night/morning barking....help

[TokaS]

Hi desparation calling now...at least at 06:55hrs it feels like it to me!!!!!

to set the scenario, we live in a small detached house, wife [who has m.e] 2yr old baby daughter and me. we have a 9 yr old akita who lves outside in what was the old outside toilet, a room just over the width of a door but about 8 feet long.
3 weeks ago we got a terrier pup...to help keep our akita company, and to grow up with our daughter. we used to have a second akita but lost her 2 years ago.
the pup when we got her was used to living outside with his mother.

the pup [Bilbo] has been great, the only thing that we cant seem to cure is the night time barking.
he sleeps in a crate which i have adapted to give him a run as well. he can sleep and have room to ahve some toys etc and do his business. he is in the conservatory where the cats also sleep. we put him there from day one as we cant afford to let him bark in the house as if my wife doesnt sleep she cant function and if daughter gets woken she is cranky!!! [i know how she feels now]

the two dogs get on ok...our akita is quite aloof of the pup and doesnt stand any nonsense, bilbo tries to jump up and nip the akita on the neck etc, generally play but shows quite dominant signs, usually dealt with wit ha growl or toka knocks him over using his snout...due to this we dont put them both outside together of a night for fear of the akita harming the pup...if we did put them outside i would put the crate in with them incase bilbo needed sanctuary....toka also seems to be very protective of his kennel, not liking when it is visited by the pup during the daylight hours.

anyway...we put him to bed without much fuss at about 10:30pm, having done his business outside. he barked for about 30mins till 11pm, then at 1am, 5am, 7am for 30 mins each time until i got up about 8am.
the next few consectutive nights the amount of time barking lessened and so did the frequency, until he only barks now 'around' 7am.

right...the crux of the problem is we cant seem to stop the morning barking and almost on a daily basis it is getting earlier and earlier. we now put a thick blanket over the crate/run thinking it may have been the light waking him up....initially i thought it may be he needed to toilet and was waking wanting out [he is housetrained and does his business outside now although the paper is stll down and he has the occasional accident], he relieves himself as soon as put out in the morning....

i didnt want to reinforce his barking so i would usually wait until there was a 'clear' patch to come downstairs and let him out in the morning in the hopes he didnt associate his barking with my arrival. although i managed this his barking got that prolonged that we couldnt help but come downstairs as there was no noticable break to use and it was getting time to get up anyway..occasionally he woke my daughter who then wanted to get up.

for the past 2 days i have tried the waterpistol treatment...i try to catch him barking and give a quick spray...no eye contact or any other form of direct contact. this has worked to stop him barking but i wonder if that is because he knows i am in the next area of the house. [our ground floor is open plan with the only 'room' being the conservatory]. i might have to do this a couple of times but he seems to settle down then, but i am awake by then.

every day now it is 15 mins earlier he seesm to bark, today it was 6am.....i waited to see if he would stop and at 6.45 i got up and sprayed him...i had to do it again when he heard my daughter wake and shout for us at 7.11 but since then there has been no noise from him...[although he know i am up]

i am desperate to try to do the right thing as i want to try to sort this problem and the longer it goes on the more likely that it will continue...am i on the right traks...should i get up and spray as soon as i hear him bark in the morning?? rather than waiitng, hoping he will settle, should i leave the radio on at night or set it to come on in the morning...should i try him in the kennel with toka??
the neighbours are ok both sides but both have young children and i am sure he wakes them, if he were to do the same from the kennel outside they would be disturbed even more....

during the day we do leave him, occasionally at home in his crate/run and he does bark for a minute or so and then settles down until he hears us returning...the same if we leave him in the car...to my mind it doesnt seem to be a bad problem of separation anxiety more perhaps a habit?????

can anyone pelase comment..if i am on the right track then we can continue but any advice would be appreciated......

[fislka]

hi I think you don't have to worry about t so much, you just have to train him when you give a command then he have to bark and with time he will catch all I t isn't a big problem

[leadly]

Have you thought of getting one of those shock collars or whatever they are? you could put it on him at night, that might put a stop to it, but to be honest i dont think id use one of those on my pup.

just a thought anyway, hope you can rectify this and get your sleep back!

[char]

hi, i think you are probaly right, it has become a habbit or he is attention seeking , , my lil fella was the same for a while, i started to put him in his sleeping area during the day and if we went near he would bark and wimper, the best advice i can give you is when you put him in the during the day when he starts to do this just ignor him, crawl to be kind sometimes, its just if you ignor him in the day he will know that there he will stay till he is let out, if you can in the night when he starts to bark go down to him, try not to make eye contcat with the dog and simply tell him to go to bed, i done this for two night's only and my pup seemed to fine, now he sleeps all night i think you are on the right path, good luck and hope this helps.
char