Dog Up All Night

[LittleSpirit02]

I have a dog who is now about 15 years old. She's still very healthy with the exception of a little arthritis in her paws but for the last few months, she's been keeping us up at night. She starts yelping in the middle of the night, usually starting around 3 am. She's fine during the day for the most part and doesn't bark or yelp much. It just seems to be at night. Any ideas why this might be or what might help? She doesn't like to go for walks much otherwise we'd try walking her in the evening to get out some energy. When I take her outside, she's content to just sit next to me and relax. Any tips?

[tinkerbelle75]

I would think she's just wanting to be close to you. Does she sleep with you? If she's an inside dog, she may be just fine if she can be at the foot of the bed, if that's something you would allow.

[thrillme]

She may be getting a little stiff or cramps from the arthritis. Check with your vet about giving her an aspirin (plain old bayer or baby aspirin...not tylonol etc). A lot may depend on her size and weight.

The getting up and walking around a "little" may be loosing up those cramps just enough.

You might too have her ears checked out by a vet. Sometimes in older dogs as their hearing starts to go they may hear some "popping" noises or normal sounds are muted and strange.

[J9]

As she got older, our Bichon, Brittany, used to cry a lot at night too.

She was always a very healthy dog, and only was sick once late in her life with doggy vertigo, but she bounced back. She never had arthritis or anything. (She was healthy until the day she died - just had a seizure/aneurism and that was it. She had been playing and running around just that morning)

However, as she got older, we think that she lost some of her hearing and became more and more neurotic. She developed this crazy separation anxiety and would cry and yelp if we even left her alone just long enough so we could hit the bathroom. Your pup probably just wants to be with you every second of every day.

Another observation - Brittany had more and more nightmares as she got older as well, and it became harder and harder to snap her out of those nightmares. She would whimper and shake, and we had to wake her up very very slowly. Maybe your pup has been having some nightmares?

[garymacd]

We noticed recently with our old boy that he was licking his forelegs and paws alot. Our vet suggested one half of a regular aspirin. He has stopped licking his paws and doesn't seem to be in as much discomfort. The dosage is by weight. Our Satchie only weighs 30 lbs, so a children's aspirin or half a regular aspirin once a day seems to do the trick. By the way, don't use enteric coated, low-dose aspirin. It doesn't work the same in dogs as humans.

[NJ Camper]

Our lab will sometimes have dreams / nightmares she will whimper and even do little barking noises while a sleep we have to wake her she also kicks her legs while doing this sometimes does your dog lick there paws also they will lick spots that are painfull also our 13 yr old brittany will lick spots that bother him and same with our 12yr old lab i would try asking a vet for advice also because with out blood work and past history there could be many things that could be also going on that we don't know maybe nothing maybe something that need s imediate attention so i would have it looked at better safe then sorry good luck and hope its nothing repost what you find out

[LittleSpirit02]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

We've tried having her sleep on the bed and while it helped a little, she'll still yelp.

She's on medicine for her arthritis, maybe we could try giving it to her a little later so it'll help her more at night.

We've had suspicions that her hearing is not what it used to be. So it could also be related to the quietness of the night. Maybe some background noise would help her...

Keep the ideas coming! We will call the vet, too. Thanks everyone!

[sisterdisco]

I feel for you.
We had a Maltese who recently died and was 15 yrs old. For the last few months, he would intermittently, be UP ALL NIGHT LONG. Vet said it was like a doggie alzheimers. Then, the last week of his life, it was really bad and they thought it was from pain. We increased the pain med, but it didn't help.
We tried benadryl, but it didn't help either.

I know how hard it is....you get exhausted. I hope the vet can help him.

[RenDuran]

Abby,our 11-year-old German Shepherd has made more noise in her sleep the older she gets. Are you sure your dog is awake when she yelps? Abby sounds like she's awake the way she carries on, but every time I lean over the bed to look at her, she is sound asleep.

[Marilyn Michetti]

How are her eyes? My bassett, Bentley had cateracts pretty bad before he died, and would bump into things at night. Maybe your doggie is afraid of the dark. Can you leave a night light on?:confused:

It's never easy, is it?:puppy:

[LittleSpirit02]

Her sight is pretty good. Not as good as it was when she was younger I would imagine, but she can see well. I've tried the nightlight and it didn't seem to help. I have a feeling it is either hearing related or attention related because she doesn't do it during the day much at all. We'll see what the vet says... keep the advice coming. I appreciate it.