Dog refuses to sleep indoors now

For the past few months, my 13 year old dog has been choosing to sleep outside in the dirt next to our patio (she uses the dog door to get out). It's been an unusually cold spring/summer here and sometimes in the morning, we find her curled in a ball and shivering/wet from rain. But if I try to get her to sleep inside in our bedroom (like she always used to!) by blocking the dog door, she'll always wake us up in the middle of the night, demanding to go out. This really has me worried; does anyone know why my dog is acting this way?

More information:

• she is a female spayed Australian Shepherd
• she is 13 but still acts very energetic and puppy-like during the day... although, she does have a bad right hip that's been getting worse lately. I'm thinking of getting her hip replacement surgery since she nearly always limps when she walks now
• she was put on the arthritis drug Rimadyl maybe 6-8 months ago (well before her weird behavior started though)
• in the last few months we increased her Rimadyl dose which could have led to some bladder problems... she was accidentally peeing while she was lying down, and sometimes urine would leak out if she had to struggle to get up. The vet gave her drugs for this and now she hasn't had any accidents in several weeks
• in our bedroom she has a very comfortable dog bed + a dog kennel that she used to like to switch between... and we keep nighttime temperatures very cool in our house, so I don't see why she would be too hot all of a sudden
• I don't know if this could be at ALL related... but I am a little more than 3 months pregnant (I know dogs can sense this kind of stuff). I guess now that I think about it, her behavior started up very close to the time we first found out we were expecting. But it MAY have started before that...

Thanks so much if anyone can help!!

I would get her to the vet.
A few possibilities.....
dementia starting - this causes anxiety and strange behaviour.
Hot, painful joints from arthritis. She may be seeking to cool them .
Incontinence - she may be leaking and need to get outside quickly to pee.
All of these can be alleviated with medication.

Hi Claire - I have actually already taken my dog to the vet and she is on meds for both arthritis and incontinence, and the meds have greatly alleviated her problems. However my vet had no idea what could be causing her nighttime behavior...

Has he or she ruled out dementia? A friends dog with dementia would walk round and round the garden half the night if allowed to.

Dementia was my first thought too, given her age. It often causes night time restlessness. Worth discussing with your vet. Hope you get to the bottom of it

Hm, really doubt it's dementia... she's totally normal at other times, responds excitedly to words we use ("walk," "treat," "squirrel," etc.), does commands just fine, begs from her "grandparents" when they come over like usual, etc. And it's not like she wanders around at night - she just goes to her little spot and sleeps. During the day she stays right near me. It's like she just doesn't like sleeping in the same room with us anymore, lol... so weird. (hm, could she be annoyed by my husband's snoring?!) Thanks for all the responses so far.

A friend of mine had a rescue yorkie who would be fine all day and at night would walk in circles unless my frriend slept with her hand in her dog basket. They get thought this was slight dementia. Can't remember what they did for her thou sorry
ATD x

Yes, this was how my friends dog started. He would react to loud noises as well - so perhaps it is the snoring.
There is medication available. Maybe the vet could try it to see if it helps?

dementia is funny like that

it can just occur over certain criteria and rest time dog seems fine

i know one old demented dog that would wee in a room everytime the owners werent in it, but would not do so if they were in it.

whatever is a stress trigger for that particular dog would trigger a dementia symptom.
the dog is still suffereing dementia all the time, but he slips in and out of lucidity
if he feels happy (ie, expereinces happy experinces) he is fine, if he experiences stress, he loses his mind and therefore faculties.

so i would look at possible triggers that would set off fear and stress, for one, its happening in the dark.....

Hello I have to agree with Claire and daisy Id say dementia too My old dog George behaved the same for the last year of his life he was diagnosed with canine senile dementia and was given diazapan this sorted the problem I only used to give him the tablets on his loopy days. He would go out late at night and hide under the trees and I couldn't get him in. He would walk around a little confused at times but the med's calmed him and really helped him to settle and live a normal life without them he would pace and whine one of the funniest moments before the meds he broke wind heard it himself jumped and turned round looked at me all confused as if to say who did that. I would talk to the vet about it some more with the right treatment they can live a normal life and the odd behaviour will stop or at little reduce.
x