Night time barking

Motley started barking at night a few weeks ago, he doesnt do it every night maybe about one in 4 or 5.

We have chickens and initially i thought it was because a fox was in the garden, but i managed to creep down and observe him and he seemed to be randomly barking at things in the kitchen/dining room where he sleeps.

He is a very sensitive boy, he can still get a bit jumpy at silly things like carrier bags rusting or any noises. He was rescued as a puppy from a bad situation.

We also have a very old noisy boiler and timer so ive been turning it off completely over night incase this has been setting him off, its always bee noisy but it does seem to be getting noisier.

He gets one big walk in the morning, as thats when his friends and most other local dogs are about, we are out from 9 til 11 sometimes later. Yesterday we tried giving him a pm walk too (another hour) but he still barked at bedtime.

We settle him fine in his basket and its literally the second you are getting in bed he starts barking. Last night we made him a kong and he settled with it, but im not sure if this would just be a temporary fix, surely we need to reassure him whatever is upsetting him isnt scary?

He is 14 months pretty much and a henz 57 if thats any help

x

Hiya,

Is he crated at night?
Is there a pattern to the barking? (same night, same time etc?)

How do you normally respond to the barking? Do you give him attention or just ignore it?

he isnt crated, he never has been. He has always settled very well even from day one. we have two young children and you get the feeling he really appreciates his basket at bedtime and the peace

i have been wary of giving him attention because then he would learn to bark for attention (he rarely barks tbh) a couple of times i have gone down, waited atleast 10 seconds after his last bark and tried to figure out what was upsetting him, one night there was a PE bag hanging off a chair, i removed it and he settled straight away.

Another night im pretty sure it was actually a fox as he was scratching at the door, so we went out together with the torch and he went straight for the fence sniffing and barking

can anyone offer any advice on this please?