say "quiet". I just want to make sure I'm getting the timing down right.

If he can speak on command, wait until he stops barking on his own after being told to "Speak" & that very instant he's quiet, say "Quiet" & pop that treat into his mouth. Just be sure he's got "speak" down very well before teaching "quiet". Just keep repeating it for 5 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. If he grows disinterested, stop right away - he won't learn then. So keep it short & sweet.

Once he's learned this very well - very well - use the "Quiet" command at nighttime when in bed & keep some treats on the bedside table for this. I would then start to couple the "Quiet" with "Lie Down/Stay". Eventually, he will grow accustomed to your boyfriend & stop it on his own as he grows accepting of him through the NILIF work your boyfriend is doing.

[gracielove]

It sounds like it is something about Geno's relationship with your boyfriend.

Gracie will always be very calm with me but when my daughter comes into the home Gracie turns on a different personality. I don't know if Geno wants to play or if he is disturbed by your boyfriend's presence but something about the boyfriend is setting Geno off.

I hope Yorkietalkjilly's suggestions help.

[yorkietalkjilly]

The Dazer II can also work. It is just another training method that some dogs don't like because of the supersonic sound. I use it for dogs off property. You can usually buy is on Amazon.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Some dogs love the Dazer II & other such devices while others ignore, hate or fear them! Tibbe barks & gets so excited when I use it so I will just use it to call him from the other room sometimes. It doesn't calm or quieten him at all - it's like an "upper" & he barks when he hears it. Old dogs usually can't hear it. My neighbors's dog fear it.